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President Trump demanded Wednesday that Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser clear out the “unsightly” homeless encampments throughout the nation’s capital — including near the Executive Residence — or his administration would be “forced to do it for her.”
“We have notified the Mayor of Washington, D.C., that she must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City, specifically including the ones outside of the State Department, and near the White House,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“If she is not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her! Washington, D.C. must become CLEAN and SAFE!”
“We want to be proud of our Great Capital again,” he continued.
“Thank you Mayor Bowser for your efforts on behalf of the Citizens of our Country. Hopefully you will be successful!”
The stern message from Trump comes as the president has decided not to issue an executive order that would have exerted more federal authority over Washington and had been discussed for weeks, the Washington Post reported, citing an anonymous senior Trump administration official.
An email to the White House about the report was not immediately returned.
The Democratic-controlled city has worked to reduce the number of people on the streets with an average of eight encampment clearings happening every month from July through at least September last year, according to data obtained by Axios.
Bowser, a Democrat, said last month the encampments are “technically not permitted.”
“Certainly we are a city that has shelter for people who are on the streets, and we want them inside, absolutely,” Bowser said, according to WTOP.
“We try to work with our residents to get them to a place where they want to come inside, and that’s always been our strategy.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately provide a comment on Trump’s directive Wednesday evening.
Homeless encampments were also targeted during Joe Biden’s presidency when National Park Service workers swept through a tent city three blocks from the White House at McPherson Square.
About 50 tents were ripped down, according to an Associated Press report at the time.
