WASHINGTON (7News) — On the third weekend of President Trump’s federal takeover in D.C., hundreds of protestors packed the city streets to voice their opinion.
“This is where we can hear each other,” Rev. Dr. John J. Cox said at the corner of 14th and U Street, NW, where National Guard members and federal agents have set up checkpoints in recent weeks. “This is where we can meet each other.”
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Cox, the senior pastor at Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, walked alongside dozens of his neighbors to push back against the soldiers’ presence in the District, claiming law enforcement is targeting the community’s most vulnerable.
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“We’re watching their rights being trampled upon. We’re seeing children made afraid in their communities,” Cox added. “We stand against that, and we’re here to make our voices heard.”
Demonstrators marched from U Street down to the National Mall, ending in the shadow of the Washington Monument to send a clear message to President Trump.
“The National Guard is most densely concentrated in the downtown. It’s a symbolic gesture,” Merawi Gerina with the D.C. Alliance told 7News’ Lianna Golden. “We are making a statement that this is our city.”
Gerina said they hope to mobilize the community the same time next weekend.
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Some of the youngest protestors in the crowd weren’t afraid to speak up, either.
“We are all humans, and we all need to be treated with respect,” Cecila Lugo, 13, said. “I hope, in the present, that this doesn’t touch any of the schools.”
“I really believe that people should have a say in what they believe is right,” Evie Marvin, 15, said.
Blocks over at the White House, the Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller defended the President’s authority on Friday.
“As President of the United States, he will not relent, and he will use every authority and tool at his disposal to ensure that the capital city of the United States is safe for all Americans,” Miller said. “We will never waver, and he will never waver from fulfilling that mission.”
One month into President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., some of the city’s most visible workers have gone into hiding. Hector is one more than a dozen people we spoke to who work for apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub. He and others say they have drastically cut back their hours or stopped working entirely. They also told us that federal agents in D.C. are detaining immigrants both with and without work permits. Drivers also told us they’re afraid of being targeted, so we agreed not to show their faces and are using only first names. During the first three weeks of President Trump’s federal takeover in D.C., immigration agents detained more than 400 people. Although it’s not known how many delivery workers were arrested, fear has spread. Videos of masked agents pulling drivers from mopeds have flooded immigrant group chats, alongside ads for bikes being sold by workers who are quitting altogether. D.C. police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to our questions about whether certain groups in the city are being targeted. But in a press release, immigration officials said the arrests are part of an effort to tackle violent crime and make the city safe. On Aug. 21, this driver, Javier, was arrested while picking up a coffee order in D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood. Soon after he was detained, we spoke to Javier’s family — his brother-in-law, Leo, and his wife, Maria — at the apartment they share. Maria told us her husband had applied for asylum in the U.S. and had a work permit, as well as a Social Security card. She arrived just in time to see federal agents loading her husband into an unmarked vehicle. His moped was left to the side. Hours later, Maria tried to track down Javier through a legal aid hotline that has received more than 2,500 calls since the takeover began. But the operator wasn’t able to locate Javier. Maria also worked as a food delivery driver, but stopped after her husband’s arrest. Her brother-in-law, Leo, didn’t work for two days, but says he was forced to go back in order to help the family pay bills. Leo has also applied for asylum, but does not have a work permit. As Leo delivers an order, he notices a police cruiser parked near the entrance. On a typical day, Leo would make around $200. Today, he calls it quits after just two orders.
Alex Ovechkin will reportedly return to North America and end his summer in Russia this week.
Sunday, Match TV reported that Ovechkin will fly back to Washington on September 5.
“Why is Ovechkin flying to America on September 5? Because he wants to start preparing for the NHL season early,” an unnamed source told the outlet, as translated by Google Translate.
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Previously, Ovechkin was reported to be leaving in “early September.”
Ovechkin’s last major outing in Russia was Pavel Datsyuk’s farewell “Magic Game,” where the Capitals’ captain record a hat trick and tallied five points. Former Capitals Sergei Fedorov, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Alex Semin also suited up in the exhibition.
While the start of Capitals’ training camp is still weeks away, Caps players such as Dylan Strome, John Carlson, Matt Roy, and Logan Thompson have already returned to the area for informal skates at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. The team’s first preseason game is scheduled for September 21.
Ovechkin, who will turn 40 on September 17, has one year remaining on his contract with the Capitals, though his plans beyond this season are not yet known. Ovi sits three goals away from 900 in his career.
The 2025-26 NHL season begins on October 7 and will be the 21st of Ovechkin’s career. The Capitals’ first game is October 8 at home against the Boston Bruins .
Donald Trump is threatening to strip Washington DC of its local governance and place the US capital under direct federal control, citing what he described as rampant youth crime following an alleged assault on a federal employee who worked for the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president said he would “federalize” the city if local authorities failed to address crime, specifically calling for minors as young as 14 to be prosecuted as adults.
“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control,” Trump wrote. “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run.”
The threat received backing from Elon Musk, after the billionaire described an incident in which a member of the Doge team was allegedly “severely beaten to the point of concussion” while defending a woman from assault in the capital.
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“A few days ago, a gang of about a dozen young men tried to assault a woman in her car at night in DC,” Musk posted on X. “A @Doge team member saw what was happening, ran to defend her and was severely beaten to the point of concussion, but he saved her. It is time to federalize DC.”
The victim was identified by friends and the police as Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old known as “Big Balls”, one of Doge’s most recognizable staffers who joined Doge in January. He reportedly left in June, and is currently employed at the Social Security Administration. According to a police report obtained by Politico, Coristine was assaulted at approximately 3am on Sunday by about 10 juveniles near Dupont Circle.
Police arrested two 15-year-olds from Maryland, a boy and a girl, as they attempted to flee the scene, and charged them with attempted carjacking. A black iPhone 16 valued at $1,000 was reported stolen during the incident.
Trump’s post, which included images of a bloodied and shirtless Coristine, concluded: “If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this City. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Washington DC currently operates under “home rule”, established in 1973, which grants the city an elected mayor and council while maintaining ultimate congressional oversight. No president has attempted to revoke this arrangement since its creation.
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Trump’s threat could theoretically take several forms. The constitution grants Congress broad authority over the federal district, though completely suspending local governance would probably require congressional legislation. Trump could also deploy federal law enforcement officers or national guard troops under executive authority, as he did during 2020 protests when federal forces cleared Lafayette Square outside the White House over local officials’ objections.
But fully stripping the city’s home rule would probably face fierce Democratic opposition in Congress. Any such move would require congressional legislation that Democrats could block or attempt to challenge in federal courts.
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The president targeted DC’s juvenile justice system specifically. “The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14,” he wrote, referring to alleged attackers he described as “local thugs” and putting the word “youths” in quotation marks.
Washington DC, with a population of about 700,000, has seen violent crime decline in the first half of 2025 compared with the previous year, and 2024 marked a 30-year low, according to a pre-Trump January report by the Department of Justice. The Democratic-controlled city has frequently clashed with Trump over federal interventions and has long sought statehood, which would grant it full self-governance and congressional representation – which Republican lawmakers have opposed.
The office of the DC mayor, Muriel Bowser, declined a request for comment.
