Washington police chief remains in command under deal with Trump administration

WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department agreed on Aug 15 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 US District Judge Ana Reyes, Trump administration lawyers conceded that Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser’s appointed police chief Pamela Smith would remain in command of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.

The precise role of Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole, who had been named by US Attorney-General Pam Bondi as the city’s “emergency police commissioner” under Mr Trump’s takeover bid, was still to be hashed out in negotiations.

A revised directive Ms Bondi issued late on Aug 15 referred to Mr Cole instead as her “designee” for purposes of directing the DC mayor “to provide such services of the Metropolitan Police Department as the Attorney-General deems necessary and appropriate”.

Those services, according to Ms Bondi’s two-page order, would include assisting federal immigration enforcement, contrary to DC “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 Aug 15 afternoon at Ms Reyes’ insistence during a hearing before the judge on a lawsuit brought by the city challenging Mr Trump’s unprecedented move to assume full control of city law enforcement, invoking an emergency clause of the district’s 50-year-old-plus home rule charter.

The lawsuit sought a federal court ruling to block the takeover as illegal, according to DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb.

During oral arguments on Aug 15, Ms Reyes expressed skepticism that the Trump administration has legal authority to run the city’s police force or that Mr Cole can 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’

Ms Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement before the hearing: “The Trump administration has the lawful authority to assert control over the DC police, which is necessary due to the emergency that has arisen in our nation’s capital as a result of failed leadership.”

Mr Trump said on Aug 11 that 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 US capital.

According to US 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 US Congress.

As part of that action, federal law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Customs and Border Patrol have deployed agents to patrol the streets and carry out arrests.

Mr 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.

The Aug 15 lawsuit, which names Mr Trump, Ms Bondi, Mr Cole, and others as defendants, intensified a growing battle over the city between Ms Bondi and Ms Bowser, who have emerged as the public faces of the power struggle.

Ms Bondi’s order, issued late on Aug 14, said the city must receive approval from Mr Cole before it can issue any directives to the Washington 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.

Mr Schwalb wrote in a social media post on Aug 15, “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 US president the power to control the DC 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 US Congress, something Mr Trump has suggested he might seek.

Some legal experts said Mr Trump has exceeded his authority under the Home Rule Act, arguing the text of the statute does not authorise a complete presidential takeover of the police force.

Prof Williams Banks, a professor of national security law at Syracuse University, said DC’s attorney general has “very solid arguments” that Mr Trump has exceeded the authority granted to him by Congress, but the unprecedented nature of Mr Trump’s actions makes it difficult to assess what a judge will do.

“There’s no playbook for this,” Prof Banks said. “There’s no precedent either way.” REUTERS