NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- President Donald Trump on Monday announced a federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., police department to tackle crime—and suggested New York and other U.S. cities could be next if they don't "self-clean up."
Trump said at a press conference that the National Guard would be deployed to Washington, as U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi oversees the federal takeover of the police department. He then waded into issues in other cities.
“You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. And we have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem,” Trump said. “We’re not going to lose our cities over this. And this will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C.”
Asked later by a reporter if other cities will “follow D.C.’s path,” Trump said, “We’re just going to see what happens with it all.”
“Other cities are hopefully watching this,” Trump said, “and maybe they’ll self-clean up.”
"I'm going to look into New York in a little while," Trump said. "And if we need to do, we're going to do the same thing [in those cities].”
The president singled out local leadership in America's big cities, which is often Democratic, as well as cashless bail, saying, “Every place where you have no cash bail is a disaster. That’s what started the problem in New York, and they don’t change it. They don’t want to change it.”
The NYPD released crime numbers last week that showed a tenth straight month of declines in major index crimes like murder and felony assault. The department noted record-low shootings and shooting victims for the first seven months of 2025.
According to the NYPD numbers, murders were down 49% in July compared to 2024, while felony assault was down 8.1% and robbery was down 7.5%. The stats showed a 33.1% rise in rape. Overall major crimes were down 5.6% year to year.
When the numbers were released, Mayor Eric Adams noted that last month's mass shooting in Midtown "happened against the backdrop of a larger, more hopeful picture — one where the brave men and women of the NYPD continue to drive down crime."
Trump suggested last month that he may intervene in the New York City mayoral election if Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate, wins the race. “Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards. I’ll save New York City, and make it ‘Hot’ and ‘Great’ again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!” Trump posted to social media last month.