The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser Speaks On Trump's Takeover To 'Clean Up D.C'

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser Speaks On Trump's Takeover To 'Clean Up D.C'. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's D.J.N.V. Jess O'Larie, Sholomey and the Guy. We are the Breakfast Club. We got a special guest in the building. We have the Mayor of D.C. Muriel Bowser. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me on a breakfast club. Thank you for calling in. I want to set the stage real quick so people know why you're calling in, Mayor Bowser.

You know, on Monday, President Trump announced he'd be invoking Section 740 at a D.C. Home Rule Act of 1973, which is basically giving him temporary control over the nation's capital. And he's also activated the National Guard because he said the crime rate is just through the roof in D.C. Why do you think this is happening, Mad Bouser? Well, you know, Trump had the president has had a long fascination with D.C. He left D.C. during the height of COVID, and I think he had a picture of homelessness that has struck with him. You heard him on the campaign trail talking about D.C. And in a lot of ways, D.C. is a proxy for American cities.

And his administration has taken a very aggressive stance against American cities. He thinks that people in cities don't support. him. He's very aware of the number of people that voted for him in D.C. And so he, he has taken an aggressive stance. I heard some of what you've said. The numbers just don't justify the action. We have seen a precipitous lessening of crime in the city, violent crime especially after a post-COVID spike that we acknowledged and we got after and we drove down the numbers in 2003. We reported last year the lowest level of violent crime in 30 years. We're not taking our foot off the gas. We're continuing to work. But we think that this action kind of plays into his narrative about cities, about using force, about being tough on crime. And I can say a little bit more about why D.C. is different. But it's times like this when America needs to know why your nation's capital plays. where 700,000 taxpaying Americans live should be the 51st state.

Now, Mayor, you know, a lot of, we're talking to Mayor, Muriel Bowser from the mayor of D.C. Now, a lot of people say, well, you know, well, maybe it's needed. You know, when they look at different cities, it does look beat up sometimes. It does look dirty. And I see Trump made an analogy or something about it. He was like, when I go to a restaurant with my dad and when my dad says, sees that the door of the restaurant is dirty, we know not to go there. And that's how people look at D.C.

So what do you say to those people that say, well, maybe it is needed? Maybe we do need to clean it up a little bit. What do you say? That's not crime, though. And it's also not how people look at D.C. When people come to D.C., elected officials, leaders of nations that he likes to point to, they meet with me as well. And they tell me how beautiful the city is, how green the city is,

how they were surprised at how many parks and wide avenues that the city. Keep in mind, this is the nation's capital built on Launfant's plan that is, magnificent and beautiful city. So this idea that D.C. is dirty. Obviously, there are places where people litter and we clean up. We have some of the best city services of any city in America. Our Department of Public Works is on top of cleanliness. And our partnership with the federal government is always welcome on issues that we share. Keep in mind that the feds own more property in D.C. than they own in most places, including the national parks, the pocket parks, the circle parks, where we have seen some of the homeless problem, and where

they're responsible for cleaning up, dumping the trash and cutting the grass, some things that they haven't been on top of in recent months. So the feds have a really outsized role in D.C. when it comes to keeping federal parks clean. Now, we want to work with them on that. We have the teams to do that, but it's just not right to say that D.C. is dirty. Listen, and you also don't deploy the FBI and the National Guard just because something is not clean.

I don't understand that logic. That sounds crazy. But I do want to ask you something, Mayor Bowser, do you believe President Trump had the legal authority to deploy the FBI and National Guard into D.C. Without the City's consent? Well, this is the primer on D.C. that I like to give in times like this when we're in the national news. We are unique. We are not a state. And so when you hear D.C. residents talk about we got to become a state. We got to become a state. It's not, you know, it's not just an easy topic because what it says is that we don't have full autonomy. We have limited home rule. And our home rule charter, gives the president the ability to declare an emergency, a public safety emerging, for almost any reason.

