Trump suggests federal government take over DC if local leaders ‘can’t do the job’

President Trump suggested Friday that the federal government could take over Washington, D.C., if the national capital’s administration “can’t do the job” as he pursues making the District “the talk of the world.”

“We’re cleaning up our city. We’re cleaning up this great capital, and we’re not going to have crime and we’re not going to stand for crime, and we’re going to take the graffiti down and we’re already taken to tents down there,” Trump said in a speech on “law and order” at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“We’re working with the administration, and if the administration can’t do the job … we’re gonna have to take it back and run it through the federal government,” the president said of the District’s leadership.

“But we hope the administration is going to be able — so far, they’ve been doing very well. The mayor has been doing a good job.”

Trump has previously raised the idea of controlling the District, which is governed by a council of elected representatives and a mayor. A 1973 law stipulates that Congress review all legislation passed by the D.C. Council before it becomes law, and the president appoints the District’s judges. But a federal takeover would require help from Congress.

Trump has said he gets along “great” with Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who has called D.C. “a world-class city.”

However, he clashed with Bowser during his first term, including when riots erupted in the city in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder. The mayor had “Black Lives Matter” painted on one of the streets leading to the White House at the time. That has since been removed during Trump’s second term.

On Friday, Congress is poised to pass a Trump-endorsed funding bill this week that Washington, D.C., officials warn would lead to a $1 billion cut to the District’s local budget, a move that has been catching members of both parties off guard. 

The president has long been critical of the conditions in the city, knocking crime levels and the homeless population. 

Trump added Friday that he wants to “have a capital that can be the talk of the world.”

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron visited the White House in recent weeks, Trump said he “had the route run” so the world leaders avoided seeing tents, graffiti or potholes.