DC board fears Trump may consider insurgency law

Even as District of Columbia elected officials warned residents to stay home and avoid potentially violent skirmishes with pro-Trump protesters early last week, behind the scenes they were increasingly focused on what they saw at the time as a much greater threat: the president himself.

During a closed-door briefing to the 13-member city council last Monday, the DC attorney general’s office shared a two-page memo analyzing the risk Trump could invoke the insurgency law to take control of the metropolitan police department of the city, according to three members of the presence. The 214-year-old law allows the president to deploy any of the country’s federal or state armed forces to quell civil disobedience or an uprising.

The legal note, “The Potential Routes of the Federal Incursion into District Law Enforcement,” focused on whether the insurgency law would allow Trump to take control of the MPD. The document, whose existence has not yet been reported, also considered the possibility for the White House to use the National Guard and federal law enforcement agencies such as the US Marshals Service and the Bureau of Prisons. to effectively take control of the city.

“We had every reason to suspect that there would be some sort of problem,” said Phil Mendelson, chairman of the city council. But he added that “our concern was that this was instigated by the president who would say,” Look, there are riots and chaos – we have to take control of the police department and bring in the National Guard. “”

The questions raised in the memo highlight the important role that the deep mistrust of the Trump administration within the DC government may have played as it prepared for what would prove to be a critical time in the world. the history of the country. With thousands of violent Trump supporters flocking to the city, it was primarily the threat to order posed by an unstable president, rather than his hardline supporters, that raised city council concerns.

The DC Attorney General’s Office confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the briefing had taken place and that a note had been prepared, but did not provide further comment. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to questions about whether this consideration affected how the city was preparing for the events of January 6.

City officials have jurisdiction over the Metropolitan Police Department, but although the Capitol and other federal buildings are located in the District of Columbia, they are monitored by their own agencies. The United States Capitol Police, which reports to Congress, are solely responsible for the custody of the Capitol. It was only after the Capitol Police were overwhelmed that they asked the MPD for help, which they did, helping to clear the Capitol grounds and arresting dozens of people in the hours following the cleaning of the building.

Trump ultimately did not invoke the insurgency law last week; instead, he stoked electoral conspiracy theories in a fiery Wednesday morning speech that encouraged his crowd of supporters to come to Capitol Hill and “fight like hell.” Hours after his speech, a violent crowd clubbed and pepper sprayed their way past police lines and into the Capitol building, where members of Congress, staff and the media cower in fear. Five people, including a Capitol policeman, died in the melee.

DC board member Brooke Pinto said that even before Wednesday she and other members of the city’s leadership viewed Trump as an increasingly unstable leader who could act unpredictably on the day of protests, but that a total assault on one of the holiest buildings in the land was far from everyone’s mind. Instead, she said, the concern was about the potential chaos the city’s own police force could cause if taken over by Trump.

“We have to make sure that we are prepared to protect our residents in case President Trump goes too far,” Pinto said of discussions among some council members, adding that the president has repeatedly shown that he does not. did not respect the rule of law or democracy.

DC officials said their fears that Trump would requisition local law enforcement was based on the White House raising this scenario last year, at the height of a very different protest movement.

Last summer, when protests against George Floyd’s murder engulfed the country, Justice Department officials met with DC Attorney General Karl Racine and the city’s police chief to discuss the possibility of Trump taking over the MPD, Mendelson said. Federal officials ultimately backed down on their threat to use the insurgency law when Racine said he was ready to go to court to block the action, Mendelson recalled.

Trump had also publicly discussed the use of the military to curb civilian dissent during this time, underscoring the concerns of DC elected officials.

“If a city or state refuses to take the necessary steps to defend the lives and property of its residents, I will deploy the US military and quickly resolve the issue for them,” Trump said in a statement from the Rose Garden . on June 1, just a week after Floyd died in Minneapolis.

As Trump spoke, federal police forcibly evicted protesters from Lafayette Square with tear gas and batons, leaving room for the president to cross the street to St. John’s Church, where he posed for a photo holding a Bible. The event became a very public debacle and embarrassment for DC officials, who felt they had lost control of their own city to the hands of White House controlled police.

“The question,” Mendelson said, “was whether it could happen again.”

On December 31, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called for 340 troops from the DC National Guard – roughly a third of that unit’s total force – in anticipation of the January 6 protests. But the city has strictly limited its responsibilities to secondary security roles such as traffic control. Troops were not allowed to receive ammunition or riot gear and were not allowed to engage with protesters except in self-defense.

The MPD, which has some 3,900 sworn officers, has meanwhile activated all its force to respond to any anticipated skirmish provoked by the demonstrators. On Monday, city police arrested and charged Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio with destroying property and possessing high-capacity ammunition stores banned in Washington.

Regardless of the preparations made by DC officials, the protection of the Capitol and its grounds rests with the United States Capitol Police, a federal agency that reports directly to Congress.

After a fiery crowd overwhelmed Capitol Police and forced their way into the building, this department has come under fire for its lack of planning and inability to control rioters. Reports that the Capitol Police had rejected offers of support from the Defense Department and the FBI only highlighted the miscalculations. Within a day, Capitol Building Police Chief Steven A. Sund, former Commander of the Metropolitan Police, tendered his resignation, and the House and Senate Sergeants-at-Arms, who are each officials of the security institutions, resigned and were dismissed, respectively.

DC Council members told BuzzFeed News they were aware of threats from right-wing extremists and had themselves seen the chatter online about the violence plans. Similar rallies had already led to violent skirmishes in the city in November and December.

In Monday’s briefing, according to council members, MPD officials said they too were following online message boards where Trump supporters were discussing plans for the event some called “Stop the Steal.” and others dubbed “civil war”. Police officers responded to council’s questions about potential threats to the city’s hotels and restaurants, and the risk of erupting violence among groups separating from the main rally.

“There was more concern, after past rallies, where we saw the greatest threats of violence occur when the rallies break up. This is where things are more chaotic and difficult to control, ”said Council member Elissa Silverman.

But no one expected or even envisioned an attack on the Capitol.

“It was truly a failure of the imagination,” said Silverman.