Trump admin backs down on DC police control after striking deal
Justice Department officials agreed to rewrite a Thursday order from Attorney General Pam Bondi that named Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole as emergency police commissioner, cutting the mayor and existing police chief out of the chain of command. The rewritten order will name Cole as Bondi's 'designee for requesting services' from the police department.
'We think that solves the problem and that's what we're planning to do immediately,' Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth said.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes indicated at a hearing Friday she would grant the D.C. attorney general's request for a temporary restraining order if the Justice Department did not follow through on rewriting the order by Friday evening. The hearing came after city officials sued the Trump administration earlier Friday over the directive to take over control of the Metropolitan Police Department.
'In the interim, Mr. Cole is not going to be able to direct police department individuals to do anything,' Reyes, a Biden appointee, said. 'He's going to have to go through the mayor.'
Reyes indicated she will hold a hearing next week on other remaining legal questions.
"I still do not understand on what basis the president … can say 'You, police department, can't do anything unless I say you can.' That cannot be the reading of the statute,' Reyes said.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was surprised to receive Bondi's order, which came without notice Thursday night.
'What we know is that D.C. residents are worried and concerned and we have a surge of federal officers,' Bowser said. 'Chief Smith's job during this week has been to make sure that if we have and while we have federal officers, that they are being used strategically, and while we aren't controlling them, we do have the ability to influence how they're being deployed.'
A 1973 federal law known as the Home Rule Act permits the president, in times of emergency, to seek services from the D.C. police for federal purposes. But city officials say Trump's power to do so is sharply limited and must be done in cooperation with city officials, rather than through a hostile takeover that includes rescinding and rewriting local laws and rules.
Reyes agreed, emphasizing the difference between seeking services — which the mayor must provide — and commandeering the entire department.
"The statute would have no meaning at all if the president could just say we're taking over your police department,' Reyes said.
Arguing for the Trump administration, Roth said the language of the Home Rule Act allows Trump broad discretion to direct MPD — and likely can't be subject to review by the courts.
While adjourning for a break in the hearing, Reyes urged the parties to reach a deal that wouldn't require her to rule on the city's request for a restraining order. Those negotiations stretched on for about 90 minutes, as the mayor and other local officials waited in the courtroom.
Stanley Woodward, a Bondi advisor and nominee for the No. 3 position at the Justice Department, arrived at the courthouse during the break and was seen participating in the negotiations.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed the lawsuit in federal court Friday after the Justice Department ordered Cole to assume 'all the powers and duties' of MPD police chief Pamela Smith as the 'Emergency Police Commissioner.'
Schwalb directed Smith to disregard the orders, issued by Bondi, and said MPD officers 'must continue to follow your orders.'
Trump on Monday issued an executive order to invoke his authority under the Home Rule Act, the first president to do so since the act was signed into law. He also deployed the National Guard to the city.
City officials said they had held off on taking legal action immediately because the language in Trump's executive order largely did not stray from that of the Home Rule Act. But disrupting the MPD's chain of command by appointing Cole — and therefore undermining Smith — was an overreach not legally permitted, Schwalb argued.
'The Administration's actions are brazenly unlawful,' Schwalb wrote on X Friday. 'They infringe on the District's right to self-governance and put the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk.'
In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the Trump administration has the 'lawful authority to assert control over' MPD.
Jacob Wendler contributed to this report.
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