D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser left the District for Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday after President Donald Trump federalized the police department, sources told News4.
A spokesperson for the mayor she a family obligation, had to pick up her daughter and will return on Friday.
Trump’s decision to take over the Metropolitan Police Department for at least 30 days was met with ire from Bowser and other city leaders. “We’re not some hellscape,” Bowser told News4 Tuesday. The president said District residents would be “liberated” from crime under his administration’s watch.
Crime data show large declines in violent crime — dropping to a 30-year low after a jump two years prior. In 2023, D.C. saw a crime spike we had not seen in about 20 years. Homicide and violent crime numbers spiked as we exited the COVID-19 pandemic.
D.C.’s crime drop is not happening in a vacuum. Data from the Council on Criminal Justice looking at more than three dozen cities across the country shows crime is down in all of them since 2023. Homicide is down more across the country on average than in D.C.
Trump dismissed the data along with the police union’s chairman. They also pointed to an investigation of a MPD commander accused of misreporting crime data in the 3rd police district. Bowser said the investigation has found only a few cases may have been affected.
The federalization, deploying of the National Guard and policing actions by federal agents from the ATF, FBI, Homeland Security and other alphabet agencies has sparked protests by residents. Among them, a boisterous crowd demonstrating at a traffic checkpoint along 14th Street near U Street on Wednesday night.
In the shadow of the Kennedy Center Thursday, protesters quoted Christian scripture as the belongings of homeless individuals were shoved into a trash truck and compacted.
Bowser is walking a fine line between criticizing Trump and controlling her public comments to not prompt further action from the administration. In a news conference Tuesday, she told reporters that she’s working to avoid the federalization from becoming a “complete disaster” for the District’s 700,000 residents. Using stronger language, she called the move an “authoritarian push.” Under the law, Bowser and District Council have no power to stop Trump’s action.
Still, Trump seemed to revel in the admission that she left the city — however briefly — during the emergency. He posted a screenshot of reporting by News4’s Mark Segraves to his account on Truth Social, the social media platform that he owns.
Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke one-on-one with News4’s Mark Segraves about her meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
