The nation’s capital challenged President Donald Trump’s takeover of its police department in court on Friday.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sought an emergency restraining order in the federal court lawsuit, which argues the Trump administration is going far beyond the president’s legal powers.
“The administration’s unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call D.C. home. This is the gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it,” Schwalb said.
The lawsuit comes after Trump Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday night that Drug Enforcement Administration boss Terry Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” The Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders, Bondi said. It was unclear where the move left the city’s current police chief, Pamela Smith, who works for the mayor.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back, writing on social media that “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
The Justice Department declined to comment on the district’s lawsuit, and a White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Schwalb had said late Thursday that Bondi’s directive was “unlawful,” arguing it could not be followed by the city’s police force. He wrote in a memo to Smith that “members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,” setting up the legal clash between the heavily Democratic district and the Republican administration.
The D.C. attorney general is an elected position that is the city’s top legal officer and is separate from Washington’s federal U.
