This week in the D.C. takeover: Bowser plays nice

You could call it accepting political reality. Or appeasement. Maybe just making the best of a bad situation. Whichever you choose, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is doing it.

On Wednesday, Bowser said that despite the local angst over President Trump’s decision to take over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deploy federal law enforcement agents and the National Guard, she is happy with the results so far. Crime, she told a room of reporters, is down 15% compared to the same period last year, with violent crime taking a dive of 45% – and carjackings, one of the city’s most pervasive scourges, falling a dramatic 87%.

“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city,” she said. “We know that when carjackings go down, when use of guns go down, when homicides or robberies go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer. So this surge has been important to us for that reason.”

For a city where residents have been protesting and organizing against what many call a federal occupation, Bowser’s almost-thankful tone could seem discordant. But for close watchers of the mayor, it was consistent with how she has approached Trump since he took office: mostly quietly, giving an inch here and there with the hope that it dissuades him from taking a mile.

Crime was already trending down when Trump kicked off his surge in D.C., and it’s impossible to definitively say that the surge alone has led to the continuing declines this month. (The Trump administration touted a recent 12-day stretch without a homicide; D.C. had a 16-day stretch earlier this year, without the feds or National Guard around.) Still, Bowser is probably making a safe bet that many D.C. residents will be happy to see improvements in public safety, whether or not masked federal agents had anything to do with them. A recent Washington Post poll showed that D.C. residents said they were already feeling safer before the surge, though crime still remained a persistent concern for many. 

There’s also the harsh political reality Bowser has to deal with. While Trump will need to get congressional approval to extend his control over MPD beyond 30 days (the deadline is Sept. 11), he can keep his federal agents and the National Guard in D.C. for as long as he pleases – no matter how much Bowser and residents protest and push back. Bowser seems to have calculated that if federal agents are going to be here, she may as well try and use them to the best of her abilities – and to help backfill MPD as she pushes to hire 500 more police officers. (MPD currently has some 3,200; Bowser wants it closer to 4,000, and says she will push for more hiring and retention incentives.)

“Since this surge began, it has been my charge to my team to make sure that while we have federal resources we are strategically using them to enhance MPD’s efforts and make sure we are getting the best outcomes for D.C. residents while at the same time making sure we are living up to our commitments to D.C. residents and protecting local control and our autonomy,” she said.

That’s a lot to hope for, and also an incredibly narrow political needle to thread. By essentially accepting the presence of Trump’s federal agents, Bowser risks being seen as also endorsing their tactics. And it’s those tactics that have attracted the most negative attention in D.C. 

While Bowser has pushed back against ICE agents wearing masks (and said she hopes the focus is on violent crime, not immigration), residents have more broadly complained about traffic stops that have turned into immigration checks, aggressive tactics that MPD itself wouldn’t often employ, and the pervasive feeling that federal agents are free to do as they please – and with little fear of accountability. 

At one point, even Bowser conceded that there has been “a break in trust between police and community.” But she and Police Chief Pamela Smith also dodged and weaved when repeatedly asked whether they were concerned that the federal presence would discourage locals from calling police if they witness a crime or are a victim of one. “Clearly, there is some hesitation with some of our community members,” Smith eventually said. (D.C. history shows that distrust in local police can end poorly; the 1991 riots in Mt. Pleasant stemmed from Latino anger over how they were treated by MPD. On Wednesday, there was a tense standoff with police in the neighborhood.)

Bowser seems to be betting that in the short term, the decrease in crime will mitigate the local concerns over how police are operating, and that if she continues to play nice with Trump, he will repay the favor by letting her and Smith corral the federal agents into playing nicer. (Is it working? On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted that Bowser had "credited" Trump's surge for the apparent decrease in crime.) More broadly, she wants Republicans in Congress to see her as a partner in this effort, and one who they will listen to when they decide to take a whack at D.C.’s criminal justice laws. (Which they have said they want to do.)

