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

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive late on Thursday naming Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole as the "emergency police commissioner" of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department.