Washington, D.C., mayor says she had ‘great meeting’ with Trump at Mar-a-Lago

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, saying in a late-night statement that they discussed “shared priorities” involving the federal workforce, buildings and park space during the “great meeting.”

“President Trump and I both want Washington, DC to be the best, most beautiful city in the world and we want the capital city to reflect the strength of our nation,” Bowser said in a statement just before 10 p.m. Monday.

The meeting at Trump’s Florida clubhouse lasted 45 minutes to an hour and also included discussion of public safety in the District, a spokeswoman for Bowser said, while declining to elaborate further. She added that Beverly Perry, a senior adviser to the mayor, also joined the meeting.

Bowser’s optimistic tenor appears part of a strategy to collaborate with Trump rather than provoke him in a city where over 90% of voters rejected him. Trump has repeatedly antagonized the District, threatening a federal takeover in rally speeches. And, combined with a GOP Congress, D.C. is expected to be particularly vulnerable to federal intervention in its affairs.

Bowser will need Trump and the federal government’s buy-in on some of the District’s priorities, such as redeveloping federal land at the defunct RFK football stadium and underused federal buildings.

The latter appeared to come up in Bowser’s meeting with Trump. She said in the statement that they discussed areas for collaboration between the city and federal governments, particularly in regard to the federal workforce, underused federal buildings, parks and green spaces, and infrastructure.

“I am optimistic that we will continue to find common ground with the President during his second term, and we look forward to supporting a successful inauguration on January 20,” Bowser said.

Spokespeople with the Trump transition team did not answer questions about the meeting.

Since the pandemic and remote work upended D.C.’s downtown, Bowser has lobbied the federal government to both return its workers to the office full-time or else turn over the half-vacant federal buildings to the city to do something productive with them, such as turning them into housing or retail. Bowser is likely to find common ground here with the real estate magnate, who has also repeatedly called for the return of federal workers to the office.

But Bowser — who during Trump’s first term emerged as a foil to the president and rolled out Black Lives Matter Plaza in view of the White House — gave no indication Monday night on whether she and Trump discussed any of their differences, or any of Trump’s more incendiary rhetoric targeting the District, such as his derision of the city as a “killing field” necessitating federal control.

Crime in urban centers has been a particular fixation of Trump’s, including in the nation’s capital. Violent crime is down 35% in D.C. compared with last year, a reduction that Bowser and city officials have been frequently highlighting.

Just before Trump was elected in November, Bowser framed the stakes of the presidential contest in stark terms, saying on WAMU public radio in early November that “yes, we’re concerned that an unhinged president that is concerned about only his power might try to use the District of Columbia to make a point to cities across America.”

“We’ve heard his attacks. We’re clear about him, that he has disdain for American cities, and the fact that D.C. has limited home rule and does not have statehood makes us susceptible to these threats,” she said Nov. 1.

Immediately after the election, Bowser struck a conciliatory tone, pledging to facilitate a smooth inauguration and to “pursue a collaborative approach to our federal priorities in the District.”

The city traditionally has played a major role in providing security for the inauguration. Recently, Bowser, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and the city’s top fiscal officer went to Capitol Hill for a budget hearing, where they advocated to substantially increase federal security funds to go to the D.C. police, whose members staff the inauguration and frequently work overtime to support federal events or help protect federal VIPs.

Congress in its final spending bill budgeted $90 million for D.C. police to support federal events, including the inauguration — the largest sum in decades and perhaps an early result of the city’s strategy to work collaboratively with Republicans. The fund includes 40% more funding for the inauguration than for Joe Biden’s in 2021, and 50% more than for Trump’s first.

Hours after the spending bill passed, Bowser and the city secured another major congressional win: In early-morning Senate action Dec. 21, Congress passed legislation giving D.C. control of the federal park land surrounding the unused RFK Stadium for 99 years, allowing the city to redevelop the land for a host of purposes, including a possible Washington Commanders stadium for the NFL team.

Bowser may ultimately need to negotiate the terms of the transfer of the land — which the federal government will continue to own — with the Trump administration. It was not immediately clear if Bowser and Trump’s discussion of park land included RFK Stadium.