U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to put Washington, D.C., under full federal control to reduce crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling. While Trump does have some authority over the capital city's police force and National Guard soldiers,

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) denounced the Trump administration’s move to federalize the city’s police force as “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.” Schwalb

Policing experts told NBC News they were perplexed by President Trump’s decision to take over law enforcement in Washington, D.C., and deploy the National Guard.

At an extraordinary news conference on Monday, President Donald Trump revealed plans to take over the Washington, D.C. police department and deploy National Guard troops in the nation's capital to combat what he says is rampant violent crime that statistics show is actually decreasing.