Washington, DC, doesn’t need a federal takeover of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department due to “meaningful, significant drops in crime,” DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb said today.

“We do not believe we need this takeover of MPD. Our Home Rule Act provides that while we do have limited authority to govern ourselves, local affairs like local policing are entrusted to our mayor and our chief of police who are doing the job,” Schwalb said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Schwalb said violent crime “is a serious concern” in the city but criticized President Donald Trump’s assessment of the level of it.

“Nobody should be a victim of a crime. And we, as public officials, need to do everything we can to drive crime down. And we have done that. Unfortunately, the president’s characterizations of what’s happening on the ground here in the District of Columbia is not consistent with the facts,” he added.

He also said he’s seen “meaningful, significant drops in crime” since he took office in 2023 and said that “the work is not done.”

Asked if there are legal steps he is considering to block the president’s efforts to take federal control of DC police and deploy the National Guard, Schwalb said he’s concerned about the law of the country and the Home Rule Act.

“There are limited authorities of the president in the Home Rule Act. They are limited by circumstance. There must be special circumstances of an emergency. They are limited by time. Those invocations can only occur while there is an emergency in place. And they are limited for purpose,” he said.

Schwalb added that the federal government could help DC by filling judge vacancies.