But if the last eight months have shown anything, it’s that appeasing Trump has gotten Bowser mixed results – at best. She painted over Black Lives Matter Plaza and tried to repeal the city’s sanctuary city law, only to have Trump order federal agents and troops into the city. (He’s also been dismissive of her. “Mayor Bowser better get her act straight or she won't be mayor very long,” he said last week.) 

Since the surge began, Bowser has been restrained in her own comments about it. Trump, though, tried to install a close aide to run MPD on a daily basis (stopped only by a federal judge). This week, he went a step further, threatening to employ the death penalty for people convicted of murder in D.C. and moving to repeal the city’s 30-year-old law that allows people to be released from jail without having to post bail. (Violent offenders can be held pre-trial, though.) He also empowered Attorney General Pamela Bondi to propose changes to MPD’s general orders, the guidelines for how police should operate and conduct themselves. I asked Bowser what she would do if Bondi proposed letting police more easily use deadly force, or tried to get rid of the body cameras that local police have to use. Bowser hinted that she would oppose any such moves, but also said it was too early to tell what Bondi might do.

Not everyone is on board with Bowser’s going-along-to-get-along strategy, of course.

In a statement, Free D.C., a hub for organizing against the federal takeover, demanded that federal agents leave. "D.C. needs these federal forces out immediately. Every hour that they are still here is an hour that people in D.C. are in danger,” said the group.

Some members of the D.C. Council similarly seem to think Bowser is misreading public sentiment and failing to stand up for residents’ already limited power to decide their own fates. 

“We, as city leaders, should be unequivocal that the federal surge of officers in D.C. and deployment of national guardsmen on our streets are dangerous, unnecessary, and an affront to home rule,” tweeted Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker. “We ought to be real clear about that. Real clear.”

On Thursday morning, Parker added: “The balance is tough, but we must not legitimize an illegitimate agenda.”

“D.C. is under siege by our own fed govt, w/ armed military patrolling our streets & masked agents scooping up neighbors & taking them away. Our residents are afraid, hesitant to go out & to work, angry that our limited autonomy is being eroded. There is nothing welcome about this,” added Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau. 

“It’s absolutely not going well,” said Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George in a video posted on Instagram. “We are literally a city under siege, and it looks and feels that way.”

Former mayoral contender and At-Large Councilmember Robert White went further, posting a six-minute video on X where he tore into Bowser for her comments – and calling what Trump is doing a “full authoritarian takeover” that will soon be exported to other cities.

"I just finished watching the mayor's press conference where she said she appreciates the federal surge and it's having positive results. That's not the case. People are scared. People's rights are being violated. People are being snatched on the way to school. This is not OK,” he said. “This is trampling on democracy in real time on our watch. I have an obligation to the District of Columbia residents to say I am not OK with this.”

People close to Bowser will brush aside such comments; the mayor, they say, doesn’t have the luxury of just symbolically opposing the federal surge. Maybe not. But it could be as risky to be seen as symbolically welcoming it. Still, Bowser seemed to pick up on at least some of that criticism. Asked about it on Thursday, she struck a slightly more defiant tone.

“Our north star is protecting home rule and the District’s autonomy, in all things,” she said. “We didn’t ask for any federal officers. We’re driving crime down. But while they are here, how can we most strategically use them to accelerate the work that MPD has done? That’s our point. I thought I made it very clear that what has not worked during this period of time is ICE terrorizing communities, especially with masks and especially not having enough information on where people are.”

The National Guard is now armed – and on garbage duty

Last week we told you all about the 2,000 National Guardsmen that are deployed across D.C., largely posted up in tourist areas and patrolling a small number of Metro stations. As we reported, the Guard would be unarmed. Until now. Over the weekend, members of the Guard were authorized to carry weapons “in support of local law enforcement agencies.”

