Bondi Strips D.C. Police Chief Of Power, Names New Emergency Police Commissioner

Attorney General Pam Bondi escalated the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C., on Thursday evening by stripping Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith of her authority and appointing a new Emergency Police Commissioner with sweeping powers.

Bondi’s order, titled “Restoring Safety and Security to the District of Columbia,” installs Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole as Emergency Police Commissioner, effective immediately. Cole will hold full authority over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for the duration of President Trump’s executive order declaring a crime emergency in the capital.

“Effective immediately, Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrence Cole shall serve as MPD’s Emergency Police Commissioner for the duration of the emergency declared by the President,” Bondi’s directive states. “Commissioner Cole shall assume all of the powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.”

The order further requires that all existing MPD leadership — including Chief Pamela Smith, bureau heads, and commanders — obtain approval from Commissioner Cole before issuing any directives to the department. In practice, this effectively sidelines Smith and centralizes all police authority under Trump’s appointed commissioner.

Bondi’s order also rescinds three recent MPD directives related to illegal immigration, including one issued by Chief Smith earlier the same day that restricted cooperation with federal immigration authorities. “To the extent that provisions in this order conflict with any existing MPD directives, those directives are hereby rescinded,” Bondi wrote.

Citing Executive Order 14333, which formally declared the D.C. crime emergency, Bondi said, “The rising violence in the capital now urgently endangers public servants, citizens, and tourists and is impeding the proper functioning of the Federal Government. These dangers are multiplied by the District’s sanctuary city policies, which actively shield criminal aliens from the consequences required by federal law.”

The move sparked immediate backlash from Democrats. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb called the order “unlawful” and insisted that MPD officers must “continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor.”

But for Bondi and the Trump administration, the step marks a decisive strike against both spiraling crime and what they describe as political obstruction from local officials. With Cole in command, Trump allies say the city’s police will now have the freedom and backing to aggressively tackle violent crime while cooperating fully with federal immigration enforcement — an approach long resisted by D.C.’s Democratic leadership.

This latest maneuver underscores the administration’s resolve to impose law and order in the nation’s capital, even if it means clashing head-on with the city’s political establishment.