America’s capital finds itself at centre of Trump maelstrom

Washington: The questions came fast to the mayor of the nation’s capital, many of them designed to get her to say something harsh about Donald Trump — in particular, the president’s freshly announced plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department and call in the National Guard.

But, for the most part, third-term Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser didn’t take the bait. She calmly laid out the city’s case that crime has been dropping steadily and said Trump’s perceived state of emergency simply doesn’t match the numbers.

She also flatly stated that the capital city’s hands are tied and that her administration has little choice but to comply. “We could contest that,” she said of Trump’s definition of a crime emergency, “but his authority is pretty broad.”

Her comments came Monday hours after Trump, flanked by the people who oversee the military and the Justice Department, said that in the hopes of reducing crime he would be taking over police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard, some of whom arrived Tuesday.