{"id":70890,"date":"2025-08-15T05:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T05:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/70890\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T05:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T05:49:06","slug":"mayor-bowser-and-dc-attorney-general-rebuke-bondis-order-appointing-emergency-police-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/70890\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Bowser and DC attorney general rebuke Bondi\u2019s order appointing emergency police commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday evening ordered DC\u2019s mayor and police department to accept Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, as the district\u2019s \u201cemergency police commissioner\u201d and give him full control of the department during the federal takeover<\/a> \u2014 quickly drawing rebukes from the district\u2019s mayor and attorney general, who suggested they would not comply.\n <\/p>\n

\n Bondi\u2019s order formalized the federal government\u2019s control of DC police and directed DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Metropolitan Police Department to end the capital\u2019s sanctuary city policies<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n In the first signs of significant pushback to Trump\u2019s DC police takeover, Bowser quickly rejected the order, writing on social media<\/a>, \u201cThere is no statute that conveys the District\u2019s personnel authority to a federal official.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cLet 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,\u201d Bowser said. \u201cWe have followed the law.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb reviewed Bondi\u2019s order and declared it illegal. In a letter to DC Police Chief Pamela Smith, Schwalb wrote, \u201cIt is my opinion that the Bondi order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Schwalb determined the Home Rule Act<\/a> did not give President Donald Trump the authority to remove or replace the chief of police, or alter the MPD chain of command.\n <\/p>\n

\n Schwalb wrote that the act \u201cdoes 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. The Bondi Order is, therefore, ultra vires.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Bondi\u2019s order had further directed MPD to abandon a directive Smith signed earlier in the day giving officers limited ability to share information with federal immigration officials. And, the order said, MPD leaders \u201cmust receive approval from Commissioner Cole before issuing any further directives.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Justice Department officials believed that earlier directive was meant to reinforce the type of sanctuary city policies that DOJ has vowed to put an end to, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n In addition to ordering that the directive be rescinded, Bondi instructed Bowser to get rid of two additional police policies aimed at protecting undocumented migrants, including one that prevents MPD from arresting an individual solely for federal immigration warrants.\n <\/p>\n

\n This comes after Trump earlier this week declared a crime emergency and federalized DC\u2019s police, tapping Cole as interim federal commissioner of MPD.\n <\/p>\n

\n Schwalb wrote in his letter to Smith that Trump and Bondi are now overstepping their legal authority.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cHaving been duly appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council, you are the lawfully appointed Chief of Police of the District of Columbia,\u201d Schwalb wrote to Smith. \u201cTherefore, members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has reached out to MPD for comment.\n <\/p>\n

\n Bondi\u2019s move makes clear that the federal police takeover in DC will go hand-in-hand with the Trump administration\u2019s hardline immigration enforcement goals, using control over law enforcement in the district as a way to try to put an end to the city\u2019s laws that protect undocumented migrants.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cDC will not remain a sanctuary city actively shielding criminal aliens,\u201d Bondi said in an interview on Fox News Thursday. \u201cWill not happen.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Christina Henderson, a member of the DC City Council, also responded to the order on social media<\/a> Thursday, writing \u201cRespectfully, the Attorney General does not have the authority to revoke laws.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Earlier Thursday, Smith signed an executive order allowing DC police officers to share information about people not in their custody with federal immigration enforcement agencies, as well as allowing local police to assist with transporting the agencies\u2019 personnel and detainees.\n <\/p>\n

\n However, the earlier order \u2014 citing DC law and police code of conduct \u2014 continues to prohibit officers from looking through police databases solely for a person\u2019s immigration status, from making inquiries about a person\u2019s immigration status \u201cfor the purpose of determining whether they have violated the civil immigration laws or for the purpose of enforcing civil immigration laws\u201d and from arresting anyone based only on federal immigration warrants.\n <\/p>\n

\n This story and headline been updated with additional information.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday evening ordered DC\u2019s mayor and police department to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-70890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}