Beyer, Kaine condemn Trump’s DC police takeover

Alexandria’s congressional delegation joined a chorus of regional lawmakers Monday condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize Washington D.C.’s police department and deploy National Guard troops, with U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine calling the move a “waste of taxpayer dollars” designed to distract from other issues.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who represents Alexandria, joined eight other members of the National Capital Region delegation in a statement released hours after Trump’s announcement that he would temporarily take control of the Metropolitan Police Department through Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Donald Trump has personally incited more crime in Washington D.C. than perhaps anyone else living,” the lawmakers said, referencing Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 Capitol rioters. “Trump’s ‘temporary’ takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department is not intended to prevent crime, it is a soft launch of authoritarianism.”

“Crime in our nation’s capital is at historic lows today, but still too high for those who are victimized. We want to build on recent crime-fighting successes in ways that respect, protect, and empower Washingtonians,” Beyer shared in a post on Facebook. “The President’s announcement this morning is an unserious and unacceptable publicity stunt. If he wants to reduce crime in the District of Columbia, he should focus on getting his Republican allies in Congress to restore the funding they arbitrarily stripped out of the city’s budget, which risks cuts to law enforcement and other public safety measures”.

Kaine separately criticized Trump’s timing and motives, noting that crime in the District has reached historic lows.

“If President Trump really cared about safety in D.C., he would have immediately deployed the National Guard on Jan. 6, 2021, and wouldn’t have pardoned hundreds of rioters who broke into the Capitol that day, including individuals convicted of assaulting police officers,” Kaine said in a statement.

Kaine called the federal intervention “an unnecessary escalation clearly designed to distract Americans from issues like rising prices and incompetence from the Trump Administration.”

Trump declared a public safety emergency in the nation’s capital Monday morning, despite District officials noting that violent crime has fallen 26% this year and reached 30-year lows in 2024, according to Associated Press reporting.

The regional lawmakers argued the federal intervention would harm rather than help public safety efforts by pulling federal agents from other critical missions.

“By taking law enforcement away from vital missions for this stunt, for instance pulling counterterrorism officers away from their mission and DEA agents away from fentanyl interdiction, Trump’s misuse of federal police harms crime prevention efforts across the country,” the delegation said.

The lawmakers called instead for restoring federal funding that Congress had stripped from D.C.’s budget, warning that cuts could affect law enforcement and other public safety measures.

Trump’s action, authorized under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, allows federal control for up to 30 days unless Congress approves an extension. The president also activated 800 National Guard members and deployed about 500 federal law enforcement officers throughout the capital.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) had not issued a statement on Trump’s action as of late Monday.