The District of Columbia’s top prosecutor is taking the White House to court over what he calls a “hostile” takeover of the city’s police department.
The lawsuit, filed Friday by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, challenges President Donald Trump’s seizure of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s order installing Terry Cole, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as the city’s new “emergency police commissioner.”
“The Administration’s unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call D.C. home,” Schwalb, a Democrat, wrote on X. “This is the gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it.”
We are suing to block the federal government takeover of DC police.By illegally declaring a takeover of MPD, the Administration is abusing its temporary, limited authority under the law.This is the gravest threat to Home Rule DC has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it.
— AG Brian Schwalb (@DCAttorneyGen) August 15, 2025
In his complaint, Schwalb described the Trump administration’s crime crackdown as “unlawful assertions of authority,” warning it would create “immediate, devastating, and irreparable harms for the District.”
The lawsuit follows Trump’s declaration on Monday of a “public safety emergency” in the capital, which allows him to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops and authorize federal law enforcement to patrol D.C.’s streets for at least 30 days—despite official data showing the city’s violent crime rate is at its lowest in three decades.
Bondi issued her order Thursday night, stating that Trump-loyalist Cole would assume “all of the powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police,” including authority over all members of the MPD.
Under the order, MPD’s current leadership, including Chief Pamela Smith, must seek Cole’s approval before issuing any further directives.
The sweeping order also enables the police force, at least temporarily, to fully cooperate with federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration authorities, undermining D.C.’s status as a sanctuary city.
“The order threatens to upend the command structure of MPD and wreak operational havoc within the department, endangering the safety of the public and law enforcement officers alike,” Schwalb wrote. “There is no greater risk to public safety in a large, professional law enforcement organization like MPD than to not know who is in command.”
Let us be clear about what the law requires during a Presidential declared emergency: it requires the mayor of Washington, DC to provide the services of the Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes at the request of the President. We have followed the law.In… pic.twitter.com/XfaNqLalFU
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) August 15, 2025
On Thursday, Democratic D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also blasted Bondi’s order, signaling she would not comply.
“Let us be clear about what the law requires during a Presidential declared emergency: it requires the mayor of Washington, DC to provide the services of the Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes at the request of the President,” she wrote on X. “We have followed the law. In reference to the U.S. Attorney General’s order, there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
Trump’s crackdown on D.C. follows an alleged assault against Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, a 19-year-old former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), by two teenagers in a case the president has taken a personal interest in.
Schwalb and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
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