U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital.

On Saturday, Trump said the nation’s capital has become “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World.” Last week he threatened to deploy the National Guard to D.C. and, as he has on several occasions since he was inaugurated in January, suggested that there should be a federal takeover.

Though the Trump administration claims violence in the capital is getting worse, police statistics show violent crime has been declining.