Trump has made a similar threat regarding Washington before, but has not followed through even as he criticised crime rates and bashed other institutions there.
The president, speaking during a cabinet meeting at the White House, said his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was in close touch with Mayor Muriel Bowser, who favours making the city a US state.
“We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to. We could run DC I mean, we’re … looking at DC,” Trump said. “Susie Wiles is working very closely with the mayor.”
Bowser’s office declined to comment.
The District of Columbia was established in 1790 with land from neighboring Virginia and Maryland. Congress has control of its budget, but voters elect a mayor and city council, thanks to a law known as the Home Rule Act. For Trump to take over the city, Congress likely would have to pass a law revoking that act, which Trump would have to sign.
Becoming the 51st state would give Washington’s roughly 700,000 residents voting representation in Congress. Democrats support that plan, while Republicans, who are reluctant to hand Democrats any politically safe seats in the House of Representatives and Senate, oppose it.
Trump suggested his administration would run the city better with an appointed leader than the democratically elected government.
“We would run it so good, it would be run so proper. We’d get the best person to run it,” he said. “The crime would be down to a minimum, would be much less. And you know we’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you.”
While Trump said his administration had a good relationship with Bowser, he had less complimentary words for Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who won the race to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in New York’s November mayoral election.
Trump described Mamdani as a “disaster.” A representative for Mamdani did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
“We’re going to straighten out New York… Maybe we’re going to have to straighten it out from Washington,” Trump said. “We’re going to do something for New York. I can’t tell you what yet, but we’re going to make New York great again also.”