Tipsheet

D.C. Mayor, AG Signal They Will Not Comply With Bondi's Latest Order; UPDATE: D.C. AG Sues

Leah Barkoukis
Leah Barkoukis  |  August 15, 2025 9:00 AM

An order issued Thursday evening by Attorney General Pam Bondi appointing Terry Cole, head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, as D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner” quickly drew opposition from the district’s mayor and attorney general.

Cole, Bondi said, will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police” and the Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” prior to issuing orders—authority D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb pushed back on, calling the directive “unlawful.”

“Members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,” Schwalb wrote to the current police chief, Pamela Smith. 

Mayor Muriel Bowser also rejected the order.

"Let 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," she said on X. "We have followed the law. In reference to the U.S. Attorney General’s order, there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official." 

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Bondi’s directive came hours after Smith directed MPD officers to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody — such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint. The Justice Department said Bondi disagreed with the police chief’s directive because it allowed for continued enforcement of “sanctuary policies.”

Bondi said she was rescinding that order as well as other MPD policies limiting inquires into immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration warrants. All new directives must now receive approval from Cole, the attorney general said. (AP)

UPDATE: On Friday morning, Schwalb announced a lawsuit challenging the federal takeover of D.C. police.