Washington, D.C.’s top elected leaders on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump’s federal law enforcement surge has undermined public trust and threatened the city’s autonomy, even as they pressed Congress to help the District rebuild its police force and fill critical judicial vacancies.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Attorney General Brian Schwalb told the House Oversight Committee that while crime rates have fallen to 30-year lows, the city still needs long-term federal support, not armed National Guard patrols. All three leaders urged Congress to fund new facilities, confirm judges, and back efforts to restore the Metropolitan Police Department’s ranks to nearly 4,000 officers.
Both Mendelson and Schwalb criticized the effectiveness and legality of the federal surge.
“As the nation’s capital, public safety in the District has always required a strong working partnership with federal law enforcement, regardless of who is in the White House,” Schwalb said. “Declarations of emergency and unilateral federal actions, taken without coordination or advance warning, do not promote long-term public safety.”
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb and Gregory Jackson Jr., former deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at the U.S. Capitol, on Sept. 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
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“Sending masked agents in unmarked cars to pick people up off the streets; flooding our neighborhoods with armed national guardsmen untrained in local policing; attempting a federal takeover of our police force — none of these are durable, lasting solutions for driving down crime,” the D.C. attorney general added. “In fact, this threatens to destroy critical trust between local communities and police, which is essential to effective, efficient policing and prosecution.”
Mendelson called the emergency declaration “a manufactured crime crisis to justify an intrusion on the District’s autonomy.”
At a time when violent crime is at the lowest rate we’ve seen in 30 years, there is no federal emergency that the District needs the president to address,” he said, adding that National Guard troops lack law-enforcement training and have instead been “picking up trash and doing landscaping.”
Schwalb also pushed back against claims that juveniles offenders are not being prosecuted. He said his office brought charges in 84% of all violent youth cases last year, which included more than 90% of homicides, 87% of carjackings and 86% of gun cases.
Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing with Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel in the Rayburn House Office Building, on Sept. 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
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All three officials urged Congress to help address longstanding vacancies on the D.C. courts and to fund a new psychiatric residential treatment facility for youth.
Marking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the U.S., Bowser said, “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the nation’s capital to be the safest and most beautiful it’s been at any point in its history, not just for our residents, but for the millions of Americans who will come to Washington, D.C., to celebrate our country’s heritage.”
House Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer used the hearing to tout Trump’s surge, while Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia countered by trying to link Trump to corruption and the unreleased Jeffrey Epstein files during their opening remarks.
“It’s been one week since the conclusion of President Trump’s historic crackdown on crime in our nation’s capital, and the results are in: since President Trump mobilized the National Guard and took control of the Metropolitan Police Department, violent crime has decreased 39% robberies are down 57% and carjackings are down 75% over 2,300 people have been arrested,” Comer said. “Nearly 950 illegal aliens have been detained by ICE, including 20 gang members from violent terrorist organizations.”
“Sex offenders have been taken off the streets. Authorities thwarted a planned school shooting, cleared 50 illegal tent encampments and rescued seven missing children,” he said.
Garcia, however, sharply criticized Trump’s role.
“President Trump is obsessed with trying to run Washington, D.C., and if President Trump wants to run Washington D.C., he should resign as president and run for mayor.”
“We should, of course, all of us spend our time working with local elected officials. And Congress should not be undermining the elected representatives and the people of Washington, D.C., and if the majority today wants to talk about crime in D.C., in the District, we’re happy to talk about crime in D.C. we know that some of the worst crime and corruption in D.C. is actually found at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said.
Garcia then brought up Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 insurrectionists and the Epstein files.
“In his first days in office, Donald Trump pardoned hundreds of his followers who beat, tased and attacked brave D.C. and U.S. Capitol Police. And right now, since we’re talking about crime and corruption in DC as we speak, Trump is leading a White House cover up of the Epstein files,” Garcia said.