LEILA FADEL, HOST:
For more on the federal takeover of Washington, D.C., Christina Henderson joins us now. She's one of 13 members of the D.C. Council and is an independent. Good morning, Councilmember. Thank you for being on the program.
CHRISTINA HENDERSON: Thanks for having me, Leila.
FADEL: So we just heard there from our correspondent that community leaders are worried that this situation could become violent. Is that something you're concerned about?
HENDERSON: Definitely. I believe that this is a manufactured emergency to distract Americans from other pressing national issues of concern. But the only way for the president to justify having all of these troops deployed on American streets is for there to be some sort of incident. And so I do believe that this is an effort to provoke the residents of the district into some violent act.
FADEL: Do you have any understanding of why the Republican governors of Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia are sending their National Guard troops to the district?
HENDERSON: I have no idea. And frankly - you know, I went to college in South Carolina. They have issues going on down there that I would encourage Governor McMaster to focus his attention on. The D.C. National Guard troops that are already on our streets are largely posted in the federal enclave, so around the national monuments or Union Station, which is where folks come in and out for Amtrak. They're not patrolling the streets. They are sort of standing around with their vehicles. It looks more like a truck touch (ph), if you will. But it is still concerning why we have American soldiers out on our streets, and it's also more concerning that now they'll be carrying weapons.
FADEL: The administration says so far, National Guard troops are not making arrests. You point out - now they may be armed. Is there a way, though, that the National Guard could be used to help deter crime in D.C.?
HENDERSON: I would say not in their current locations. And I said this a week ago, but I would honestly welcome the conversation with the federal government about how we can better partner on some of these deployment and operations. If the goal is really about public safety, there are so many other things that we can be doing as opposed to just a visible deterrent. For instance, there are no gun shops in the district. And yet I have, you know, hundreds of legal weapons who are on my streets. We need help in terms of drug enforcement. While the fatal overdose rate has decreased and declined, I still have a number of nonfatal overdoses that are happening, driven largely by fentanyl. So, yes, I welcome the help of ATF and DEA, but on those types of activities which I feel like are fueling the crime that's happening in the district. And unfortunately, National Guard troops are not equipped, nor trained for those types of operations.
FADEL: Now, we see the city both cooperating and pushing back on the administration. It went to court after the Trump administration tried to install an emergency police commissioner over the...
HENDERSON: Yeah.
FADEL: ...D.C. police chief. The administration then backed down. The mayor has called the takeover an authoritarian push. And then, in other ways, the city appears to be helping - clearing encampments, cooperating with ICE. What do you make of this approach?
HENDERSON: Well, D.C. has always been very uniquely positioned as the federal district, right? There have always been these instances where we're having to partner with the federal government on a variety of things. I was at an event over the weekend for Chuck Brown Day, which is a local D.C. celebration. But it happens in a national park, so park police was there, as well as representatives from the National Park Service. So we're not not used to working with our federal partners, and I think that is what brings a little bit of the tension here. There had been cooperation in the past, even when it came to encampments. But this is an escalation for which we're - again, as the reporter said, we're trying to find out, what is the off-ramp here?
FADEL: Christina Henderson is an at-large councilmember in Washington, D.C. Thank you for your time.
HENDERSON: Thank you.
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