President Donald Trump’s administration is walking back its effort to name the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner,” D.C. Attorney Brian Schwalb said Friday after a court hearing.
Schwalb’s announcement came after he sued the federal government over what Schwalb called an attempted “hostile takeover” of D.C.’s police department.
During an emergency hearing in D.C. District Court on Friday, Judge Ana Reyes indicated the Trump administration did not have the authority usurp D.C. police Chief Pamela Smith.
“The federal government, recognizing that the judge was going to have to make a ruling on this issue actually withdrew and said that they are going to rewrite the language that suggested that the person from the DEA was running the police department, which was illegal,” Schwalb said.
“A hostile takeover of our police force is not going to happen. Chief Smith remains in control of the police department under the supervision of our mayor. Very important win for home rule today,” Schwalb said.
The legal battle was the latest evidence of the escalating tensions in a mostly Democratic city that now has its police department under at least partial control of the Republican president’s administration. Trump’s takeover is historic, yet it had played out with a slow ramp-up in federal law enforcement officials and National Guard troops to start the week.
The conflict escalated Thursday night into Friday.
Late Thursday, the Trump administration named the head of the DEA to be D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner,” with all the powers of the police chief — a significant move that attempted to increase national control over the city as part of the federal government’s law-enforcement takeover.
The D.C. police department would have needed to “receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb responded late Thursday that Bondi’s directive was “unlawful,” arguing that it could not be followed by the city’s police force. “Therefore, members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,” Schwalb wrote in a memo to Smith.
“In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive,” Chief Pamela Smith said in a court filing.
Schwalb announced Friday morning he was suing to block Trump’s takeover of D.C.’s police force, and the emergency court hearing followed soon after.
Bondi’s directive came hours after Smith directed MPD officers to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody — such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint. The Justice Department said Bondi disagreed with the police chief’s directive because it allowed for continued enforcement of “sanctuary policies.”
There will be more deliberation in court on that particular issue next week, according to Judge Reyes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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