Congress

What Trump can — and can’t — do in his bid to take over law enforcement in DC

Published

1 year ago

August 11, 2025

President Donald Trump’s attempt to take over law enforcement in Washington, D.C., is once again testing the bounds of his authority to militarize a major U.S. city.

The capital, unlike other cities, is already subject to significant federal control — and Trump is invoking his emergency powers to solidify it. But the intersection of complicated laws and rules about the use of the military for domestic law enforcement, the deployment of federal agents to the streets of D.C. and the city’s own crime-fighting policies may still prompt legal uncertainty — and inevitable challenges.

Here’s what Trump can — and cannot — do:

Trump said he’s taking control of the D.C. police. Can he do that?

Yes, with limits. The Home Rule Act gives him the power to use the D.C. police force for “federal purposes” if he determines that there are “special conditions of an emergency nature.”

He can use the D.C. police for up to 48 hours, or for up to 30 days if he sends a special message to the leaders of certain congressional committees.

To use the D.C. police for longer than 30 days, he would need authorization from Congress.

In an order Monday, Trump said the D.C. police force under his control would protect federal buildings and national monuments, typically a function of federal law enforcement agencies.

Trump also said he’s deploying National Guard troops to D.C. Can he do that?

Yes. Trump has more authority over the D.C. National Guard than he has over the guards of the 50 states. Governors control the state guards (although the president can federalize the state guards in an emergency or for use in combat operations). The District of Columbia, of course, has no governor, and the D.C. guard is not controlled by the mayor. Rather, the D.C. guard is always under the direct control of the president.

Aren’t there limits on using the military for domestic law enforcement?

Yes, but those limits might not apply to the D.C. National Guard.

A federal law passed in 1878, the Posse Comitatus Act, bars the use of the U.S. military for civilian law enforcement except when authorized by the Constitution or another provision of federal law.

The Trump administration is currently on trial in Los Angeles over its deployment of the California guard in June to quell immigration-related protests in that city. That trial will test whether a federal judge believes Trump’s deployment ran afoul of that 1878 law and must be rescinded.

But the legality of using the guard in D.C. may be different. Presidential use of the D.C. guard has rarely faced legal resistance because it has typically happened in cooperation with D.C. leaders. And the Justice Department has long maintained that the D.C. guard, unlike the other guards, can be used for ordinary law enforcement without violating Posse Comitatus. A 1989 legal opinion from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel found that President George H.W. Bush could use the D.C. guard to carry out law enforcement missions in D.C. as part of the so-called war on drugs.

If Trump’s deployment of the D.C. guard is challenged in court, a judge would almost certainly take note of the OLC opinion, but would not be bound to follow it.

Does Trump have the power to “federalize” D.C.?

Trump cannot singlehandedly wrest control of the district’s government.

The Constitution grants Congress the power to “exercise exclusive legislation” over the “seat of government” of the United States. In 1973, with the passage of the Home Rule Act, Congress created the local D.C. government that still exists to this day.

Under the act, D.C. has significant control of day-to-day local affairs. But the federal government — including federal law enforcement agencies such as the U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Park Police — retain control over federal land and property. And Congress has the final say on local D.C. policies: The Home Rule Act allows Congress to effectively veto any legislation passed by the D.C. Council.

The president alone has no authority to “federalize” the D.C. government; he would need Congress to amend the Home Rule Act.

Has Trump sent federal authorities into D.C. before?

Yes, Trump has tested the boundaries of his ability to use federal agents and the National Guard in Washington.

Trump has clear control and authority over tens of thousands of federal law enforcement officers who work in the area for federal agencies, including the FBI, the Marshals Service, the Secret Service, the Park Police and others. Trump deployed many of those agencies in June 2020 to clear Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Park, across from the White House.

Trump also faced scrutiny for his inaction on Jan. 6, 2021 — as a mob of his supporters attacked the Capitol — when it came to ensuring the National Guard was racing to assist besieged lawmakers. Though Trump aides said he previously authorized them to deploy the National Guard as necessary, witnesses said Trump made no efforts to contact his military leadership during the chaos, even as his then-vice president, Mike Pence, was urgently making calls to ensure a federal response.

Trump on Monday also encouraged D.C. law enforcement officers to hit back “hard” if instigators spit at them and get in their faces. But Trump also pardoned hundreds of people who attacked and injured those very same officers on Jan. 6, sometimes with weapons, and suggested his supporters’ actions were “minor.”

Congress

Trump apparently shares Tom Cotton’s phone number in push to make Daylight Saving Time permanent

Published

20 hours ago

October 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump appeared to share Sen. Tom Cotton’s phone number in a Saturday morning social media post imploring the Arkansas Republican to get behind a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

“Almost everybody wants “The Sunshine Protection Act” to pass, except for Tom Cotton,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “To the Great People of Arkansas, please let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

The president has spent months personally pushing Senate Republicans to end the practice that sees Americans change their clocks twice a year, cementing more sunlight hours in the evening for all twelve months of the calendar. Cotton, whom Trump called “a friend of mine” in the Saturday post, has long argued that making daylight saving time permanent would leave children, farmers and other early risers in the dark for hours on winter mornings.

