Washington .. Sharp Criticism After National Guard Deployment and Trump's Control Over D.C. Police

President Donald Trump's move to take direct control of the Washington D.C. police and deploy the National Guard on its streets has sparked a wave of sharp criticism, with the city's mayor, Muriel Bowser, describing the decision as "concerning and unprecedented," but she confirmed that local authorities are "not entirely surprised" by the president's action.

Trump had ordered the deployment of 800 National Guard members to take over police duties, justifying this by citing rising crime rates that he described as "out of control," despite previous official data indicating that violent crime in the capital had reached its lowest levels in three decades. He also hinted at the possibility of sending in the military "if necessary."

This action comes days after Trump threatened federal takeover of the management of the capital, following an incident in which a Department of Defense employee was assaulted and had his car stolen in the early hours, where the president described this step as a "historic act to save the nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, and chaos."

The move was met with criticism from Democratic lawmakers representing the Washington area, including Representative Glenn Ivey, who found the matter "shocking, even for Trump," questioning whether this step was a prelude to a larger escalation in local governance. Ivey pointed to what he considered a contradiction in the president's stance, saying: "On January 6, he did not want to call in the National Guard, yet now a single crime prompts him to turn the D.C. police into a federal force?".

For his part, Representative Jamie Raskin accused the president of seeking to "stir controversy and divert attention from his refusal to release Epstein files," adding that D.C. residents who voted against him in large numbers may be the target of a politically motivated and retaliatory step.