Pam Bondi names DEA administrator as 'emergency' DC police chief

The order effectively strips the Metropolitan Police Department commissioner of any authority days after Trump launched a federal crackdown on crime in the city.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi further cemented the Trump administration's takeover of D.C. law enforcement Thursday by shifting decision-making authority from its police chief and handing it to the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, drawing pushback from the city's mayor.

Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote in a post to X late Thursday that "there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official."

In an interview on Fox News, Bondi had previewed an order by the Justice Department naming DEA head Terry Cole as "emergency police commissioner" of the Metropolitan Police Department, days after President Donald Trump directed the federal government to take control of the local police and deployed the National Guard in an effort to mitigate crime in the nation's capital.

"Effective immediately, Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrence C. Cole shall serve as MPD’s Emergency Police Commissioner for the duration of the emergency declared by the President. Commissioner Cole shall assume all of the powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police," the order from the attorney general's office read.

The order means the existing leadership of the D.C. police, including Chief Pamela Smith, will have to receive approval from Cole before issuing any further directives for the department.