Bowser leaves DC amid Trump takeover; returning Friday

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) reportedly left the city on Thursday amid President Trump’s decision to bring in the National Guard amid his crackdown on crime in the District.

“Friends — as you know, I'm both a mom and mayor, raising a delightful 7 year old on my own. This week, I cancelled a scheduled family trip to lead our city's crisis management efforts. I also made the more difficult decision to not disrupt my daughter's camp plans,” Bowser wrote in a Thursday post on X.

“I needed to get to her on Wednesday after work and bring her home, which I will do tomorrow. I am in constant contact with my senior team and have been in constant consultation with our partners throughout a short swing out of the District,” she added.

Bowser is visiting Martha’s Vineyard and is set to return to D.C. on Friday, according to reports from Fox 5 DC. 

City residents have been protesting the increased presence of law enforcement, and city leaders have condemned Trump’s executive order, which renders the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) subordinate to White House control.

Local homeless encampments are expected to be cleared out starting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, according to an email from the city’s Interagency Council on Homelessness reviewed by Street Sense, a Washington outlet dedicated to the city’s unhoused population.

“This is federal overreach and not making DC safer. It’s about power. It’s about instilling fear in cities,” D.C. City Council member Brianne Nadeau (D) wrote in a statement on the social platform X. 

“Our Ward 1 community is standing together & looking out for one another. The very heart & soul of our great city is at stake,” she added. 

Trump said federal agents were dispatched to combat high crime rates in the nation’s capital, slamming Bowser’s leadership in the process.

“We know how the feelings of crime and perceptions of crime are sometimes different than seeing numbers go down — and we've seen numbers go down, let me be clear,” Bowser said after a Tuesday meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Over the last two years we have reached a 30-year low [in] violent crime. What the chief and all of us hear from time to time though is that we don't want any crime," she added. 

Updated at 7:48 p.m. EDT.