Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed to fight a possible effort by President Donald Trump to get Congress to extend his federal takeover of Washington, D.C., in a new interview released Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Trump announced he was seizing control of the capital’s police force and deploying National Guard troops to the city to fight what he falsely described as “out of control” crime.
Under the D.C. Home Rule Act, the president can only unilaterally take over the Metropolitan Police Department for 30 days, requiring Trump to seek an extension from the House and the Senate to continue the takeover.
In an interview with “The Parnas Perspective,” Schumer said there was “no fucking way” Congress would grant Trump his wish.
“We’ll fight him tooth and nail,” Schumer said. “He needs to get Congress to approve it. And not only are we not going to approve it, but there are some Republicans who don’t like it either.”
Schumer did not name the GOP senators he believes would dare to defy Trump.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday he was planning to seek a “long-term” extension, saying he was confident the GOP-controlled Congress would approve his request, but stressed that he could declare a national emergency to get his way regardless of whether he faced opposition from lawmakers.
“I don’t want to call a national emergency,” Trump said. “If I have to, I will, but I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously.”
While crime remains an issue in D.C., the situation is much different than Trump claims. Total violent crime in the city fell by 35% in 2024, and it’s the lowest it’s been in 30 years, data shows.
Schumer told host Aaron Parnas that Trump’s actions in the nation’s capital amount to a “distraction” tactic, claiming that the president is trying to divert the public’s focus away from the Jeffrey Epstein controversy.
“He’s afraid of Epstein. He’s afraid of all that,” Schumer said, adding that Democrats will continue pressing him on the issue.
While there is no evidence that Trump has committed any wrongdoing around the Epstein case, his administration’s handling of the issue has raised questions.
While Attorney General Pam Bondi said the late sex offender’s “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now to review,” the Justice Department and the FBI later released an unsigned memo declaring there was no evidence to support that Epstein was killed or that he held a client list to blackmail people, prompting outrage, including among Trump’s base.
Epstein died by suicide in federal prison in 2019 during Trump’s first term in office while awaiting a federal sex-trafficking trial in New York.