Trump’s Takeover of D.C.: Necessary and Legal—or Authoritarian and Unconstitutional?

Yesterday, President Trump declared a “public safety emergency” in Washington, D.C., announcing that he would take over the D.C. Metropolitan Police and deploy 800 National Guard troops to crack down on what he describes as an epidemic of crime and homelessness in the city.

“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people. And we’re not going to let it happen anymore—we’re not going to take it,” he said during a news conference. “This is liberation day.”

According to D.C.’s attorney general, Trump’s actions are “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.” And according to the D.C. mayor: "We are not experiencing a crime spike.” Nevertheless, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that the National Guard troops will be on the streets of the capital by the end of the week.

Who is right? Is any of this legal? Is it warranted? And what are the long-term consequences of establishing this precedent?

Join us LIVE to make sense of it all. We’ll be speaking with Free Press columnist Jed Rubenfeld, who is also a constitutional law professor at Yale Law School. He’ll be joined by Free Press columnist Matthew Continetti, the director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.