Washington, D.C. found itself at the epicenter of a dramatic constitutional and political showdown this week, as President Donald Trump’s administration moved to seize operational control of the city’s police force—prompting fierce resistance from local leaders and a rapid-fire legal response. The escalating standoff, which has drawn sharp criticism and urgent court filings, centers on the Trump administration’s use of emergency powers to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and replace its chief with a federal official, a move many in the District view as an unprecedented threat to self-governance and public safety.
The controversy erupted late on August 14, 2025, when U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a sweeping directive designating Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Terry Cole as the city’s new “Emergency Police Commissioner.” According to ABC News, this order granted Cole “all the powers and duties” previously vested in MPD Chief Pamela Smith, effectively sidelining the city’s top law enforcement officer. The directive also mandated that all police directives receive approval from Cole before being issued, a radical shift that, as city officials warned, could paralyze day-to-day policing operations.
National Guard troops, deployed as part of President Trump’s crime-reduction plan, were already stationed outside key sites like Union Station, adding to the sense of urgency and unease across the capital. The administration’s actions, announced just as Trump prepared for a high-profile summit in Alaska with Russian President Vladimir Putin, were justified under Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act. In his executive order, Trump declared, “Effective immediately, the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall provide the services of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes for the maximum period permitted under section 740 of the Home Rule Act.”
But the city’s elected officials and law enforcement leaders saw things very differently. Less than 12 hours after Bondi’s order, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking a temporary restraining order to block what he described as a “hostile takeover” of the city’s police. In the lawsuit, Schwalb argued that President Trump and his administration had “far exceeded the authority granted him in D.C.’s Home Rule Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the U.S. Constitution,” as reported by News4. The suit named Trump, Bondi, Cole, the Department of Justice, the DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service, and its director as defendants.
Schwalb’s legal filing was unambiguous in its condemnation of the administration’s move. “By declaring a hostile takeover of MPD, the Administration is abusing its limited, temporary authority under the Home Rule Act, infringing on the District’s right to self-governance and putting the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk. The Administration’s unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC home,” Schwalb said in a statement cited by News4.
At the heart of the legal battle is the question of whether the president’s emergency powers extend to removing or replacing the city’s police chief and restructuring the command hierarchy. Schwalb’s office insisted that, while the Home Rule Act allows the federal government to request police services in an emergency, it “does not authorize the President, or his delegee, to remove or replace the Chief of Police; to alter the chain of command within MPD; to demand services directly from you, MPD, or anyone other than the Mayor; to rescind or suspend MPD orders or directives; or to set the general enforcement priorities of MPD or otherwise determine how the District pursues purely local law enforcement.”
Chief Pamela Smith, whose authority was directly challenged by Bondi’s order, sounded the alarm in a court filing accompanying the city’s restraining order request. “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 stated, as quoted by ABC News. She warned that requiring “literally every directive to receive approval from Administrator Cole prior to issuance as required by the Bondi Order would effectively freeze public safety operations in the District of Columbia.” Smith further explained, “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.”
Bondi’s directive went even further by rescinding several of the MPD’s standing orders, including one recently issued by Smith that allowed D.C. officers to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. According to News4, Bondi argued that Smith’s policy “did not go far enough.” The order also nullified the MPD’s code of conduct for officers and another order governing arrest warrants, prompting further confusion and concern within the department.
Local officials rallied quickly in opposition. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared on social media, “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.” In a memo to Smith, Schwalb instructed, “members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,” setting the stage for a direct legal and operational clash between the city government and the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress made a symbolic push to end the federalization of D.C.’s police. On August 14, they introduced a joint resolution to terminate Trump’s takeover, but the effort faced “dim prospects” in both the House and Senate, given Republican majorities, as reported by ABC News. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who spearheaded the effort in the Senate, called the takeover “an abuse of power and nothing more than a raw power grab. It is a direct attack on the ability of the people of the District of Columbia to govern their own affairs.”
The legal battle moved at breakneck speed. On the morning of August 15, D.C. District Judge Ana Reyes scheduled an emergency hearing for 2 p.m. that day to consider the city’s request for a restraining order. As the city’s legal team prepared for court, Schwalb told News4 that the confusion and risks created by the administration’s actions had forced the District’s hand: “Things have escalated to a point. We saw the President at the beginning of the week begin this hostile takeover. Attorney General Bondi’s order last night makes clear that that’s what they are attempting to do, to actually supplant the command and control of the chief of police, and that’s why we’re in court this morning asking the federal court to enjoin that.”
As legal arguments were set to unfold, the Justice Department declined to comment on the pending litigation. Mayor Bowser, who earlier in the week had seemed resigned to the president’s broad emergency powers under the Home Rule Charter, now found her city at the heart of a constitutional test over local autonomy, federal power, and the future of policing in the nation’s capital.
With the outcome of the emergency hearing still uncertain, Washington residents and leaders remained in limbo, bracing for what could prove a defining moment in the city’s long struggle for self-governance and democratic control.
