Trump to Expand Federal Crackdown to Chicago and Other Cities

President Donald Trump said Friday he will likely expand a federal crime crackdown that has placed hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents on the streets of Washington, D.C., to other Democratic-run cities, singling out Chicago and suggesting the federal government could "take it over" if Mayor Muriel Bowser does not "get her act straight." The president also threatened to intervene in New York, San Francisco and floated sending forces to Baltimore after recent comments by that state's governor.

Trump ordered the deployment in Washington last week, saying without evidence that violent crime was out of control. The action places armed federal personnel in a city that is a unique federal enclave established by the Constitution but governed under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, which allows residents to elect a mayor and council. How the administration would extend comparable federal control to cities outside D.C. remains unclear and would raise legal questions under the Tenth Amendment, which generally bars the federal government from commandeering state or municipal officials absent constitutional violations.

Officials familiar with Pentagon planning...