And that doesn't really give him the right to take over the police department. And if you read his executive order closely, what it says is what the charter allows him to do is direct me, the mayor, to make MPD services available. And that's what it says. our organization chart, our chief of police, our reporting structure for our police officers has not changed. Were you consulted in advance about the deployment, or did you learn of it after the decision was already made?

I was not. What I was told is that their National Guard decisions would be to bring the D.C. National Guard into D.C. Again, the D.C. National Guard does not report to the mayor, but reports to the president. So unlike states, the guards report to the governor. And just what we, like we saw in Los Angeles, there was a fight over whether the Guard or the Marine Corps, I think they brought in, could be deployed. And the city and state could fight it because that is a California Guard that reports to the governor. That's not the case here.

So the Congress has a bill. Our Congress would move. Senator Chris Van Hollen moved in the Senate, a bill that would give the mayor of D.C. control of the National Guard. And it's really important, argued at the time. We saw it back in 2020,

the deployment of the Guard and what that could do where protests were involved. And now the Guard is not a law enforcement agency. And so when they are used, these are men and women that leave their families, to support the nation.

They have to be used in a way that's lawful and strategic. I was going to ask, so what is required for this takeover to end to make sure that you remain in controlling that he doesn't get that control? What is required to do that? Well, that's a good question because we're in unprecedented territory. The law says he has 30 days unless the Congress passes a joint resolution to extend it. Because there is no real predicate in our view for a court. crime surge that caused the emergency, having the reasons to end the emergency are also unclear.

So that's the conversation that I will have with the person that he has designated as his proxy to request these services, and that's the Attorney General Bondi. Now, you mentioned this in 2020, so you've seen this coming? He's been talking about it for a while. He tried in 2020 to when you will remember when there were protests around the killing of George Floyd. And that's when he first intimated that he wanted to take over the police.

We push back real hard and just explain to him that at that time, especially at that time where the city was a tender box would be a bad move. Do you think this is a trial run for a police? Hey, everyone, it's Jay Chetty. And on today's episode of On Purpose,

I'm joined by four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. What I was dealing with at the time, feeling a shame, going against everything an athlete stood for. After I pulled out of the French Open, I flew. Ranked as number one in the world in women's singles. A four-time Grand Slam tennis champion, Naomi Osaka. We would be constantly on the tennis court, and I would watch other kids go to summer vacation.

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and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at Othrum, the Houston Lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. from President Trump? Listen, I think that what we have to see, nobody should be a lot of the coverage I've heard, just like one of the callers I heard,

is making the argument that D.C.'s crime issues are out of control. That's not true. Our police department, best in the business, partners with the federal government, supports the president, supports diplomatic visits to the city, are driving down crime and partnership with the community and tougher policies, quite frankly,

that I have supported over the last several years to help us hold people who use guns in our city accountable. And we have to have that honest conversation, too. We can't have a system where a juvenile or an adult can use guns, hurt people, and not face any accountability. So the city has really stepped aggressively in that direction, and it was warranted. But we cannot, you cannot suggest that the MPD is not getting the job done.

Do you believe this deployment was driven by genuine security needs or by political motives? And if so, what are those political motives? Well, I think they appear to be pretty obvious. But I think that the quick answer would be he wants to send the message to cities that, if he can get away with this in Los Angeles, if he can get away with this in D.C., he can get away with it in New York or Baltimore or Chicago or any other place where millions of people live, work, and are doing everything the right way. And it is a step in fascism when the federal government can big foot sovereign states. That's not us. We should be.

We should be the 51st state. But right now, I think that is what he is trying to make it normal, where citizens say the federal government should overtake local policing and try to make that a normal thing. So if he tries it in other places, people will be desensitized to it. We can't be desensitized to it because it's not normal. When I hear the cities that you name, Mad Bouser, I have to think. to myself, it sounds like, well, let me ask you, when you look at the cities, do you think that the cities he's targeting? Do you feel like it's an attack on black mares? And if so, why? Because every city you just named has a black mayor. That's correct. Well, I think that he attacks

cities with large urban populations. And most of them have black mayors. And so, yeah, there, I won't comment on whatever the racial component is. I'm sure there's something to that. But I know where they're large urban populations, major American cities have black leadership. Now, guys, I know Mayor has to go. We appreciate you for checking in. And what do you just want to tell the people? Hold on real quick. We have a young lady, Morgan Wood.

