President Donald Trump on Monday announced new measures that tightened his grip on security in Washington, a day after National Guard troops began carrying weapons in the US capital.
Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard, who now number more than 2,200 -- earlier this month as part of what he has billed as a crackdown on allegedly out-of-control crime in the city.
On Monday, Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to set up a specialized unit within Washington's National Guard "dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the nation's capital."
In the same executive order, Trump directed the hiring of additional National Park Police in the city, as well as more prosecutors to focus on litigating violent and property crimes.
Trump also took aim at cashless bail in a separate order and told law enforcement that anyone arrested should be held in federal custody "to the fullest extent permissible" and federal charges should be pursued against them.
Those steps are aimed at ensuring that "criminal defendants who pose a threat to public safety are not released from custody prior to trial," the president wrote.
The previous day, National Guard troops in Washington began carrying their service-issued weapons, the US military said, noting they are only authorized to use force as a last resort.
The National Guard forces in the capital are from overwhelmingly Democratic-voting Washington as well as the Republican-led states of West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.
Federal law enforcement personnel, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have also increased their presence on Washington's streets, drawing protests from some residents.
Trump and fellow Republican politicians have claimed that the US capital is overrun by crime, plagued by homelessness and financially mismanaged.
Data from Washington police showed significant drops in violent crime between 2023 and 2024, though that was coming off a post-pandemic surge.
But Trump has accused Mayor Muriel Bowser of "giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures," threatening "bad things," including a total federal takeover of the city, if she does not stop doing so.
On Monday, Republican Representative James Comer wrote on X that the House Oversight Committee, which he chairs, was told by a whistleblower with "firsthand knowledge" that top DC police leadership had ordered the manipulation of crime data for the city.
He pointed readers to a post from the committee, which said a congressional investigation had been launched into the city's police for alleged crime stat manipulation and included a link to a Washington Post article on the probe.
AFP
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