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Washington, D.C.’s mayor struck a dramatically different tune Tuesday regarding President Donald Trump’s federalization of the city’s police force, diverging from her original response to the matter.
“This is a time where community needs to jump in. We all need to, to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city and to protect our autonomy, to protect our home rule, and get to the other side of this guy, and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push,” Bowser said during town hall with community leaders, which was livestreamed on X.
She called Trump’s effort “an intrusion on our autonomy.”
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during an online town hall on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Mayor Muriel Bowser/X)
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Monday, the mayor’s comments were significantly less inflammatory, when she simply called the move “unprecedented” but said she wasn’t “totally surprised.”
During the meeting, she also pleaded with parents to be aware of what their children are doing, and suggested that mobs of juveniles committing crimes are not actually criminals.
“You’ve heard me talking about youth a lot in the last several months, especially youth who are participating in really destructive, disruptive behavior with these kind of youth takeovers,” Boswer said. “Some of them are our kids. Some of them are coming across the region to descend on places like the Navy Yard. So parents — this is not the first time you’ve heard me say this — so parents, you really need to know where your kids are. I think we really have some kids that are, you know, not criminals, but they are getting together in big groups and causing some really — they’re causing destruction.”
President Donald Trump moved toward a federal takeover of D.C.’s police. (Getty Images)
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On Wednesday, the Trump administration blasted Bowser’s leadership in response to her comments.
“President Trump has rightfully stepped in to restore safety and security to Washington D.C. because for years, Democrat leadership failed to do so,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. “While crime surged and homelessness skyrocketed, DC leaders did nothing to stop the dangerous situation — their only response was to change crime statistics to hide the problem.
“But this hasn’t fooled DC’s residents and visitors who are well aware of how dangerous the city is. In just the few days since President Trump has gotten involved, over 100 dangerous criminals have been removed from the streets along with illegal weapons and drugs. Where Democrat leaders failed, President Trump will succeed — DC will be safe and clean again thanks to bold actions from President Trump.”
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025, in Washington as from left, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, look on. (AP/Alex Brandon)
When asked for further clarification about Bowser’s Tuesday comments, the mayor’s press secretary, Daniel Gleick, directed Fox News Digital to crime statistics Bowser mentioned during the same town hall that the White House disputed.
“MPD has been doing the job with community and all of their partners in government to drive down violent crime in the District of Columbia,” Bowser said. “We have, in fact, experienced a 26% decrease, and that’s on top of the 35% decrease we saw in violent crime last year. Having said that, we never take our foot off the gas, and we’re never satisfied with any level of crime.”
But those statistics, as the White House noted, may have been manipulated by a D.C. police commander, who is on administrative leave pending an investigation into the matter.
Gleick responded to that report by pointing to comments Bowser made in a separate interview Tuesday.
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Bowser said, “The chief of police had concerns about one commander, investigated all seven districts and verified that the concern was with one person. So, we are completing that investigation, and we don’t believe it implicates many cases.”
Gleick added, “The mayor says department leadership found data reporting anomalies in just one police district.”
Juvenile crime has been a point of emphasis amid the Trump administration’s federalization move.
On the night of May 17, a mob of about 100 teenagers terrorized the Navy Yard neighborhood a block from Nationals Park.
It was the second such teen takeover in less than a month.
People participate in a rally against the Trump Administration’s federal takeover of the District of Columbia, outside of the AFL-CIO on August 11, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump announced he is placing the DC Metropolitan Police Department under federal control, and will deploy the National Guard to the District in order to assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
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At about 8 p.m., police began receiving calls about disorderly conduct, but the situation quickly turned violent. One group of teens beat two bystanders, punching them, knocking them to the ground and then stomping on them, according to WUSA9.
There was at least one other similar incident that night.
Fox News Digital reached out to Bowser’s office and the DOJ.