Latest news with #D.C.HomeRuleAct
The Hill
13 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Democrats introduce bill to block Trump DC police takeover
A band of Democratic lawmakers is introducing legislation to thwart President Trump's takeover of the D.C. police department, arguing the White House is exceeding its authority. The resolution would terminate Trump's Monday order, something the lawmakers say comes as 'the President has concocted a false narrative around the city's crime rates' which have been declining for two years, while violent crime has reached a 30-year-low. 'Under the D.C. Home Rule Act, Congress has given the president the power only to direct the Mayor to make the Metropolitan Police Department available for a specific federal purpose but has given him no power simply to take over the Department. In any event, there is no federal emergency justifying such a takeover even if Congress sought to use its lawmaking power to effectuate it,' Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. 'Trump has made clear that his efforts in D.C., where 700,000 taxpaying American citizens lack the protections of statehood, are part of a broader plan to militarize and federalize the streets of cities around America whose citizens voted against him,' Raskin added, calling it a 'hostile takeover.' Trump also sent National Guard troops to the nation's capital, and tensions flared earlier in the week as officers set up checkpoints in the city. The Trump administration on Thursday escalated its takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), with Attorney General Pam Bondi installing Drug Enforcement Agency Administrator Terry Cole as Washington's ' emergency police commissioner,' while rescinding policies that limited officers from taking policing actions purely for immigration enforcement purposes. 'President Trump's incursions against D.C. are among the most egregious attacks on D.C. home rule in decades,' said Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-D.C.). 'Our local police force, paid for by D.C. residents, should not be subject to federalization, an action that wouldn't be possible for any other police department in the country. No emergency exists in D.C. that the president did not create himself, and he is not using the D.C. Police for federal purposes, as required by law.' The legislation was also co-sponsored by House Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), but cannot be taken up during the August recess. Once lawmakers return, it's unlikely the GOP-controlled body would bring the legislation to the floor. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) sponsored a companion bill in the Senate. The lawmakers argue Trump's police takeover is only the latest in a string of actions they say undermine effective governance of the city, including on crime, though D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's budget fully funded MPD. Earlier this year, Congress failed to include in its stopgap funding bill language that would allow D.C. to continue spending its local budget at fiscal 2025 levels — restricting $1 billion in city coffers. 'While Trump claims that federal control of D.C. is necessary to combat crime, the President's own actions are what is jeopardizing public safety in the District. He and his allies in Congress refuse to allow the District to access the $1 billion in locally-raised revenue that would have funded D.C. police, fire and emergency response services, and other public safety efforts,' the lawmakers said in a joint release. 'He fired and demoted dozens of D.C.'s most experienced career prosecutors, contributing to a larger backlog of criminal cases being held up in court and longer wait times for crime victims to obtain justice.' Van Hollen said Trump was absent when D.C. 'actually needed support from the National Guard' on Jan. 6. 'His current takeover is an abuse of power and nothing more than a raw power grab,' he said in a statement. 'The District of Columbia has made important progress on public safety in recent years, and can do more if Trump and House Republicans get the hell out of their way and stop blocking D.C. from accessing $1 billion of its own funds to strengthen policing and provide other public services.'
The Hill
13 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Hill
DC police chief calls Trump move to install DEA head ‘threat to law and order'
Washington, D.C., Police Chief Pamela Smith pushed back Friday morning on Attorney General Pam Bondi's move to install the Drug Enforcement Agency chief at the head of the district's police, warning that the directive could upend the department's operations. District officials are suing the Trump administration to block the action, arguing it goes beyond the emergency authorities in the D.C. Home Rule Act that President Trump invoked to surge law enforcement resources in the city. On Thursday night, Bondi installed DEA administrator Terrance Cole as D.C.'s 'emergency police commissioner,' assuming Smith's duties as part of Trump's takeover of the district's police. 'If effectuated, the Bondi Order would upend the command structure of MPD, endangering the safety of the public and law enforcement officers alike,' Smith wrote Friday morning in a court filing accompanying the district's lawsuit. '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.' Smith said that Bondi's directive would only 'create confusion' for officers. 'Imposing a new command structure 'effective immediately' will wreak operational havoc within MPD and create tremendous risk for the public,' she wrote. 'The new command structure will create confusion for MPD personnel, who are required under District law to respect and obey the Chief of Police as the head and chief of the police force. 'There is no greater risk to public safety in a paramilitary organization than to not know who is in command,' she added. Trump's police takeover is in effect for 30 days. His administration has said it will seek congressional approval to extend past that window.
