DA Larry Krasner challenges Trump's federal law enforcement control after DC takeover, as retired judge switches parties to run against him in November election

Democrats in Congress denounced the 30-day mobilization inside the capital, which Trump previewed during the 2024 election, as an “unjustified power grab” and vowed to block an extension. The city’s elected attorney general called it an “unlawful” abuse of emergency powers to lower crime rates that the administration itself said had fallen.

As the Trump administration asserts control over the Washington, D.C., police force to address crime, Maryland Democrats say it has overlooked an obvious first step: the city’s budget.

The presence of National Guard troops in Washington, DC, is expected to expand Wednesday evening, according to a White House official, as President Donald Trump’s takeover of the city’s law enforcement continues to take shape.

As President Trump continues the federal takeover of DC, local leaders are walking a delicate balance of pushing back without upsetting the White House's anti-crime push, even against the backdrop of falling statistics.

Trump had laid out his plan for the Smithsonian early in his second term, bemoaning in his aforementioned executive order that the institution had “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” that promotes “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”

Tension in the nation's capital escalated over the question of who controls the city's police department after Washington, D.C.'s Attorney General sued over the White House's bid for full control.