The local government of Washington is suing the administration of US President Donald Trump over what it says is an illegal takeover of the capital's police.
Washington Attorney General Brian Schwalb, in several posts on X on Friday, said "the Administration is abusing its temporary, limited authority under the law."
He called Trump's takeover of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) illegal and said it is the "gravest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced."
"The Administration's actions are brazenly unlawful," Schwalb wrote.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Terry Cole as emergency police chief to the MPD.
But Schwalb says Washington's police chief Pamela Smith is not legally obligated to comply with the order or hand over her command to Cole.
Citing allegedly rampant crime, Trump had decreed that the police in the capital would temporarily fall under Bondi's authority. Official figures show, however, that crime in the district has declined.
Trump based his decree on the Home Rule Act, which places Washington's police under federal command during a state of emergency. Schwalb argued that the law only allows the US president to instruct Washington's mayor, Muriel Bowser, on how law enforcement agencies should be deployed.
National Guard patrols in Washington
As part of his emergency decree, Trump also deployed National Guard troops to Washington. US media reported sightings of military vehicles and foot patrols near landmarks such as the National Mall.
Trump's focus – and thus that of law enforcement agencies – is primarily on migrants who may be in the country without residence permits, as well as homeless individuals on the city's streets and squares.
News clips shown on US television showed police forces starting to clear individual tent camps on Thursday evening, urging residents to move into homeless shelters to avoid the risk of arrest.
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