WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. government will

start seeking the death penalty in Washington, D.C., homicide

cases, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday.

"If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington,

D.C., we're going to be seeking the death penalty, and that's a

very strong preventative," Trump said at a White House cabinet

meeting. "I don't know if we're ready for it in this country,

but we have it. It is - we have no choice."

The move would further expand the Republican's efforts to

seek the mantle of law-and-order president and to exert power

over the nation's capital, whose residents are largely

Democrats.

Trump declared an emergency, deployed hundreds of National

Guard troops and federal law enforcement officials in the

nation's capital to supplement local police dealing with what he

said was an unacceptable level of violent street crime.

City officials have rejected the claim that violent crime is

rampant, pointing to federal and city statistics that show it

has declined significantly since a spike in 2023.

He has threatened to expand the effort to other cities,

including Chicago.

Washington is a unique federal enclave, established in the

U.S. Constitution and falling under the jurisdiction of

Congress, not belonging to any state.

In 1973, Congress passed the District of Columbia Home Rule

Act, allowing residents to elect a mayor and council members.

Trump has threatened to take over the management of the city to

deal with crime and vagrancy.

Washington has outlawed the death penalty for local crime,

but it remains permissible for certain crimes under federal law.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington prosecutes both

local and federal crimes in the U.S. capital, and the Trump

administration has recently encouraged prosecutors to bring

federal charges against those arrested as part of its crackdown

on crime in Washington.

Attorney General Pam Bondi in February lifted a Biden-era

pause on most federal executions and the Justice Department

under Trump has already said it will seek the death penalty in

the case of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of gunning down

UnitedHealth ( UNH ) executive Brian Thompson last year.

Seeking the death penalty for homicides in Washington would

likely drastically increase the number of defendants on federal

death row. Such cases often take many years to work through the

court system given the number of appeals available to

defendants.