Trump calls for the federalization of DC, to take control of the police after the former member of the DOOGE staff attacked: NPR

President Trump said he was planning to take control of the Washington police forces, DC after a former member of the Government Department (DOGE) was injured in an attempted car diversion during the weekend.

“He went through a bad situation to say it slightly, and there are too many. We are going to do something,” Trump told the journalists in the oval office on Wednesday evening. He also said: “This includes the priming of the National Guard, perhaps also very quickly.”

When asked if the administration wanted to reverse the DC domicile rule – a limited form of government autonomy in which the city has operated for half a century – Trump said: “We are going to examine this. In fact, lawyers were already studying it.”

The former DOGE staff member whose assault led to Trump’s remarks is Edward Coristine, a nickname of “Big Balls”, 19 years old. Coristine worked for the General Services Administration (GSA) – where he obtained access to payment data for centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – until his resignation in June, as reported by NPR.

According to a report of incident of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) shared with NPR, Coristine stood with a woman near her car in an area of Logan Circle – a district of north -west of DC – around 3 am on Sunday when he was attacked by a group of “ten minors”.

“He saw the suspects approach and comment on taking the vehicle,” said the report. “At that time, for his safety, he pushed his significant other … in the vehicle and turned to treat the suspects. The suspects then began to attack [Coristine]. “”

Most of the suspects fled on foot on the arrival of the patrolling police, although the MPD said that the police arrested two – both aged 15 – on the scene and charged them with unarmed cars. MPD also said that Coristine had been treated on the scene for injuries suffered in the assault.

In a social article on Tuesday Truth, Trump wrote that DC crime is “completely out of control”, alleging that adolescents “attack, aggravating, mutilating and shooting innocent citizens” and calls on adolescents to be prosecuted.

While a 2023 point in murders and thefts made the city one of the deadliest crimes in America, and juvenile crime remains a concern, violent crimes at DC have been down since last year when it has reached a 30 -year hollow, according to MPD data.

What happened to Coristine is relatively unusual, but he provided a political opportunity to Trump, explains George Derek Musgrove, professor of partner at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and co-author of Chocolate City: a story of race and democracy in the national capital.

“Trump automatically presents it as an illustrative of the trend and therefore it justifies what he wants to do,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly said that the federal government should take control of DC, both on the campaign track and since the start of its second term.

This week, her calls were immediately taken up by a certain number of conservative personalities, including Elon Musk and the representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-GA., Who wrote in an article on X that she supports Trump by “taking control of the city to establish the law and the order”.

So what would DC federalization mean – and can Trump really do it?

DC is home to some 700,000 residents, such as those illustrated in a 2024 farmer market in the Noma district.

Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images

Federalizing DC is possible, at least in theory

DC is at home not only at the headquarters of the federal government, but more than 700,000 residents, according to data from the census of 2024. It is also extremely blue: Trump won only about 4% of the DC vote in 2016 and less than 7% in 2024.

In recent years, Trump has been a vocal critic of the city, calling it “dirty and criminal”, “horribly run” and “a nightmare of murder and crime”.

“The city does not particularly like it and it does not particularly like the city,” explains Musgrove. “And then you add to this that he is just used to claiming the existence of a crisis in order to claim that his position is the only way to solve it … and DC is just this really easy target to which he will come back.”

But Trump alone cannot explain his threat to federalize the district.

The Congress adopted the Home Rule Act in 1973, following the Civil Rights Movement. This gave residents of DC more control over their own cases – such as the right to elect a mayor and members of the municipal council – but has maintained the surveillance of the congress on things such as the budget and the legislation of the city.

To change this, the congress should reverse the rule of the house. And this could be politically difficult, because the Democrats of the Senate could theoretically block such legislation through obstruction.

Despite this, two Republicans-Senator Mike Lee, Rutah and representative Andy Ogles, R-Tenn. – presented these bills in February. For the first time since the start of Home Rule, known as Musgrove, the Chamber and the Senate now have bills aimed at repeal.

“Trump cannot do this himself,” said Musgrove. “However, the Congress under the Republicans has proven more than willing to do so if he asks for him. He is therefore in the field of possibility.”

But Musgrove also wonders how much Trump really wants the federal government to be in charge of minimums of municipal governance, such as microphones and the filling of poule nests, especially since it can exercise power over the local government in other ways.

The federal government already has a lot of power in DC

Home reign Gives the president control Above the DC National Guard, allowing him to call him in the city without local consent. It also allows the president to use the DC police forces for 30 days if there are “determines that special conditions of an emergency of emergency exist which require the use of metropolitan police for federal purposes” – although he must obtain the approval of the congress to use the services of the police for more than 48 hours, according to the City Code.

During his first mandate, Trump reflected on the DC under “much more control” by “firing” thousands of DC police to repress local demonstrations of Black Lives Matter in 2020, suggesting that the federal government would have “total domination” over the city, according to a CNN transcription of a call he had with American governors at the time. In the end, however, he deployed the police and the National Guard of the American Park.

The procession of President Donald Trump turns into Pennsylvania avenue as he returned to the White House after a dinner in March 2017. He called the city “dirty” and “horribly run”.

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Alex Brandon / AP

Trump also used his powers to influence local priorities. Earlier this year, he published an executive decree creating the “DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force”, whose objectives include the application of the Federal Immigration Act, the Restoration of Federal Public Monuments and the abolition of graffiti.

This week, the National Park Service cited this order as part of its justification of the plans to reinstall a Confederate statue that the demonstrators reversed in 2020.

More broadly, Musgrove says that Home Rule – and in particular, the threat of Trump pushing the Congress to the repeal – gives a Trump lever effect in negotiations with the Democratic Mayor of DC, Muriel Bowser.

“All he has to do is threaten, and the mayor gets the index,” said Musgrove.

While Bowser has long criticized Trump, she has also respected some of her requests in recent months, such as cleaning the homeless camps and the elimination of a street fresco “Black Lives Matter” near the White House, after having faced the pressure of the administration and the congress.

“Mural painting inspired millions of people and has helped our city to go through a very painful period, but now we cannot afford to be distracted by interference of the convention devoid of meaning,” said Bowser in a March statement, after a republican legislator presented a bill which endangered the federal funding if DC did not delete it.

This is an example of how congress can shape DC policies. Federal legislators can also join independent rules – called “runners” – on DC autonomy to federal laws on credits. They can decide to overthrow the laws adopted by the DC Council, as the Senate did in 2023 when it voted to block a major overhaul of the City Criminal Code. Said Musgrove.

“”[Lawmakers] realized that this can be a very good policy for people at home, and they will therefore reach the city to do things like prohibiting the city from spending its own money in abortion or in a needle, “said Musgrove.” It makes the task difficult to [D.C.] To create laws, create a policy and execute them over time for the good of the population. “”