US President Donald Trump speaks during a Purple Heart Day event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025.
Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump is considering deploying up to 1,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., as he complains about violent crime and homelessness in the capital city, NBC News reported.
Trump, who has threatened to put Washington under federal control, is set to hold a news conference at 10 a.m. Monday at the White House.
“Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today!” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier Monday.
“Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote.
Trump, in a social media post on Sunday, declared that “the Homeless” in D.C. will “have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” while assuring that the government “will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
Soldiers from the U.S. Army National Guard 42nd Infantry Division walk through streets in Washington, D.C. on June 13, 2025 ahead of a parade and festival the following day celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
Bryan Dozier | Afp | Getty Images
While Trump has complained about crime in the District, the incidence of violent crime has fallen to a 30-year low as of January, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Despite that, federal law enforcement presence in D.C. has been ramped up in recent days.
Trump’s complaints about crime in D.C. ramped up after reports that Edward Coristine, one of the initial staffers on the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, was assaulted there earlier this month.
Trump also signaled he plans to renew criticism of the cost of an ongoing renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters, continuing his line of attack against the central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell.
In another social media post, he wrote, “We are not going to allow people to spend $3.1 Billion Dollars on fixing up a building, like the Federal Reserve, which could have been done in a far more elegant and time sensitive manner for $50 to $100 Million Dollars.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has pushed back on Trump’s characterizations.
“People are coming to our capital. They’re starting business in our capital, and they’re raising families in our capital. Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false,” Bower said Sunday on MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”
The Trump administration deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles in June to address civil unrest over federal immigration enforcement operations in the city.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued the administration, arguing that Trump’s actions were unconstitutional.
A trial on the suit in California federal court is set to begin Monday morning.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
