WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department agreed on Friday to scale back President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attempted takeover of the District of Columbia’s police force, in a deal negotiated with city officials at the urging of a federal judge.
Under the accord presented by the two sides to U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, Trump administration lawyers conceded that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s appointed police chief, Pamela Smith, would remain in command of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department.
Under the accord presented by the two sides to U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, Trump administration lawyers conceded that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s appointed police chief, Pamela Smith, would remain in command of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department.
The precise role of Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole, who had been named by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as the city’s “emergency police commissioner” under Trump’s takeover bid, was still to be hashed out in further talks.
A revised directive Bondi issued late on Friday referred to Cole instead as her “designee” for purposes of directing the D.C. mayor “to provide such services of the Metropolitan Police Department as the attorney general deems necessary and appropriate.”
Those services, according to Bondi’s two-page order, would include assisting federal immigration enforcement, contrary to D.C. “sanctuary city” policies constraining metropolitan police department action on immigration.
A revised directive Bondi issued late on Friday referred to Cole instead as her “designee” for purposes of directing the D.C. mayor “to provide such services of the Metropolitan Police Department as the attorney general deems necessary and appropriate.”
Those services, according to Bondi’s two-page order, would include assisting federal immigration enforcement, contrary to D.C. “sanctuary city” policies constraining metropolitan police department action on immigration.
The scope of city-federal cooperation on immigration enforcement remained an open question in the court-ordered negotiations.
The two sides opened talks on Friday afternoon at Reyes’ insistence during a hearing on a city lawsuit challenging Trump’s move to assume full control of D.C. law enforcement by invoking a never-before-used emergency clause of the district’s 50-year-old-plus home rule charter.
The lawsuit, filed by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, had sought a court order blocking the takeover as illegal.
During oral arguments on Friday, Reyes expressed skepticism that the Trump administration has legal authority to run the city’s police force or that Cole could effectively take charge of the department as its chief.
“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,'” Reyes told a Justice Department lawyer.
TRUMP DECLARES CRIME ‘EMERGENCY’
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 depicted as a crime emergency in the U.S. capital.
According to U.S. Justice Department data, violent crime in 2024 hit a 30-year low in the city, technically a self-governing federal district under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
Federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the DEA, have deployed agents to patrol the streets and carry out arrests. On Thursday, Bondi escalated the situation by issuing an order transferring control of the police department from the city to the DEA’s Cole.
Trump, who has suggested he could take similar actions in other Democratic-controlled cities, has sought to expand the presidency in his second term, inserting himself into the affairs of major banks, law firms and elite universities.
Friday’s lawsuit, which names Trump, Bondi, Cole, and others as defendants, intensified a growing battle over the city between Bondi and Bowser, who have emerged as the public faces of the power struggle.
Bondi’s order had stipulated that 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 addressing its involvement with immigration enforcement.
Schwalb wrote in a social media post on Friday, “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.
It includes a provision giving the U.S. president authority 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 by a joint resolution of both chambers of the U.S. Congress, something Trump has suggested he might seek.
Some legal experts said Trump exceeded his authority, arguing the text of Home Rule Act does not authorize a complete presidential takeover of the police force.
One challenge for D.C.’s attorney general might be that the U.S. Supreme Court has in some cases endorsed broad assertions of presidential authority.
“Historically, courts have been very deferential, for better or worse, to presidential declarations of emergency,” said Jill Hasday, a University of Minnesota law professor.
Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Tim Reid, Jan Wolfe, Andy Sullivan, and Andrea Shalal. Writing by Tim Reid; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Diane Craft and Rosalba O’Brien
Explainer: Can Trump take control of Washington’s police?
August 15 – The District of Columbia’s attorney general sued Donald Trump on Friday in a bid to impede his attempted takeover of Washington’s police force, escalating a power struggle between the Republican U.S. president and the U.S. capital city’s Democratic leadership.
Here is an explanation of what federal law says about Trump’s authority over the District of Columbia.
WHO GOVERNS THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA?
The U.S. Congress has legislative authority over Washington, D.C., a federal district that is not part of a state. But Congress has historically delegated much of the day-to-day work of municipal government to local entities.
A 1973 law called the Home Rule Act allows D.C. residents to elect a mayor and city council. Congress controls the city’s budget, and it can nullify laws passed by the city council..
WHO CONTROLS D.C. LAW ENFORCEMENT?
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has authority over the city’s Metropolitan Police Department. But a provision of the Home Rule Act, called Section 740, allows the president to take control of the police department for 30 days during an emergency.
Trump invoked Section 740 on Monday, saying in an executive order that there is a “crime emergency” in the city.
Bowser has pushed back on Trump’s claims of unchecked violence. Violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year, according to city data, and has continued to decline this year.
CAN TRUMP EXTEND POLICE CONTROL BEYOND 30 DAYS?
Trump on Wednesday suggested that he could extend the 30-day federal takeover of D.C. police without congressional approval.
“If it’s a national emergency, we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be before Congress very quickly,” Trump said.
Legal experts said the law is clear: A presidential takeover is limited to 30 days unless Congress votes to extend it through a joint resolution. Any such legislation would likely fail in the Senate, where Democrats can use procedural rules to block most bills.
ARE THERE LIMITS TO TRUMP’S POWER OVER D.C. POLICE?
Trump’s Justice Department asserts that Section 740 allows for a broad presidential takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued policy directives for the force, and on Thursday named Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole as the department’s “emergency police commissioner.”
In Friday’s lawsuit, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat, asserted that Section 740 was a “limited grant of authority” to the president. Even if a president declares an emergency, local officials retain the power to dictate Washington police policies and chain of command, according to the lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, who is hearing the case, has so far been skeptical of Trump’s view that Section 740 allows for a total presidential takeover of the city’s police. But this is the first time the issue has been litigated.
WHAT ABOUT THE NATIONAL GUARD AND FEDERAL AGENTS?
Trump has broad control over the D.C. National Guard’s 2,700 soldiers and airmen. They report directly to the president, unlike their counterparts in other states and territories. Unlike the D.C. National Guard, each state’s National Guard serves as a militia force that answers to their governors except when called into federal service.
Trump said on Monday he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington.
Trump in recent months has also directed federal law enforcement agencies such as the FBI to increase police presence in Washington. Trump has broad authority to reallocate federal agency personnel.
CAN TRUMP’S D.C. ACTIONS SERVE AS A MODEL FOR OTHER CITIES?
Trump has said the federalization of Washington’s police force could serve as a model for similar action in other U.S. cities. Trump has previously said he would expand his efforts to other Democratic-run cities such as Chicago that he claims have failed to address crime.
But Washington is unique because of the District of Columbia’s legal status and the Home Rule Act.
There is no similar legal authority that Trump can cite to take over police departments in other cities. The U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment vests in states a police power to provide for the health, safety and welfare of state residents.
Trump could decide to send the National Guard or other military forces to support law enforcement in other cities, as he did when he sent 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests against his administration’s aggressive immigration raids. There has been a longstanding tradition against using the military to police civilians within the United States.
California’s governor has sued Trump, arguing that the president improperly called the state’s National Guard into service and violated an 1878 U.S. law that generally prevents the military from engaging in domestic law enforcement. Trump said the National Guard presence was justified because protests and acts of violence in Los Angeles were “a form of rebellion” that necessitated a military response.
A judge heard testimony this week in the California lawsuit, which seeks a ruling that would return the National Guard troops to state control and a declaration that Trump’s action was illegal.
Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington; Additional reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Will Dunham, Rod Nickel and Lincoln Feast
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