An executive order targeting D.C. that could be handed down by the Trump administration in the coming days was met with a mostly supportive tone from Mayor Muriel Bowser, as she addressed some of the items that may be included in the order Wednesday.
“We have had a briefing that I would call at the 30,000-foot level,” Bowser said, referring to her ongoing talks with the White House on the matter.
“I have asked to see anything that they would move related to the District,” said Bowser. “They have committed to working through it with us, telling us what the intent is.”
The Washington Post reported this week the order may include a directive for prosecutors to pursue tougher penalties for D.C. gun offenders.
Bowser seemed to be on board with the idea.
“There are parts of the system that the federal government has more control over, or control entirely over, and that’s a prosecution of adults,” said Bowser, adding that “anytime” she talks to federal government officials, she asks them to “focus on gun crimes.”
“I think that makes a huge difference,” said Bowser.
Another item reportedly in the works for the executive order is the Trump administration seeking to clear out homeless encampments across the nation’s capital.
Again, Bowser’s response appeared to be positive.
“Certainly we are a city that has shelter for people who are on the streets, and we want them inside, absolutely,” Bowser said. “We try to work with our residents to get them to a place where they want to come inside, and that’s always been our strategy.”
Bowser said the encampments are “not technically permitted in the District.”
During President Donald Trump’s first four years in office, he and the local government publicly sparred multiple times — in tones ranging from playful to deeply personal.
When Trump floated the idea of a massive Fourth of July military parade — complete with tanks rolling through the streets, the D.C. Council publicly mocked him.
When mass protests broke out in the summer of 2020 over the death of George Floyd and wider police brutality and racial issues, Trump accused Bowser of losing control of the city. He eventually declared his own multiagency lockdown that included low-flying helicopters buzzing protesters.
Bowser responded by having “Black Lives Matter” painted on the street in giant letters — one block from the White House.
During the last four years, with Trump as a private citizen, his feelings toward D.C. remained intense.
On the campaign trail, he repeatedly vowed to “take over” the city and usurp the authority of the local government.
In August 2023, when he briefly came to town to plead not guilty on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 electoral loss to then President Joe Biden, Trump blasted the District on social media, calling it a “filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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