US President Donald Trump said his administration is considering taking over the administration of Washington, D.C., and suggested that he may take similar action in relation to New York because of his dislike of the leading candidate for mayor there, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Trump has previously made a similar threat in relation to Washington, but has not carried it out, although he criticizes the crime rate and criticizes other institutions there, Reuters points out.
The president, speaking during a cabinet meeting at the White House, said that his chief of staff Susie Wiles is in close contact with Mayor Muriel Bowser, who supports turning the city into a US state.
"We have tremendous power in the White House to govern places when "We can run Washington. I mean... we're looking at Washington," Trump said. "Susie Wiles is working very closely with the mayor."
Bowser's office declined to comment.
The District of Columbia was created in 1790 with land from neighboring Virginia and Maryland. Congress controls 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 would likely have to pass a law repealing that act, which Trump would have to sign.
Becoming the 51st state would give Washington's roughly 700,000 residents the right to vote in Congress. Democrats support the plan, while Republicans, who are reluctant to hand over any politically secure seats in the House and Senate to Democrats, oppose it.
Trump suggested that his administration would run the city better with an appointed leader than a democratically elected government.
"We would run it so well, it would be run so right. We would find the best person to run it," he said. "Crime would be minimized, it would be much less. And you know, we're thinking about doing it, to be honest with you." While Trump said his administration is on good terms with Bowser, he had less kind words for Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who won the Democratic mayoral race in New York City in November. Trump called Mamdani a "disaster."