Trump: ‘We’re Considering’ Taking over the D.C. Police; ‘We Have to Run D.C.’

Reporter: “President Trump, on federalizing D.C., are you considering taking over the D.C. police? Is that an option on the table?”

Trump: “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. It was just up on television, actually. They were showing it. Now, we want to have a great, safe capital and we’re going to have it. And that includes cleanliness and includes other things. We have a capital that’s very unsafe. You know, we just almost lost a young man. Beautiful, handsome guy that got the hell knocked out of him the night before last. And I’m going to call him now. We wanted to give him a little recovery time. We just put a call in to him. They’re calling back a little while, but he went through a bad situation, to put it mildly, and there’s too much of it. We’re going to — we’re going to do something about it. So, whether you call it federalize or what — and that also includes the graffiti that you see, the papers all over the place, the roads that are in bad shape, the medians that are falling down, the median in between roads that’s falling down. We’re going to beautify the city. We’re going to make it beautiful. And what a shame. The rate of crime, the rate of muggings, killings and everything else. We’re not going to let it — and that includes bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly, too.”

Reporter: “And do you want Congress to look at overturning the D.C. Home Rule Act?”

Trump: “We’re going to look at that. In fact, the lawyers are already studying it. We have to run D.C. This has to be the best-run place in the country, not the worst-run place in the country. And it has so much potential and we’re going to take care of it. You’re going to be — you’re going to be safe. You’re going to be safe walking down streets. You’re not going to get mugged.”