GMA Network
43 minutes ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Washington sues to stop federal takeover of police department
US President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to the press about deploying federal law enforcement agents in Washington to bolster the local police presence, in the Press Briefing Room at the White House, in Washington D.C., August 11, 2025. REUTERS/ Annabelle Gordon WASHINGTON - The U.S. capital Washington sued Donald Trump on Friday over his attempted takeover of the city's police force, escalating a power struggle between the U.S. president and the city's leadership. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit challenging Trump's attempt to take control of the district's police force, hours after the Trump administration named Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole as the "emergency police commissioner" in Washington with all the powers of a police chief. Schwalb said the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, aims to get a ruling that Trump's takeover of the city's police department is illegal. A hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) It came after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an order late Thursday transferring control of the police department from the city to the DEA's Cole. Trump said on Monday he was deploying hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department to curb what he has depicted as a crime emergency in the U.S. capital, though statistics show incidents of violent crime have dropped. Washington has a population of about 700,000. As part of that action, federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the DEA, and Customs and Border Patrol, have deployed agents to patrol the streets and carry out arrests. Bondi's order said the city must receive approval from Cole before it can issue any directives to the roughly 3,500-member police force. It also sought to rescind several of the police department's prior directives, including one that addressed its level of involvement with federal immigration enforcement. A Justice Department spokesperson did not have any immediate comment on the lawsuit that described Bondi's actions as a "brazen usurpation of the District's authority over its own government." In a social media post on Friday, Schwalb wrote, "This is the gravest threat to Home Rule DC has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it." The 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act is a federal law that established local self-governance for the District of Columbia. It includes a provision that gives the U.S. president the power to control the D.C. Police in response to "special conditions of an emergency nature" for up to 30 days. The 30-day period can be extended only by a joint resolution of both chambers of the U.S. Congress, something Trump has suggested he might seek. Some legal experts said Trump has exceeded his authority under the Home Rule Act, arguing the text of the statute does not authorize a complete presidential takeover of the police force. Williams Banks, a professor of national security law at Syracuse University, said DC's attorney general has "very solid arguments" that Trump has exceeded the authority granted to him by Congress, but the unprecedented nature of Trump's actions makes it difficult to assess what a judge will do. "There's no playbook for this," Banks said. "There's no precedent either way." The lawsuit, which names Trump, Bondi, Cole, and others as defendants, intensifies a growing battle over Washington between Bondi and Mayor Muriel Bowser, who have emerged as the public faces of the power struggle. Bowser, a Democrat, has criticized the deployment of troops onto Washington's streets, and decried the move to attempt a federal takeover of the city's police force. "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," Bowser said in a statement on Thursday after Bondi named Cole as the police department head. — Reuters
Cedar News
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Cedar News
Washington D.C. Attorney General Sues to Block Trump Administration's Takeover of Local Police
Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has filed a lawsuit to block what city leaders call a 'hostile takeover' of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) by the Trump administration. The legal challenge comes after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi invoked emergency powers to install Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole as 'Emergency Police Commissioner,' effectively sidelining MPD Chief Pamela Smith. The administration cited rising public safety threats as justification, using a provision in the D.C. Home Rule Act that allows federal intervention in emergencies. Under the order, MPD must also reverse its sanctuary policies and cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Schwalb argue the move is unconstitutional, exceeds the president's authority, and undermines D.C.'s limited self-governance. They are seeking an immediate court order to restore local control. Critics say the federal action is politically motivated and not supported by crime statistics, which show violent crime in the District at a 30-year low. The lawsuit sets up a high-stakes battle over the extent of presidential power in the nation's capital and could determine how future emergencies are handled in Washington.
The Hill
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hill
DC attorney general sues Trump over police takeover efforts
Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) sued President Trump early Friday after the administration installed the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) head to command the city's police force. The 33-page complaint alleges Terry Cole's appointment as 'emergency police commissioner' goes beyond the emergency authorities in the D.C. Home Rule Act that Trump invoked to surge law enforcement resources in the city. The lawsuit seeks to cancel the DEA head's installment and keep the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) under the command of Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and Police Chief Pamela Smith. 'There is no greater risk to public safety in a large, professional police force like MPD than to not know who is in command,' the lawsuit reads.
