Trump takes over DC's Union Station in widening crackdown

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Aug 27, 2025

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The Trump administration Wednesday moved to take over Washington, D.C.’s Union Station as the president widens his federal crackdown on the nation’s capital.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said his department will manage the main rail mass transportation hub in Washington, taking it over from Amtrak next month, as President Trump flexes his power over various aspects of life in the city.

“He wants Union Station to be beautiful again. He wants transit to be safe again,” Duffy said. “And he wants our nation’s capital to be great again. And today is part of that.”

The takeover comes as Trump expands the federal push that has seen thousands of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officials flood into Washington in what he calls a bid to keep a lid on crime and undocumented immigration.

Union Station, which is located near the Capitol, serves 5.7 million passengers a year and is a hub for Amtrak trains, buses and the city’s Metro subway. It also houses dining and retail stores.

The Department of Transportation has owned Union Station for about 40 years, but it has contracted with various public agencies and entities to manage it.

Trump administration officials have pointed to Union Station as a prime example of Washington’s problem with crime and homelessness, even though crime is way down in the district and other big cities across the country.

Trump said last week he wants $2 billion from Congress to beautify Washington even as local officials have complained for months that the Republican-led Congress has failed to pass necessary funding for the cash-strapped city government.

Trump has the legal right to effectively oversee law enforcement in Washington, D.C., for a month, but the law regulating the district says Congress would have to give permission for a longer crackdown.

The president threatened to send troops to other big cities like Chicago and Baltimore, but hasn’t announced any concrete plans.

Meanwhile, a federal grand jury rebuffed Trump prosecutors’ effort to win a felony indictment against a Washington, D.C., resident who threw a sandwich at a federal agent in the first days of the crackdown.

The panel took the unusual step of refusing to hand up charges against the man in a possible sign that ordinary residents see the federal crackdown as overkill.

Authorities could still charge the man — a paralegal who was fired from his job at the federal Department of Justice — with misdemeanors in the incident, in which no one was hurt.

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