In responding to President Donald Trump’s latest call for a federal takeover of D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser reiterated Thursday that she was eager to work with Trump on shared priorities, including public safety and homelessness.
“We will brief the president, give him the facts and work with him cooperatively,” Bowser said.
She acknowledged that while she disagrees with Trump, she doesn’t want to be overly critical to the point where there’s a conflict between them.
“I’m not afraid, but I am strategic,” Bowser said.
On Wednesday, Trump complained about crime and homelessness in the District, saying, “I think we should take over Washington, D.C. — make it safe.”
He added, “I think that we should govern District of Columbia.”
Legislation has already been introduced in Congress calling for the elimination of Home Rule, which is D.C.’s ability to govern itself, but Bowser expressed skepticism that it would have enough support to pass through both the House and Senate.
“Getting bills, especially controversial ones, through both houses, is never simple, and so I would put a change to Home Rule in that category,” Bowser said, emphasizing that there is a difference between what the president says and what Congress does.
“I don’t connect his statements with anything in Congress,” she said. “I think they’re unrelated.”
Bowser did not respond directly to questions about how concerned she was personally or whether she thought a federal takeover was a true possibility, only saying that the whole situation “makes people very anxious.”
“It makes people in our community anxious, it makes our policymakers anxious, businesses anxious,” Bowser said. “We have to fight every day for not being in this position, and the only way we’re not in this position is when we become a state.”
Police give their take
The D.C. police department released a statement Thursday, appearing to lightly push back against Trump’s complaints about crime in the city, noting a 35% drop in violent crime in 2024, including a 32% drop in homicides and a 39% drop in robberies.
“As we continue to build upon this historic progress in public safety over the past year, I will continue to drive down violent crime,” Police Chief Pamela Smith said.
Smith mentioned by name conservative activist Ed Martin, who Trump just nominated to be U.S. attorney for D.C.
His appointment will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, though Martin is already serving in the role on an interim basis.
“Since his first day in office, U.S. Attorney Martin has expressed his commitment to helping the District of Columbia address my greatest concern, which is accountability for repeat violent offenders and individuals with illegal guns who brazenly and repeatedly endanger people in our city,” Smith said.
Continuation of a feud
There has been an ongoing and growing feud between federal and local lawmakers over self-government in the nation’s capital in recent years.
In 2023, the House and Senate passed a bill to overturn changes to the city’s criminal code that had been approved by the D.C. Council.
Former President Joe Biden signed the measure, reflecting a shift in the long-held Democratic position that the federal government should let D.C. govern itself.
The criminal code rewrite was the first D.C. law to be completely overturned in such a way since 1991.
However, because D.C. is not a state, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability essentially vets all new District laws and frequently alters or limits them through “budget riders.”
One well-known example came in 2015, when Congress passed a rider prohibiting the District from using funds to enact new laws to regulate and tax a local marijuana industry.
That stopped businesses from being able to sell recreational marijuana legally, even though it is legal to possess and smoke marijuana in the District.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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