Washington Post - The
attempted carjacking of a former DOGE staffer in D.C. prompted
President Donald Trump to call once again for a federal takeover of the
nation’s capital.
Trump, who has long derided the Democratic-controlled city as “filthy and crime-ridden,”
has made more threats to D.C.’s right to self-govern than any other
president in modern history — contemplating taking control of the D.C.
police force during a bout of protests during his first term and making a
campaign promise to “take over the horribly run capital of our nation.”
Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday that he now may have “no
choice” but to take over the city, following the incident with the
former DOGE staffer, whom police identified as Edward Coristine...
Beyond revoking Home Rule, federal lawmakers have other ways of interfering in D.C. affairs. They include budget riders,
provisions that are attached to must-pass spending bills. Two
long-standing examples are riders that prevent the District from
regulating marijuana use and using local funds to subsidize abortion
care. In addition, Congress can overturn laws passed by the D.C.
Council, a power it invoked in 2023 when the Senate voted to block a major overhaul of the city’s criminal code.
Beyond
Congress, the president wields direct authority over the District in
certain limited areas — offering ways to exert influence that fall short
of a full federal takeover.
Trump
has the power to call up the D.C. National Guard and deploy it without
local consent, for example. That sets the District apart from the
states, where that power falls to the governor.
The Home Rule Act
also gives the president the authority to temporarily take over the
District’s police department. Trump can order the mayor to provide the
federal government with D.C. police services in “special conditions of
an emergency … as the President may deem necessary and appropriate.”
Commandeering the D.C. police force would mark an unprecedented exercise of federal power over a major American .city
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