--- title: Trump Threatens 'Complete Federal Takeover' of D.C. Amid Row description: Trump accused Mayor Bowser of sharing "false crime figures" and said "bad things will happen" if the reports continue. canonical: https://time.com/7311556/trump-threatens-dc-federal-takeover-crime-figures-dispute/ author: Callum Sutherland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-08-22T12:40:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:56.893Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Threatens 'Complete Federal Takeover' of D.C. Amid Row og:description: Trump accused Mayor Bowser of sharing "false crime figures" and said "bad things will happen" if the reports continue. og:url: https://time.com/7311556/trump-threatens-dc-federal-takeover-crime-figures-dispute/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4df166dcac189cd/6998c93583ec377cd7c7adea/trump-dc-patrol-august21.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: President Trump Visits Law Enforcement And National Guard During D.C. Crime Crackdown og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Threatens 'Complete Federal Takeover' of D.C. Amid Row twitter:description: Trump accused Mayor Bowser of sharing "false crime figures" and said "bad things will happen" if the reports continue. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4df166dcac189cd/6998c93583ec377cd7c7adea/trump-dc-patrol-august21.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Threatens 'Complete Federal Takeover' of Washington, D.C. as Feud Over City's Crime Figures Escalates > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: D.C. Mayor Bowser on Trump's Immigration Crackdown, Using Masked Federal Officers and Checkpoints [Watch (HLS stream): D.C. Mayor Bowser on Trump's Immigration Crackdown, Using Masked Federal Officers and Checkpoints](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q5Dc6xrZ.m3u8) (2:18)  _Published 2025-08-21. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that 630 total arrests have been made in Washington since federal officers were deployed around the city on Aug. 7. Of those, 251 were arrests of immigrants in the country illegally._ by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Aug 22, 2025 12:40 PM UTC  President Donald Trump speaks to law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C, on Aug. 21, 2025. President Donald Trump speaks to law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C, on Aug. 21, 2025.Anna Moneymaker—Getty Images by [Callum Sutherland](https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/) ## Callum Sutherland Reporter Aug 22, 2025 12:40 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](https://time.com/7280106/trump-interview-100-days-2025/) issued a warning that a “complete and total federal takeover of the city” could take place if Washington, [D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser](https://time.com/5855027/muriel-bowser-trump-black-lives-matter-time100-talks/) continues to share, what he claims are, “false and highly inaccurate crime figures.” “Washington, D.C. is safe again. The crowds are coming back, the spirit is high, and our D.C. National Guard and police are doing a fantastic job. They are out in force, and are not playing games,” [said Trump via Truth Social ](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115070876988527695)in the early hours of Friday morning. “As bad as it sounds to say, there were no murders this week for the first time in memory.” Trump, who had earlier paid a [visit](https://time.com/7311453/trump-patrol-washington-dc-police-military/) to the police and military on-guard in D.C., went on to say that Bowser must “immediately stop” publishing the reports or “bad things will happen,” such as a complete federal takeover. Bowser and other officials, including D.C.’s Attorney General Brian Schwalb, have strongly [pushed back against](https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend/watch/-we-are-not-experiencing-spikes-in-crime-dc-s-mayor-refutes-president-trump-s-claims-244670533695) Trump’s labeling of D.C. as the “most unsafe city” in the U.S. On Aug. 18, a week after he announced the [federal takeover](https://www.msnbc.com/the-weekend/watch/-we-are-not-experiencing-spikes-in-crime-dc-s-mayor-refutes-president-trump-s-claims-244670533695), Trump—who maintains the government intervention was promoted by “crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor” in the capital—[claimed](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115049974697549520) that city officials had put forth “fake crime numbers” to “create a false illusion of safety.” **Read More**: [_Trump Puts D.C. Police Under His Control and Deploys National Guard_](https://time.com/7308788/trump-washington-dc-national-guard/) In January, the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia,[ said](https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/violent-crime-dc-hits-30-year-low#:~:text=Hits%2030%20Year%20Low,-Friday%2C%20January%203&text=WASHINGTON%20%2D%20Total%20violent%20crime%20for,States%20Attorney%20Matthew%20M.