President Donald Trump is expected this week to address a campaign promise of revitalizing Washington, D.C., so the nation’s capital can exude pride from visitors and voters.
Trump, who in December called the nation’s capital "a nightmare of murder and crime," is expected to issue an executive order this week that would increase penalties and enforcement of violent and petty crimes, clear homeless camps, and clean graffiti throughout the city, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The White House has been calling D.C. community members to assemble a group of victims of violent crime for an event anticipated for Friday, Axios reported Monday, citing an unnamed source.
Early drafts of the executive order have included language that would clear homeless encampments, direct prosecutors to pursue tougher penalties for gun violence, as well pursue petty crime such as public urination.
The mandates would revive one of Trump’s 2020 executive orders to protect national monuments, the Post reported, citing people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private conversations between the White House and Democrat D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration.
The order is also expected to focus broadly on federal parks controlled by the National Park Service.
Bowser, in talks with White House officials, discussed her interest in making cosmetic improvements to the district, the Post reported, seeing her best path forward as finding shared interests with Trump. In December, Bowser met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and said afterward, "President Trump and I both want Washington, D.C., to be the best, most beautiful city in the world and we want the capital city to reflect the strength of our nation."
Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution granted Congress plenary legislative authority over the district that served as the permanent seat of the federal government, which in 1801 became D.C., formerly parts of Maryland and Virginia.
In 1973, Congress passed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which provided for an elected mayor and city council to govern the district.
Trump’s expected order comes amid legislation, the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident Act, or BOWSER Act, proposed by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., which would strip the D.C. government of its powers and repeal the Home Rule Act.
"The corruption, crime, and incompetence of the DC government has been an embarrassment to our nation’s capital for decades," Lee said Feb. 6 in a news release. "It is long past time that Congress restored the honor and integrity of George Washington to the beautiful city which bears his name."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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