President Donald Trump has issued a direct threat toward Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, saying she may not remain in her position if she does not meet his demands. This comes after Trump recently ordered a federal takeover of the city earlier this month, claiming he was responding to high crime rates—a claim that contradicts official reports showing D.C.’s crime rate has been at a 30-year low.
Trump has accused Bowser of lying about crime numbers, though he has offered no proof. In a press conference on Friday, he said the city was unsafe before his administration stepped in and warned Bowser to “get her act straight,” or he would remove her and have the federal government run the city directly. He described Washington, D.C. as a “crime-infested rat hole” and claimed progress was already being made under his control, even saying they were “getting rid of the rats” as part of the cleanup.
He intensified his attacks with a 2 a.m. post on Truth Social the same day, boasting that the city was “safe again” and that no murders had been recorded that week, which he called a rare event. He insisted Bowser was spreading false information about crime levels and warned of “bad things” if she continued, including a total federal takeover.
Since early August, Trump has brought federal law enforcement into the city, arrested hundreds of people—including more than 250 undocumented immigrants—and taken control of the D.C. police department. Additional National Guard troops, many from Republican-led states, have also been deployed. Trump hinted that the measures in D.C. might become a model for other cities, suggesting this federal intervention could expand nationwide.
Bowser has rarely criticized Trump, but his recent actions and rhetoric mark an escalation of his influence over the capital and his willingness to override local leadership. Reports and fact-checks have contradicted his justification for these moves, showing that crime had already been on a steady decline. Yet Trump has framed his takeover as a necessary action to restore safety, even while threatening the elected mayor’s position and promising to stay in control of the city for the foreseeable future.