One of Trump’s key selling points on Saturday: the PGA tour.

“The PGA TOUR, as an example, needs more Daylight in the afternoon in order to finish their Tournaments,” he said, attaching a letter from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp endorsing the bill. ”Likewise, regular Golfers, Tennis Players, Hunters and, perhaps most importantly, Farmers who want more Daylight to play or work.

A Blue Light News call to the cellphone number went to voicemail. A spokesperson for Cotton did not respond to a request for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The current version of the bill was introduced in the House in January 2025 by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) leading the Senate version. The legislation would make daylight saving time permanent across most of the country, ending the twice-yearly clock changes. The legislation has been stalled in the Senate since July.

The president encouraged supporters of the bill, dubbed the “The Sunshine Protection Act,” to call Cotton to “let your Senator know it would be a GREAT Bipartisan WIN for the United States Senate, and for America, itself.”

During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, he publicly gave out the personal cellphone number of then-rival Sen. Lindsey Graham after the South Carolina Republican criticized him. Trump, who came to count on Graham as a reliable Senate ally after he won the presidency, revisited the moment during Graham’s funeral in July, acknowledging that sharing the number was something he “shouldn’t have done.”

Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.

Congress

Sanders to rally for Troy Jackson in Maine

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bernie Sanders will hit the road for Troy Jackson in Maine starting Oct. 10, the first time the progressive leader will stump for the candidate this cycle.

The Vermont independent plans to hold three rallies with Jackson, according to an itinerary shared first with Blue Light News: first in Bangor on Oct. 10th followed by Lewiston and Biddeford on Oct. 11.

The Maine swing will kick off Sanders’ travel for the final stretch of the midterms, covering ground throughout October for House and Senate candidates, POLITICO reported.

“Bernie and Troy know that working people built this country and deserve a government that fights for them,” Jackson spokesperson Dan Gottlieb told Blue Light News. “Susan Collins has had nearly 30 years to deliver, and working Mainers are still getting squeezed while she serves the billionaires and corporate interests who bankroll her campaigns. Mainers don’t need another six years of excuses.”

Sanders campaigned ahead of major wins for progressives in the primary season, speaking at more than 60 rallies since last year’s Fight the Oligarchy tour and endorsing more than 90 candidates up and down the ballot.

He’s also opening his substantial $23 million campaign war chest, POLITICO reported, and contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars toMinnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan’s Senate campaign and others including Angie Nixon in Florida and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,

Sanders will return to Maine after initially backing Graham Platner’s campaign for Senate. Allegations reported by POLITICO ultimately led him to call on the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

Sanders had not formally endorsed Jackson since he clinched the nomination from Platner, though he previously backed Jackson’s initial run for governor.

Congress

Hill: Trump’s ‘lack of favorability’ creating challenging politics

Published

2 days ago

October 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Financial Services Chair French Hill said he has “no concerns” about winning back his Arkansas seat in the upcoming midterm elections, but the six-term House member acknowledged the political headwinds for his party.

“I consider the atmosphere a very tough political environment right now because of President [Donald] Trump’s lack of favorability at the top, and you know people are concerned about, as I say, what it’s like to live under an inflated economy the last four years,” Hill said in an interview.

Hill is in a solidly red district, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and said he is up against a “weaker candidate this time than I’ve had in past races.” Polling in the district, however, has shown a tighter race. The two polls done this year placed Democratic challenger Chris Jones ahead of Hill by a few percentage points. Any perceived polling victory for Jones is still well within the margin of error, and one of the polls had a Democratic sponsor.

Stephannie Lane Baker, a spokesperson for Jones, said that “of all the Republicans in Congress, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee doesn’t get to dodge responsibility for this economy. He’s in trouble, and he knows it.”

Additionally, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s PAC, Ready for the Fight, committed more than $1 million in television ads through the next five weeks for Jones’ race in Arkansas’s 2nd District, Jordan Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the PAC confirmed. Overall Democratic spending on advertising for the race was just over $1 million, primarily made up by contributions from the Ready for the Fight PAC, with Republicans spending almost $2.7 million on ad buys, according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service.

Hill said he has addressed affordability concerns “head on” this Congress.

“My work on housing, my work on the Price Stability Act, my work to try to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and drop the federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP,” Hill said. “All these things can contribute to a more affordable environment for people. So I’ve tried to make that a forefront of my campaign this year.”

Hill was a key architect of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a bipartisan housing affordability bill that became law in July. The Price Stability Act, which is unlikely to become law this year, would narrow the Federal Reserve’s current dual mandate of pursuing maximum employment and price stability to focus exclusively on containing inflation.