WATCH: Trump Expands Federal Takeover To Another Blue City

While speaking with reporters in the Oval Office Friday, President Donald Trump announced that he will be sending a surge in federal assets to a handful of blue cities that have been racked by crime and dysfunction in recent decades, expanding upon the administration’s federal takeover in Washington D.C.

President Trump announced earlier this month that he would be taking control of Washington D.C. law enforcement assets using Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. The president has also dispatched hundreds of National Guard personnel and federal agents to assist in the takeover, which was launched after a series of high-profile assaults and murders targeting government employees.

The move has led to a dramatic surge in crime, including an ongoing eight-day stretch without a homicide. Prior to the takeover, Washington D.C.’s murder rate topped out at the fourth-highest in the nation in 2024. Carjackings have also plummeted by 83 percent, while robberies are down 43 percent, in addition to decreases in a number of additional crime categories.

While Trump can only invoke the Home Rule Act in the nation’s capital, he can dispatch federal agents and National Guard personnel to assist with federal law enforcement agencies in other cities. This has already been done in California, where the president federalized the state’s National Guard and dispatched U.S. Marines to assist with deportation operations. Federal agents have also been dispatched to hotbeds of left-wing extremism, such as Portland, in the president’s first term in office.

Now, Trump is setting his sights on Chicago, he told reporters in the Oval Office Friday. “After we do this will go to another location, and we’ll make it safe, also. We’re going to make our country very safe,” the president said. “We’re going to make our cities very, very safe. Chicago’s a mess.”

He went on to refer to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson as “grossly incompetent” and said his administration will be taking an increased role in tackling crime in the Windy City. “That’ll be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough. And the people in Chicago, Mr. Vice President, are screaming for us to come,” Trump said while turning to Vice President Vance.

“They’re wearing red hats, just like this one. But they’re wearing red hats. African-American ladies, beautiful ladies, are saying, ‘please, President Trump, come to Chicago.’ Please. I did great with the black vote, as you know.”

The president further suggested that his popularity in the blue stronghold is more widespread than it appears. “They’ll say bad things about me, and then they’ll say, ‘thank God he’s here,’ because half of them got mugged.

After Chicago, Trump suggested that New York City could be next. The president has vowed to take a hardline stance against mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani who has vowed to openly obstruct federal immigration law.