President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he will seek more permanent federal control of the Washington, D.C., police force as he continues his efforts to ramp-up crime enforcement in the nation’s capital.
Earlier this week, Trump announced his plans to deploy National Guard troops in the nation’s capital, declaring a public safety emergency in order to put the Washington police department under federal control and station the National Guard on the city’s streets. Trump’s current control of the D.C. police force expires in 30 days, after which Congress would have to weigh in.
Asked Wednesday whether he’d work with Congress to extend the emergency authorization allowing him to temporarily seize control of local law enforcement, Trump said he’ll ask Congress for a “long-term” extension of federal authority over the Washington police force.
“We’re going to be asking for extensions on that — long-term extensions, because you can’t have 30 days,” Trump said at an event at the Kennedy Center.
Trump indicated at one point that he’d ask Congress for more funds to fight crime and to make repairs to Washington’s streets and parks.
“We’re going to make Washington beautiful. We’re going to redo roads. We’re going to redo the medians. The pavers and the medians are all throughout the city. We’re going to take all the graffiti off. We’re going to have to remove the tents. And the people that are living in our parks, we’re going to be redoing the parks, the grasses and all. We’re going to be going to Congress for a relatively small amount of money. And [Senate Budget Committee chair and GOP Sen.] Lindsey [Graham] and the Republicans are going to be approving it,” Trump said.
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Trump has long threatened to take control of Washington, saying he wants to crack down on violent crime in the District although police statistics show that in the past two years, violent crime has gone down.
“Fighting crime is a good thing. We have to explain we’re going to fight crime — that’s a good thing,” Trump said Wednesday. “Already they’re saying, ‘He’s a dictator,’ he said, referring to Democrats. “The place is going to hell. We’ve got to stop it. So, instead of saying, ‘He’s a dictator,’ they should say, ‘We’re going to join him and make Washington safe.'”
“We’re going to be essentially crime-free. This is going to be a beacon, and it’s going to also serve as an example of what can be done,” Trump said.
The D.C. National Guard is expected to begin ramping up its presence along the National Mall and at the federal monuments in Washington overnight Wednesday into Thursday, according to several officials familiar with the plans.
Officials said the Trump administration is still in the process of setting up a joint task force, which will be led by Army Col. Larry Doane. While the task force is expected to include 800 activated soldiers, D.C. residents won’t see that many on the streets.
The troops will work in shifts of 100 to 200 troops at a time, and some of them will be assigned to administrative or logistical roles in support of local law enforcement, officials told ABC News.
ABC News producers did not see any National Guard or increased law enforcement presence around Washington Wednesday afternoon — including around the National Mall, D.C. Armory or in Logan Circle where a man was gunned down and killed earlier this week.
A White House official told ABC News that, beginning Wednesday night, officials expected a “significantly higher National Guard presence to be on the ground throughout Washington, D.C.” The White House official added that beginning Wednesday night, the deployment will transition to round-the-clock, 24/7 operations. Those operations had been previously focused on evening and overnight hours.
On Tuesday night, more than 1,450 federal law enforcement officers and National Guard members patrolled Washington, according to a White House official. Law enforcement teams made 43 arrests on Tuesday night — nearly twice the number made Monday night, the official said.
Those law enforcement teams included 750 D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers who were “uniformed, marked as patrol and directly assigned as anti-crime officers,” the White House official said. That was in addition to the federal law enforcement who had been previously mobilized in the area. The White House official said that there were about 30 National Guard troops on the ground last night.
The law enforcement teams were “deployed throughout all seven districts in D.C. to promote public safety and arrest violent offenders,” the White House official said.
After Trump’s announcement Monday, approximately 850 officers and agents fanned out over D.C. right after Trump declared a crime emergency in the capital, making 23 arrests, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, National Guard troops were spotted on the National Mall, with many stationed around the base of the Washington Monument. The troops left Wednesday morning.
It was not immediately clear why the presence of U.S. troops along the National Mall was needed, other than to put Trump’s orders on display. The area, marked by museums, monuments and long stretches of grass, is known as a relatively safe part of the city that attracts mostly tourists and school groups.
ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that National Guard did not make any arrests of individuals in Washington.
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