REUTERS, Washington

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would ask the Republican-controlled Congress to extend federal control of Washington’s city police force beyond 30 days, escalating his campaign to exert presidential power over the nation’s capital.

Trump also asserted that any congressional action could serve as a model for other US cities. He has previously threatened to expand his efforts to other Democratic-run cities such as Chicago that he claims have failed to address crime.

The Republican president’s extraordinary moves in Washington are reflective of how he has approached his second term in office, shattering political norms and legal concerns to test the limits of his office’s power.

It was not clear how Trump’s takeover of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department could be replicated elsewhere. In seizing control on Monday, Trump took advantage of a federal law, the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, that permits the president to do so under emergency circumstances for up to 30 days.

There is no basis for Trump to attempt similar takeovers in other cities, according to John P Fishwick Jr, a former federal prosecutor in Virginia, who said that Washington represents a “unique situation.”

Trump also announced on Monday that he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to the city, a tactic he employed in Los Angeles in June when he mobilized thousands of Guard soldiers and US Marines over the objections of state and local officials in response to protests over his administration’s immigration raids.