Updated August 11, 2025 at 8:25 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says National Guard soldiers will be deployed on the streets of Washington, D.C., and he asserted federal control over the city's Metropolitan police department. He said the moves were necessary to quell what he has described repeatedly as an epidemic of crime and homelessness in the nation's capital.

"This is liberation day in DC and we're going to take our capital back, we're taking it back," Trump said during a press conference at the White House. He said the Metropolitan police would now be led by a federal team, which he described as "very good people but they're tough."

The move comes over the objections of local leaders, despite the fact violent crime plunged to a 30-year low last year, according to data c

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