JUDY WOODRUFF: The nation's capital has been another site of large-scale protests.
Washington, D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser said today that she wants out-of-state National
Guard troops out of the District of Columbia.
And the mayor joins us now.
Mayor Bowser, thank you very much for being here.
We are -- it's reported that people, protesters are gathering in the streets of Washington
at this hour. This would be the seventh straight day of protests.
You have opted not to call -- impose a curfew, though. Why not?
MURIEL BOWSER (D), Mayor of Washington, D.C.: Judy, we are -- we situationally review what
our public safety needs are to manager protests, and we have seen over the last two nights
very peaceful protests.
In fact, we have seen the number of people coming down to demonstrate in front of the
White House swell quite a bit, ever since peaceful protesters were forcibly moved out
of the way by the federal police.
So, people have come down to peaceably protest and police themselves in some ways. So, if
they see somebody not there for a peaceful protest, bent on destruction, we have seen
the crowd deal with them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you get some kind of advanced word from the organizers of these protests
about what their intentions are? How do you get information, intelligence about what's
going on?
MURIEL BOWSER: Well, sometimes.
People who are -- who organize frequently in Washington, D.C., will reach out to our
Metropolitan Police Department or to our Homeland Security Department, and give us a heads-up.
Other times, we are listening to intelligence, monitoring social media, so that we have a
good gauge on how many people are coming and how many staff we need to manage traffic,
close streets, and make sure people are safe.
We think, this Saturday, we are going to have a larger crowd in D.C., and we will make some
determinations about what we need in terms of staffing and if we need to reinstate our
curfew on that day.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Who has control, Mayor Bowser, of keeping the peace in Washington, D.C.?
Is it the D.C. police, or is it the National Guard, some of the troops that have been -- that
have been come in from elsewhere?
MURIEL BOWSER: Well, you're highlighting the unique status of Washington, D.C. We are the
capital city. We're a federal district. We're 700,000 federal -- we're -- excuse me -- 700,000
taxpaying Americans.
And I'm the mayor, governor, county executive all at once. But because we are not a state,
the federal government can encroach on our autonomy and bring in federal forces to from
protect federal assets. And that's what we see in D.C.
I am the mayor. We have a police force of 4,000 men and women who protect D.C. every
single day, who support First Amendment demonstrations. And the police chief and that force report
to me.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, you were critical, Mayor, earlier this week, when President Trump or
his administration ordered the clearing out of peaceful protesters around the White House,
so that the president could walk over to St. John's Church, that scene where he had his
photograph taken holding the Bible.
And yet it is -- the federal government does have control over that area, does it not?
MURIEL BOWSER: The federal government and everybody who works for it swears an oath
to the Constitution of the United States that allows Americans to peaceably protest, to
exercise their First Amendment rights.
And what I witnessed, from what I could see, what I think the world could see, is that
those people were peaceably protesting. And the specter of federal police or -- you know,
releasing munitions to clear the way, so the president could make a political statement,
is abhorrent.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And do you -- I mean, are you getting a sense right now that the administration
is going to hold back in some way its being prepared to deploy federal troops? Are you
getting any sort of signal through your communication with the White House, with the Justice Department?
MURIEL BOWSER: Well, let me say this.
We, first of all, think that there is a legal question about the president's ability to
call in out-of-state National Guard into the District of Columbia, Guard that I have not
requested, as mayor.
And we have pushed back very hard on that. They need to deal with that question, and
that we think there are some other steps that the president needs to take to do that. We
don't know on whose authority that these troops are acting. And this is a similar question
that was raised by the speaker of the House to the president in a letter today.
What we know and has been announced by the secretary of the Army is that the active-duty
military troops, Army personnel who were staged around Washington, D.C., are being sent back
to their home base, to their home stations.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And does that give you peace of mind? Are you confident they won't be called
back again?
MURIEL BOWSER: I -- we can't have peace of mind in Washington, D.C., until we have full
autonomy and we're just like every other American and we become the 51st state.
But you ask me if that makes me feel good, if that makes me feel secure. I don't think
any American can feel secure if they watch the president of the United States move on
American citizens with active-duty military troops.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Mayor Bowser, thank you very much.
MURIEL BOWSER: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And we would ask all of you to please join us Friday night, tomorrow night,
for "Race Matters: America in Crisis," a "PBS NewsHour" prime-time special.
At the end of this difficult week, we explore this anguished moment and how we move ahead.