She's from D.C. She's from the Black Information Network. She wants to ask you a question to Mayor Bowser. Yes, thank you, Mayor Bowser. Appreciate you taking the question. As a DMB resident, someone who frequents D.C. a lot, what do you think the presence of this federal law enforcement. How do you think it stands to impact residents? Those of us that are coming from Maryland and Virginia to hang out, support local businesses, even businesses that

may be struggling from the pandemic. What is your take on how this presence of federal law enforcement stands to impact not only the residents, but also, you know, you economically in the district? Well, Morgan, what I'm really concerned about is the rhetoric coming from the president. Already the federal government's decision. decisions are having a completely negative impact on our economy by firing federal workers, closing federal buildings, continuing this telework policy that they said they wouldn't continue is having a negative impact on our economy. The Congress limited our own local spending by almost a billion dollars this year that cost us to cut services in the

district already having an impact on our economy and spreading lies about how safe the city is will impact our ability to replace that economic activity with private activity like like you're mentioning just wanting to come to restaurants or clubs so i feel very confident that our city is safe and you should go about your daily activities and that we are going to work very very hard to make sure that the federal presence doesn't impact anybody's ability to come to the city, whether there are residents, people from the region, or people who are coming to visit us. Now, having said that yesterday, last week and a week before that, everybody who comes here should follow the law.

And that remains true. Everybody who comes here should follow the law. And that includes the police. I have one more question, Mayor Balthor, because I know you got to go. Like the caller called up here this morning and said he does think it's a good thing that President Trump wants to reduce the crime rate in D.C. But in your opinion, as mayor, why is this the wrong way to do it? The wrong is it's the wrong way to do it because federal law enforcement does a different job. We work with the FBI, ATF, and DEA all the time.

But we work with them on high-level criminal organizations bringing drugs and guns to the city. FBI agents don't go out on patrol. That's not what they're trained to do, and that's not what they are good at. It's also not a good idea for our own metropolitan police department, who's worked so hard to gain the trust of communities, for communities to now be scared of the police. police. Because when they are, they don't call when they need help. When they are, they don't cooperate when there's been a crime committed and we need the public support. And so that in

itself makes cities less safe. So that's not the way to do it. And more than that, it's not right to trample on democratic processes. And while our kind of autonomy is limited and our grip democracy is tenuous in a city that doesn't that is not a state and does not have two senators we do have local elected government uh and we our own residents know how to make their voices heard well mayor we appreciate you for checking in and you can check in it anytime you need to thank you thank you it's the mayor of dc muriel bowser and thank you again and please let us know what what's going on and keep us updated we'll do all right now when we come back we have the latest with lauren it's the breakfast club good morning

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Ultra processors so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. Hey everyone, it's Jay Chetty, and on today's episode of On Purpose, I'm joined by four-time

Grand Slam champion, Naomi Osaka. What I was dealing with at the time, feeling a shame, going against everything an athlete stood for, ranked as number one in the world in women's singles.

A four-time grand slam tennis champion, Naomi Osaka. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Chetty on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up guys? Welcome to the Agustava Pop podcast, the go-to spot for everything, Musica Mexicana. We're proud Mexican-Americans who live and breathe this music. We started this podcast to share and discuss our views of Musica Mexicana, whether you like to vibe to Pesso Pluma, Los Aligres del Barranco, Arir el Camacho,

or put Ivan Cornejo when you get it in fields, then this podcast is for you. Well, actually, Pesel was supposed to be on Chinito's album. The song with Drake was supposed to be with Pesel. Listen to Agustopat on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey guys, it's Jeney, aka Chikis,

from Cheekies and Chill Podcast. And I'm bringing you an all new mini podcast series called Sincerely Jeney. Sure, I'm a singer, author, businesswoman, and podcaster, end of the day, I am human. And that's why I'm sharing my ups and downs with you in real time and on the go. Listen to Jikis and Chill on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.