%20Graves.) that crime in the city was at a 30-year low—a stat [Mayor Bowser cited](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJaGVJdcFRk) when Trump announced his emergency federal takeover. Furthermore, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) [published data](https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime) on Thursday, reporting that violent crime in D.C. was down by 27% in 2025 compared to the previous year. This comes [after reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/dc-police-crime-data-investigation.html) that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation into the crime data. Trump himself said that D.C. was under “[serious investigation](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115049974697549520)” for publishing what he has deemed to be “fake” statistics. During his in-person visit on Thursday, Trump stopped by a Park Police Facility in D.C. An estimated 300 officers from U.S. agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. marshals, and the National Guard, gathered outside the facility as Trump spoke. The [President told](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2ILWl4Agjvg) law enforcement officials that crime numbers “are way down” following the federal takeover, which is set to last for 30 days from its initiation. “It’s like a different place, it’s a different city… I’ve never received so many phone calls thanking me for what we’ve done in Washington D.C.," said Trump. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who joined the President on the streets of D.C., [said](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115070088108962428) after the visit that no murders had been reported in the capital “because of the presence of law enforcement.” Bondi announced on Thursday that 630 arrests have been made and 86 illegal guns seized in D.C. since federal officers were deployed around the city. Reportedly, 251 of those were arrests of immigrants in the country illegally. A tense legal battle has unfolded following the Trump Administration's intervention in D.C. On the night of Aug. 14, Bondi [issued a directive](https://x.com/ChadGilmartinCA/status/1956162781679640832) appointing Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) chief Terry Cole as the capital’s “Emergency Police Commissioner.” D.C. officials rebelled against the motion, with Schwalb writing a letter to Bowser that same night, calling Bondi’s directive “unlawful” and instructing Bowser that she had “no legal obligation to follow it.” **Read More**: [_D.C. Sues Trump Administration Over Police Takeover and Rallies Against ‘Emergency Commissioner’ Appointment_](https://time.com/7309817/washington-dc-emergency-police-commissioner-appointment-terry-cole/) Schwalb followed up by filing a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on Aug. 15, stating he was “challenging the federal government’s unlawful attempt to take over the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department” in an effort “to ensure that control of MPD remains with the Mayor, the Chief, and the people of the District of Columbia.” “By declaring a hostile takeover of MPD, the Administration is abusing its limited, temporary authority under the Home Rule Act, infringing on the District’s right to self-governance and putting the safety of D.C. residents and visitors at risk,” Schwalb asserted in a statement accompanying the lawsuit. In an emergency court hearing overseen by district Judge Ana Reyes hours after the lawsuit was filed, the DOJ [agreed to rescind](https://time.com/7310140/dc-national-guard-federal-police/) its directive, no longer seeking to appoint Cole as D.C.’s stand-in police commissioner. Bondi [said on Aug. 16](https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1956497104383430938) that she had “issued a new directive to Mayor Bowser requiring MPD to provide the services found necessary by my designee, administrator Terry Cole, to comply fully and completely with federal immigration law and authorities, regardless of any policies MPD might otherwise have.” Responding to the lawsuit, Bondi also accused Schwalb of opposing “efforts to improve public safety in Washington, D.C.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7311556/trump-threatens-dc-federal-takeover-crime-figures-dispute/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7311556/trump-threatens-dc-federal-takeover-crime-figures-dispute/"},"headline":"Trump Threatens 'Complete Federal Takeover' of Washington, D.C. as Feud Over City's Crime Figures Escalates","datePublished":"2025-08-22T12:40:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:56.893Z","description":"Trump accused Mayor Bowser of sharing \"false crime figures\" and said \"bad things will happen\" if the reports continue.","url":"https://time.com/7311556/trump-threatens-dc-federal-takeover-crime-figures-dispute/","keywords":["Trump Administration","Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4df166dcac189cd/6998c93583ec377cd7c7adea/trump-dc-patrol-august21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Callum Sutherland","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/callum-sutherland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4df166dcac189cd/6998c93583ec377cd7c7adea/trump-dc-patrol-august21.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Visits Law Enforcement And National Guard During D.C. 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