President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s “testing” a plan for the federal government to take over Washington, D.C.
According to Bloomberg, D.C. residents have had the right to elect their own government officials since legislation passed in 1973, “though Congress is still able to review local laws and the city’s budget.”
Although Trump has floated the idea of a federal takeover before to help reduce crime, Tuesday was the first time he said his administration was actually working on a plan with D.C.’s mayor, Muriel Bowser (D).
“We have tremendous power at the White House to run places if we have to,” Trump began after being asked at a cabinet meeting about the possibility of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani (D) winning the New York mayor’s race. Trump then shifted his focus to the nation’s capital.
“We could run DC. I mean, we’re looking at DC,” Trump said. “We’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you. We want a capital that’s run flawlessly.”
Trump said he had a “good relationship” with the mayor and that his chief of staff Susie Wiles was working with Bowser, “testing it to see if it works.”
“They’re doing all right, in a sense that, we would run it so good, it would be run so proper,” he said. “We would get the best person to run it. The crime would be down to a minimal, would be much less.”
Trump didn’t let on who “the best person” might be.
“You know, we’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you…And it wouldn’t be hard for us to do it,” he said.
Bowser hasn’t commented so far.