Federal law enforcement has taken charge in Washington, D.C., in a heightened security operation ordered by the White House, with patrols running for an entire week.
Officials confirmed Thursday that the deployment would begin at midnight, bringing in a coordinated force led by the U.S. Park Police and supported by agents from the FBI, DEA, ATF, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and other federal divisions.
The administration said all units will be operating in clearly marked vehicles.
The decision comes less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump hinted at possibly taking over the city’s police department following a shocking attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staff member.
.@POTUS: "Somebody from @DOGE was very badly hurt last night… a young man who was beat up by a bunch of thugs in D.C. Either they're going to straighten their act out… or we're going to have to federalize and run it the way it's supposed to be run." https://t.co/Z6Ywr9oYYX pic.twitter.com/yhg9mRfDaF
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 5, 2025
The victim, Edward Coristine, who goes by the nickname “Big Balls,” was violently assaulted early Sunday morning while getting involved in an attempted carjacking.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Coristine noticed suspects approaching his girlfriend and quickly pushed her into her car before turning to confront the attackers.
MPD’s press statement says he was beaten by the suspects until an arriving police cruiser scared off roughly 10 of them, who scattered on foot.
Two 15-year-olds from Hyattsville, Maryland, a girl and a boy, were arrested and charged with unarmed carjacking.
At a press briefing in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump was asked whether federalizing the D.C. police force remained an option.
“We’re considering it, yeah, because the crime is ridiculous. I could show you a chart comparing D.C. to other locations, and you’re not going to want to see what it looks like,” he remarked.
“It was just up on television, actually, that we’re showing it,” he added. “Now, we want to have a great, safe capital, and we’re going to have it. That includes cleanliness, and it includes other things.”
The president then referenced Coristine’s ordeal, saying the city had “almost lost a young man, a beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him the night before last.”
Trump said he planned to call the victim but wanted to give him a short time to recover first.
“He went through a bad situation, to put it mildly, and there’s too much of it. We’re going to do something about it, whether you call it federalized or what.”
Trump also took aim at the city’s appearance, noting that his plan for the capital included removing graffiti, clearing litter, and repairing crumbling roads and medians.
“We’re going to beautify the city,” he said. “We’re going to make it beautiful. And what a shame, the rate of crime, the rate of muggings, killings, and everything else,” he continued.
“That includes bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly, too.”
On Tuesday night, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was angered by the capital’s crime rate, pointing to an incident in which a victim had been “beaten mercilessly” by “local thugs.”
While he didn’t name Coristine, a photograph of a blood-covered young man sitting on the floor began circulating online Monday.
Big Balls has put everything on the line, his career, his reputation, even his own body to protect the public. I might change his name to Cajones Mas Grande. pic.twitter.com/NHpfc4itn2
— Hernan Cortes (@CyberPunkCortes) August 5, 2025
In response, former DOGE chief Elon Musk publicly confirmed that a DOGE team member had been the victim.
Musk wrote that “a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC. A DOGE team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her.”
Musk then urged the federal government to take control of Washington, D.C.
Tensions between Trump and D.C.’s leadership are nothing new. The president has repeatedly criticized the district over crime, homelessness, and general disorder.
He has suggested more than once that the federal government should run the city directly.
In February, he stated, “I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely, flawlessly beautiful, and I think we should take over Washington, D.C., make it safe.”
This latest move follows another high-profile violent crime, the June 30 fatal shooting of Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kan.).
In the days after, the White House acknowledged that a federal takeover of the city was under discussion. Trump said at the time that he wanted the capital to “run flawlessly.”
Just last month, he repeated the idea, saying, “We could run D.C.,” and adding that “we want a capital that’s run flawlessly, and it wouldn’t be hard for us to do it.”
The Thursday announcement also ties into a March executive order creating the “Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force.”
That initiative aims to boost federal involvement in enforcing immigration laws in the district, track the city’s sanctuary status, and reallocate resources to detain and deport illegal immigrants living there.
Long-term federal control of the capital would require changing the District of Columbia’s Home Rule Act, a 1973 law granting residents the right to elect a mayor and city council while delegating certain powers to local government.
Before that, Congress and federal appointees directly governed the district. In February, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill that would repeal the Home Rule Act.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt laid out the administration’s reasoning for deploying federal law enforcement in her Thursday statement.
“Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long,” she began. “President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens.”
“Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.,” the statement continued.
“President Trump is committed to making our Nation’s capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world.”
Gotta say, it is about time. I lived near DC back in the 60s and even then it was overrun with crime. Not a good look for the country! And it will take an overthrow of the criminals in charge and large in DC. What a mess the dimwit nitwits have made of the capital!
Clean up D.C.? Good luck with that.
Solution is to move the government to the geographic center of the U.S. Lebanon, KS. Put the whole government into mobile office trailers and let them live like their constituents.
Then add:
Bounty hunters
Reward Fund
armed citizens
Expand jail centers more
Then DC crime can drop
If Coristine had been allowed to carry a gun the story would have ended very differently. The D.C. elite, politicians all have some sort of security protection paid for by we taxpayers. They are chauffeured around. The rest of us NOT SO MUCH. D.C. stinks. Only a few blocks from the Capital it looks like a third world ghetto. Totally unacceptable. Professional car jack gangs hire minors to do their dirty work because they know the kids won’t get any serious punishment. That should end. Threaten the kids with “real hard time” and they will sing. Then arrest the leaders and punish them with life in prison or death if they prefer. Nothing will change until L.E. decides to get tough.