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Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city’s police chief traveled to Justice Department headquarters on Tuesday to meet with Attorney General Pam Bondi and other senior administration officials to discuss the temporary National Guard takeover in the nation’s capital.
The meeting came hours after President Donald Trump announced plans Monday to temporarily federalize law enforcement in the nation’s capital, both through deploying hundreds of D.C. National Guard troops, and taking control in the near-term of the city’s local police force.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Bowser said the sit-down was focused on coordination and strategy with the federal government.
“What I’m focused on is the federal surge and how to make the most of the additional officer support that we have,” Bowser said. “We have the best in the business with [Metropolitan Police Chief] Pamela Smith to lead that effort, and to make sure that the men and women who are coming from federal law enforcement are being well-used, and that if there’s National Guard here they’re being well-used.”
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The meeting with Bondi and other senior Trump officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Marshals Service Director Gady Serralta, came after Trump on Monday announced plans to use a 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act provision to send National Guard troops to D.C., as part of an effort to “reestablish law order and public safety” and temporarily federalize the city.
D.C. officials, for their part, also urged calm on Tuesday, with Chief Smith stressing to reporters that they regularly work alongside federal law enforcement officials. “I think this is going to be a good effort,” she said Tuesday.
“It’s going to be an effort that’s supported by both teams, the Metropolitan Police Department, as well as our federal partners,” she said.
“What we’ve done at this point is we have provided the team – the administrator – with a strategic plan on how we will provide resources around our city,” she said.
“I think it’s something that is doable. We know that we have to get illegal guns off of our streets, and if we have this influx or enhanced presence, it’s going to make our city even better.”
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The effort was separately praised by Bondi, who described the sit-down with Bowser on social media as “productive.”
“We agreed that there is nothing more important than keeping residents and tourists in Washington, D.C., safe from deadly crime,” Bondi said on Tuesday. “At President Trump’s direction, @TheJusticeDept will work closely with D.C. city government and [the] @DCPoliceDept to make Washington, D.C. safe again.”
Trump has long vowed to “clean up” D.C., a goal he has stressed since his first term in office.
Trump in March signed an executive order, “Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force,” designed to address issues with a city he has long derided as “filthy,” “horribly run” and “crime-ridden,” among other things.
“We want to have a great, safe capital,” he told reporters earlier this year. “And we’re going to have it. And that includes cleanliness and it includes other things.”
Bowser stressed at a press conference Monday that crime rates have fallen in the city, pointing to preliminary figures compiled by the D.C. Police Department and released earlier this year.
Since then, “We haven’t taken our foot off the gas,” Bowser said Monday. She said D.C. is continuing its efforts to fight violent crime, even without the authorities of a full state.
“I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised” by the Trump administration’s efforts, Bowser said during the press conference Monday. “I can say to D.C. residents that we will continue to operate our government in a way that makes you proud.”
Meanwhile, the DC Police Union also said Monday that it supported the administration taking over the police force, but stressed they backed the move only so long as it is a “temporary measure.”
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