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U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi issued an order on Thursday to slap down D.C. Metropolitan Police Division sanctuary insurance policies and place Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrence Cole accountable for the division as emergency police commissioner — however D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed again, highlighting a letter by which District of Columbia Legal professional Normal Brian Schwalb opined that the order from Bondi “is illegal.”
“In reference to the U.S. Legal professional Normal’s order, there is no such thing as a statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official,” Bowser mentioned in a social media submit.
Bowser included a letter from Schwalb to MPD Police Chief Pamela Smith, by which the D.C. legal professional normal mentioned that, in his view, the order from Bondi “is illegal” and that Smith is “not legally obligated to comply with it.”
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Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a press convention after President Donald Trump introduced a federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Division on the Wilson Constructing on Aug. 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photos)
In her order, Bondi declared that police management “should obtain approval from Commissioner Cole earlier than issuing any additional directives to the MPD.”
Bondi rescinded an govt order that was simply issued on Thursday by the police chief.
She additionally suspended components of two normal orders “till additional discover,” and directed the MPD “to implement, to the utmost extent permissible by legislation, part 22-1307, District of Columbia Code, and all District of Columbia municipal laws pertaining to the illegal occupancy of public areas.”
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U.S. Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi speaks throughout a information convention on the DEA headquarters on July 15, 2025 in Arlington, Va. (Alex Wong/Getty Photos)
The showdown between the 2 attorneys normal comes as President Donald Trump seeks to crack down on crime within the nation’s capital.
This week he issued an govt order that declared “the Mayor of the District of Columbia (Mayor) shall present the companies of the Metropolitan Police drive for Federal functions for the utmost interval permitted beneath part 740 of the Residence Rule Act.”
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However within the letter to the D.C. police chief, Schwalb asserted that Part 740 of the Residence Rule Act “doesn’t authorize the President, or his delegee, to take away or exchange the Chief of Police; to change the chain of command inside MPD; to demand companies instantly from you, MPD, or anybody aside from the Mayor; to rescind or droop MPD orders or directives; or to set the overall enforcement priorities of MPD or in any other case decide how the District pursues purely native legislation enforcement.
“The Bondi Order is, subsequently, extremely vires,” he declared.
Fox Information Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
