WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Monday aimed at eliminating cashless bail for arrested suspects in Washington, D.C., a senior White House official said.
The official said the executive order could threaten to withhold federal funding or government-backed project approvals if the district does not end the policy, which allows people to be released to await trial without paying bail.
The order will also ask law enforcement officials to work to ensure that people arrested in D.C. are taken into federal rather than local custody, the official said.
A spokesperson for Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office declined to comment to NBC News.
The planned executive order, which was first reported by Axios, marks Trump’s latest step to broaden the administration’s control over the capital. It comes on the heels of the White House’s controversial move to deploy and arm National Guard troops in an effort to fight crime. Critics, though, have slammed the administration’s handling as overreach and unnecessary.
They argue that cash bail disproportionately hurts low-income people, who may have more difficulty securing the money to pay bail for release from jail.
Trump, though, has criticized the practice, saying earlier this month that was a “disaster” and caused “so many problems came that we never had before.”
“So they’re watching us today, and if they don’t learn their lesson, if they haven’t studied us properly, because we’re going to be very successful,” Trump said of other cities earlier in August.
D.C. has had a cashless bail system since 1992. The policy means that judges decide whether people charged with crimes pose a risk to others or the community at large or would pose a flight risk if released without money for bail connected with the person’s freedom. If judges make any of those determinations, then they may opt to hold a defendant in a detention facility before trial.
As part of the city government’s own safety measures, the D.C. Council extended its pretrial detention policy in July.
The expected executive order comes as National Guard troops in D.C. began carrying firearms Sunday evening. Also over the weekend, Trump threatened to deploy troops to Baltimore. Just days earlier, he floated sending the National Guard to Chicago and New York.
Trump’s focus on how the capital is run is a stark departure from prior administrations. He has enacted sweeping changes by surging National Guard and federal agents into the city, pushing enforcement agencies to clear homeless encampments and restoring a Confederate memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.
Last week, Trump also announced that he ordered attorneys to review Smithsonian museums, arguing that the storied museums were not positive enough about U.S. history, “where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”
