Trump Finds Unlikely Partner in DC Mayor

The Democrat mayor of Washington, D.C., will partner with the Trump administration to fight crime in the nation’s capital, she announced Tuesday.

Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an order saying that the Safe and Beautiful Emergency Operations Center will continue to manage the city’s response to the presidential declaration of emergency and the Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which President Donald Trump created by executive order in March.

The order “continues the work” of “the presidential declaration of emergency.”

Last month, Trump invoked the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973 to declare an emergency in the District, authorizing him to federalize the D.C. police until Sept. 10.

The White House praised Bowser for supporting the president’s effort to clean up the streets of the nation’s capital.

“President Trump’s efforts to crack down on crime in D.C. have yielded tremendous results in such a short time: Violent crime has plummeted, and dangerous criminals are being removed from the streets every single night,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement shared with The Daily Signal. “The Trump administration is grateful to continue partnering with Mayor Bowser to make D.C. the safest city in the country.”

“The mayor’s fellow Democrats should take note: Working with President Trump means safer communities and less crime. No one in their right mind could seriously oppose that,” Leavitt added.

The mayor has been “very helpful” in fighting crime, Trump said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

“I would love to receive calls from governors and mayors saying they need help,” he said. “We’ll help them. We have a lot of people. We have a great force. We have a great military force.”

Last week, Bowser thanked the Trump administration for the surge of law enforcement to the city.

“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what [the Metropolitan Police Department] has been able to do in this city,” she said in a Wednesday news conference.

“The difference between this 20-day period of this federal surge and last year represents an 87% reduction in carjackings,” Bowser added.