Washington, D.C., on Friday sued U.S. President Donald Trump over his move to take control of the capital city’s police force, escalating a tense power struggle between the White House and local leadership.
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District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed the lawsuit in federal court just hours after the Trump administration appointed Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Terry Cole as “emergency police commissioner” with full powers of a police chief. Schwalb is seeking a ruling that Trump’s takeover is unlawful.
During an emergency hearing, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes voiced skepticism over the administration’s legal authority. “I still do not understand on what basis the president, through the attorney general, through Mr. Cole, can say: ‘You, police department, can’t do anything unless I say you can,’” she told a Justice Department lawyer.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended the move, saying the president acted “lawfully” in response to what she described as a public safety emergency caused by “failed leadership” in the capital. Earlier this week, Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington alongside federal agents from the FBI and DEA, citing a crime crisis despite statistics showing violent crime has been declining in 2024.
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday issued an order transferring control of the 3,500-member Metropolitan Police Department from Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration to Cole. The order requires city directives to the police be cleared by Cole and rescinds prior policies, including limits on cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
The lawsuit names Trump, Bondi, Cole, and other officials as defendants, framing the dispute as the “gravest threat to Home Rule D.C. has ever faced,” according to Schwalb. The 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act allows the president to assume control of the police for up to 30 days in an emergency, subject to congressional approval for any extension.
Some legal scholars argue Trump has gone beyond the statute’s limits. “The attorney general has very solid arguments that the president exceeded his authority,” said William Banks, a professor of national security law at Syracuse University. “But the unprecedented nature of these actions makes it hard to predict how the court will rule.”
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