5 months ago
President Donald Trump has announced that he is working with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on a "Comprehensive Crime Bill."
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email outside normal business hours.
Why It Matters
Trump has made a crackdown on crime, especially in major cities, a cornerstone policy of his second term. New legislation could enable the president to take more steps in his campaign against crime, which he has branded "Making America Safe Again."
Trump's push on what he characterizes as lawlessness began earlier this month with the declaration of a "crime emergency" in Washington, D.C., and the temporary federal takeover of the city's police powers.
The scope has now expanded to Democrat-led cities and states, pitting the administration against local officials who view this as both unnecessary and an example of executive overreach.
What To Know
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, said he was working with Republicans on comprehensive new legislation on crime.
"Speaker Mike Johnson, and Leader John Thune, are working with me, and other Republicans, on a Comprehensive Crime Bill. It's what our Country need, and NOW! More to follow," Trump wrote. He did not elaborate.
The president has deployed more than 2,000 National Guard troops to the nation's capital, which the administration says is necessary to combat what Trump characterizes as a high rate of violent crime.
City officials have objected to the deployment, citing police data that shows crime in the city has fallen.
Dismissing the data and undeterred by the criticism, the president has said in recent days that he may deploy federal troops to other Democratic-led cities, including Baltimore, Chicago and New York.
Critics worry about executive overreach or an "authoritarian power grab," as Northwestern University law professor Paul Gowder characterized the proposed deployments to other cities. They say the Constitution allows the president to usurp National Guard control from governors only in very narrow circumstances.
Among Trump's other steps against crime are a pair of executive orders that he signed on Monday aimed at eliminating cashless bail in Washington and nationwide.
Cashless bail is a shorthand term for pretrial release policies in which defendants are allowed to await trial outside jail without first having to put up money. In recent years, a number of jurisdictions have enacted reforms effectively abolishing cash bail, including Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and Washington, D.C.
During a news conference on crime in the capital this month, Trump said, "Every place in the country where you have no cash bail is a disaster." He blamed the policy for crime rates in Chicago and New York.
Supporters of bail reform say cashless bail makes the justice system more equitable by ensuring that people are not held in jail simply because they cannot afford to post bail. They also say cash bail is an ineffective form of deterrence.
On Tuesday, Trump suggested that his administration would pursue the death penalty for anyone who kills another person in Washington, D.C.
The city abolished the death penalty in 1981, and the last time someone was executed in the district was in 1957. The maximum penalty in the capital today is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump said at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday: "The line is I'm a dictator, but I stop crime. So a lot of people say, 'You know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator.'"
He also said: "Anybody murders something in the capital, capital punishment."
Former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi previously told Newsweek: "Where was the National Guard on January 6, when President Trump was gleefully watching the Capitol riots from the Oval Office?"
What Happens Next
The White House has not released details of the proposed new crime legislation, but legal analysts say Trump's authority to send in the National Guard to deal with crime in these cities will face many legal challenges.
Update 8/27/25, 3:59 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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