D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb responded late Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive was “unlawful,” arguing that it could not be followed by the city’s police force.

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

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive effectively replacing the Washington, D.C., police chief was “unlawful,” the capital’s attorney general wrote in a late Thursday memo, as President Donald Trump’s takeover of the city’s law enforcement devolved into a legal clash of powers.