President Donald Trump says conditions in Washington, D.C., must be made okay by lowering crime rates and charging teens as adults to prevent the federal government from taking control of the capital. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 5 (UPI) — Washington, D.C., would become a federal district and prosecute teens as adults if crime in the nation’s capital does not recede soon, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.
Youths and gangs in the capital are randomly targeting people for violent crimes due to a lack of law enforcement, Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control,” Trump said.
“Local ‘youths’ and gang members … are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming and shooting innocent citizens,” he added, “at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released.”
He said local youths do not fear law enforcement “because they know nothing ever happens to them.”
Trump’s post includes a photo of a young male who is bloodied and sitting on what appears to be an asphalt parking lot.
“The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by thugs,” Trump said. “Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the world to see.”
He said the federal government would have no choice but to take control of the capital and “put criminals on notice.”
“Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago,” Trump added, “and then this incredible young man, with so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of violent crime.”
Trump did not reference the recent shooting deaths of a House intern or two Israel Embassy staffers in Washington, D.C.
Despite such shooting deaths and other crimes in the nation’s capital, local police reported a 35% reduction in crime in 2024, which set a 30-year low, The Hill reported.
So far this year, reported crimes in Washington, D.C., are lower than in 2024, which would establish a new 30-year low if the trend continues.
Trump and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser have met several times since the Nov. 5 election.
The president has said he and the mayor have an amicable relationship, and in a March 28 executive order, created the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force.
That task force includes representatives from several federal agencies and federal law enforcement, who are tasked with cleaning up the city by working with local officials.
Such efforts are to include removing homeless encampments, supporting law enforcement, removing threats to public safety and streamlining the process for residents to obtain concealed carry permits for firearms.
Parks, monuments, structures, roadways and buildings are to be beautified by being restored and graffiti removed from commonly visited local areas, according to the executive order.
The Washington, D.C., mayor’s office did not respond to a UPI request for comment on Tuesday.