Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday blasted President Donald Trump’s executive order federalizing the capital as “unsettling and unprecedented” in a press conference.

“My message to residents is this: We know that access to our democracy is tenuous,” Bowser told reporters during her news conference that aired in part live on Newsmax. “That is why you have heard me and many, many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood for the District of Columbia. We are American citizens. Our families go to war. We pay taxes and we uphold the responsibilities of citizenship.

“And while this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that, given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised. I can say to D.C. residents that we will continue to operate our government in a way that makes you proud.

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