This is a significant step up from the original deployment, in which Guardsmen were intended to serve as an unarmed show of force. All of this is provoking new questions from local officials, including D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who this week sent a letter to Trump administration officials seeking details on the “scope, mission, legal parameters, and cost of the deployment.” She also introduced a bill that, if passed, would require the National Guard to wear body cameras when deployed in D.C. – the same technology that all local police officers use.

In the meantime, the Guard has been out on litter duty.

On Tuesday, the D.C. National Guard posted images and video of troops picking up trash in Lafayette Square Park and by the Tidal Basin, a small sampling of “beautification and restoration” projects the Guard will be working on. What type of projects? A source provided The 51st with a working list that was compiled by the National Park Service, and it includes everything from cleaning monuments and headstones to removing old tires from medians and installing new benches in parks. 

Now, that could be seen as a perfectly peaceful use of the Guard as it’s deployed in D.C. Who could argue against trash being picked up, after all? But it’s certainly a costly way to pick up trash; the Guard’s deployment is estimated to cost $1 million a day. And it’s not a particularly sustainable solution, since the Guardsmen will eventually go home. These are the types of things that would usually be left to the National Park Service – but DOGE cut its staffing and budget.

Breathe in all that freedom, D.C.

There’s always been a tinge of hyperbole in how President Trump and his aides have spoken of his decision to deploy federal agents and the National Guard in D.C.; he did refer to the city as among the most dangerous in the world, despite it not being true. (It’s not even the most dangerous in the country.)

But that hyperbole reached almost stratospheric levels this week when Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and primary architect of the takeover of D.C., claimed that Trump’s actions and their impacts on public safety had literally freed the city’s residents from self-imposed imprisonment in their own homes.

“President Trump has literally set the people of Washington, D.C. free,” he said on Fox on Monday night. “They are so happy now they can go and live their lives and go to their favorite restaurant or bar or their favorite pool hall or park. You see moms taking kids out to parks they haven't been to in years because they know the police are there and that President Trump is there with his law enforcement to protect them.”

In separate comments in the Oval Office, Miller said that residents were using the parks for the first time in their lives, and, on a more practical level, “They are wearing their watches again."

Now, there’s a glaring contradiction here: D.C. doesn’t have voting representation in Congress and only has limited home rule, meaning that residents are only so free to determine their own fates. And Republicans have been actively floating repealing home rule, which would make D.C. residents far less free than they are even now. We will, though, still have our watches.

It seems indicting a ham sandwich (thrower) is harder than expected

You already know about Sandwich Guy, the local legend who stood up to the takeover of D.C. with, well, a mediocre footlong sub awkwardly tossed at a federal agent. In response, the Trump administration threatened to throw the book at Sean Charles Dunn, charging him with felony assault on a police officer.

Not so fast. The New York Times reported on Thursday that a federal grand jury has refused to indict Dunn on that charge, seemingly sending a message to federal prosecutors that assault with a deli weapon doesn’t merit the eight years in prison the law allows. Relatedly, WUSA9 reported this week that another grand jury refused to indict a D.C. woman on the same charge – even though prosecutors tried three times.

This is not the first time that Trump’s prosecutors have talked a big game about going after protesters, only to have judicial reality settle in. Earlier this year, they charged a D.C. man for writing anti-Musk messages on Teslas with erasable markers, calling it an act of “domestic terrorism.” A few months later, though, he walked away with community service.

And while Dunn’s case is only one of the many arrests that have come with the federal surge, it’s not the only case where judges and juries have been questioning the tactics used by police. As the Washington Post reported this week, judges have thrown out cases due to illegal police searches and forcefully questioned whether the government disobeyed an order to release a woman from custody. In another case, a federal judge strongly criticized how masked federal agents arrested a food delivery driver outside a D.C. coffee shop. “You should be treated with basic human dignity. We don’t have a secret police,” the judge said.

As for Dunn, his legal travails aren’t yet over, but they may get less serious. Fox 5 is reporting that he may ultimately only face a misdemeanor charge.