Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the takeover a “political ploy and attempted distraction from Trump’s other scandals,” while Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who represents a district bordering the city, called the move in a statement a “phony, manufactured crisis if I’ve ever seen one.”

President Donald Trump is ramping up efforts to curb crime in the nation’s capital on Monday as he threatens a federal takeover of Washington, DC, with plans for FBI agents to patrol the streets all while city officials largely remain deferential to him.