President Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that will effectively end Washington, D.C.’s long-standing cashless bail policy, The Independent reported.
The order directs law enforcement to hold defendants in federal custody when possible and threatens to withhold funding if officials continue using cashless bail, the article noted.
The White House argues that cashless bail allows criminals to reoffend shortly after release, despite D.C.’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council finding that fewer than 1% of defendants released pretrial on violent charges were rearrested. Critics say Trump’s crackdown is political and authoritarian.
Trump to sign executive order ending cashless bail, threatens to revoke federal funding in lax jurisdictions: ‘Obvious threat to public safety’ https://t.co/EaLrYMvNoh pic.twitter.com/MQRRfxqsDK
— New York Post (@nypost) August 25, 2025
Trump has already declared a crime emergency in the capital, deploying 800 National Guard troops and seeking federal control of the city’s police. He has also pointed to Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles as other “liberal-run” cities suffering from weak enforcement.
.@POTUS: "One of the Executive Orders has to do with cashless bail. That was when the big crime in this country started." pic.twitter.com/jyGAJb6sUt
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 25, 2025
The president campaigned on a tough-on-crime agenda and continues to press policies that target what he calls “dangerous liberal experiments.”
