In the end, President Donald Trump’s offer was one that Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser could not refuse.
In mobilizing the D.C. National Guard, pressing federal agents into urban law enforcement and taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department — all in the name of fighting violent crime in the nation’s capital — Trump invited Bowser to cooperate with his administration.
The law, federal money and a long-standing threat to repeal self-government in the city lined up behind him, giving Bowser, who one former aide described as having a rare ability to “remove emotion” from political and policy calculations, little choice but to comply.
“What I’m focused on is the federal surge and how to make the most of the additional officer support that we have,” Bowser told reporters after a Tuesday meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
That’s not to say Bowser is thrilled with the position she finds herself in, effectively handing over law enforcement in her city to a president with whom she has had a complicated relationship since his first term. During a videoconference with Washington, D.C., community leaders Tuesday evening, Bowser described Trump’s maneuvers as an “authoritarian push.”
But on the whole, her response has been far more measured than those of Democrats — both in the D.C. area and nationally — who, less encumbered by practical consequences of a fight with the president, have repeatedly and forcefully hammered Trump’s move and him.
“The Trump administration has consistently broken the law and violated the Constitution to further the personal and political agenda of a wannabe king,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement Monday. “We stand with the residents of the District of Columbia and reject this unjustified power grab as illegitimate.”
In a Monday news conference announcing his assertion of power through an executive order, Trump called Bowser “a good person who has tried,” adding that he acted because “she has been given many chances.”
As Bowser noted during a Monday news conference, the city and federal agencies have a long history of working together to plan, execute and protect special events in the city, including during both of Trump’s terms. The two are also largely aligned on the goal of bringing the Washington Commanders back to the city from the Maryland suburbs, and Bowser attended a White House news conference on the topic in May.
But Bowser criticized Trump in the summer of 2020 when he deployed federal law enforcement officers in the nation’s capital and activated the D.C. National Guard to combat protests against police violence. Those forces, including the U.S. Park Police, were used to violently break up a peaceful demonstration outside Lafayette Square, just steps from the White House, clearing a path for Trump to walk to a nearby church to address the news media.
In a letter to Trump in June 2020, before officers on horseback drove demonstrators away from the park, Bowser accused him of “inflaming” and “adding to the grievances” of protesters, creating a more dangerous dynamic.
In order to push federal agents and guardsmen into the streets, Trump declared an emergency in Washington, D.C., even as violent crime rates in the city have been falling.
Bowser is at a disadvantage at a time when her administration is fighting to get Congress and Trump to reverse course on a law enacted this year that froze $1 billion in city money. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in May that he would move “as quickly as possible” to fix what some Republicans said was a mistake in the drafting of the law. The Senate passed a change earlier this year, but the House, which is out of session for its August recess, has made no move toward sending it to the president for his signature.
Beyond that, federal law plainly gives the president the power to assume control of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department for up to 30 days at a time when he declares an emergency, as he did this week, and to activate the D.C. National Guard.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that roughly 850 federal law enforcement officers and agents fanned out across the city Monday night and made 23 arrests on charges ranging from homicide and drug crimes to skipping out on a fare and reckless driving.
Leavitt did not reply to a request for comment on Trump’s relationship with Bowser, nor did city spokesperson Susana Castillo.
Justin Bibb, the mayor of Cleveland and president of the Democratic Mayors Association, said in an interview with NBC News that municipal leaders across the country are watching what’s happening in Washington — on the heels of Trump activating the California National Guard to assist with immigration enforcement in Los Angeles — with wary eyes.
“Absolutely, we’re concerned about it,” he said. “I want to be very crystal clear about something: We do not want the National Guard in our cities.”
Bibb also defended Bowser’s handling of Trump’s crackdown this week, pointing to the unusual situation Bowser finds herself in compared to leaders of other major cities.
“She understands and recognizes that she’s in a unique position where there’s no real statehood in D.C., and her autonomy can be limited, but at the end of the day, she’s going to continue to do the job she’s been doing on reducing violent crime, with or without the support of Donald Trump,” he said.
Trump has publicly mused about returning the limited powers of Washington’s local government to federal control. Since 1973, the city has operated under a “home rule” charter granted by Congress that allows for residents to elect a mayor and city council. But ultimately, the Constitution gives Congress authority to determine the laws of the nation’s capital. Though residents of Washington, D.C., pay federal taxes, the city does not have voting representation in Congress.
Declining to directly criticize Trump, Bowser nodded to the city’s subservient position during her Monday news conference.
“He has prerogatives in D.C. unlike anywhere else in the country,” she said of Trump. “There are things that, when a city is not a state and not fully autonomous and doesn’t have senators, that the federal government can do.”
