Bondi Puts Head of DEA in Charge of DC Police
A heavy-handed move.
Via the AP: Bondi names DEA head as DC’s ‘emergency police commissioner,’ but capital leaders push back.
The Trump administration, stepping up its crackdown on policing in the nation’s capital, on Thursday named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to be Washington’s “emergency police commissioner” with all the powers of the police chief — a significant move that increases national control over the city as part of the federal government’s law-enforcement takeover.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a directive issued Thursday evening that DEA boss Terry Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” The Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders, Bondi said. It was not immediately clear where the move left Pamela Smith, the city’s current police chief, who works for the mayor.
This is a heavy-handed move by the administration in a process that continues to be an authoritarian power grab in the nation’s capital.
Three quick thoughts.
First, they are clearly trying to send a signal that the crackdown on DC is justifiable due to drugs. Naming the DEA head as in charge of the police force will help solidify, in the minds of some, that narrative.
Second, the skills needed to be head of DEA and being the acting police chief of a major city are not the same thing. Cole lacks the training and expertise for this job. Just because they are both vaguely part of “law enforcement” does not mean they are the same kinds of jobs.
Third, the Trump administration’s predeliction to give multiple big jobs to the same person is foolish (see also SecState/National Security Advisor Rubio and SecTrans/Head of NASA, Sean Duffy,* off the top of my head). Being head of the DEA is a big job, as is being chief of police of DC under normal circumstances, let alone in a situation like this. Just from an administrative point of view, this is foolishness.
There are, of course, legal concerns as well.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb responded late Thursday that Bondi’s directive was “unlawful,” arguing that it could not be followed by the city’s police force. “Therefore, members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,” Schwalb wrote in a memo to Smith, setting up a potential legal clash between the heavily Democratic district and the Republican administration.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote on social media that “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
I have not researched the legal parameters of this move, but it strikes me as likely that the move is, at best, based on highly dubious legal foundations. No doubt the argument (so to speak) will be made on the basis of emergency powers. I would simply note that there is no emergency in DC. Yes, there is crime. But the presence of crime does not an emergency make. Moreover, it is worth underscoring that the declaration of emergencies and the abuse of power by that mechanism is classic authoritarian governance.
See also News 4 (NBC Washington), DC sues Trump admin over move to sideline MPD chief, calls it ‘hostile takeover’.
*I did a quick search to confirm a simple fact, and this summary from Wikipedia about Duffy is just so absurd that I had to share: “Sean Patrick Duffy is an American politician, former television presenter, lobbyist, attorney, and lumberjack serving as the United States secretary of transportation. Duffy has additionally served as the acting administrator of NASA since 2025.”
********************@
Personally, if the federal government took over a major function of my city, I would immediately say that any city-union contracts are no longer valid and no pay functions will continue. I sometimes think that urban police forget who they work for.
Their strategy is to appear to be doing something, not actually do it.
Their strategy is to not discuss the fact that Trump fucked underage girls supplied by his pedo-pimp, Jeffrey Epstein.
Yeah, my curiosity was piqued.
If you’re thinking Paul Bunyan, or even the Stamper family from Ken Kesey’s “Sometimes a Great Notion,” think again.
Duffy was a participant in “Lumberjack Sports” and was a speed-climber.
He has a lot more in common with the manager at your local 24hr fitness center than a professional logger.
I thought I read yesterday that the way the system is set up, one may as well consider a certain DJT as the Police Chief of DC.
I’ve visited DC twice in the last three years to visit family, friends and be a tourist, and I admit that I did NOT head on over to the toughest districts to see what’s going on. Anecdotal I know, but …
A day ago I watched news footage of that showed Trump’s militarized police walking through the streets of Georgetown. Georgetown! This is all about intimidating the liberal elites who have gone out for a nice dinner, where crime is putting ketchup on a steak, and tipping ten percent.
What’s interesting to me is that MAGA conspiracists assert that on January 6th only Nancy Pelosi could have ordered the National Guard to the Capitol, she didn’t, so the J6 Tourists’ Riot was on her. YET Trump did not hesitate to call in the Guard when a little DOGE boy was robbed.
Am I wrong to infer that Trump could have called in the Guard and cquelled the J6 Tourist Riot? /s.
Is this power grab legal? As with so much else of the Trump rule by executive order regime, probably not. But by the time the issue is litigated it won’t matter because the damage is already done. And may I (once again) point out that false pretense/premise is at work….no “emergency” warrants this takeover, just as no emergency warrants use of the AEA to deport landscapers, nor is there an emergency “trade imbalance” to justify Trump’s usurpation of Congress’ constitutional role in regulating trade with foreign nations. Trump has perverted the Nike motto of Just Do It.
Looking at Mr Cole’s biography, it’s clear he has minimal experience in municipal policing. According to that press release he was a licensed police office in NY State. I haven’t been able to find a record of him serving in that capacity, but stuff on him is pretty limited.
The last 20+ years of his career have been in the DEA, which is fundamentally different than day-to-day community police work. Most of that work seems to be more on the militarized (and often foreign-facing) side of that operation.
Again, “meritocracy” for the win–unless someone wants to suggest that he’s the most-qualified pick for overseeing a municipal police department in a city where homicides and various types of interpersonal violence are the lead issues (they’re often connected to drugs, but they are different things from a policing and investigation component).
Fun aside: he’s a fellow alumnus of the Rochester Institute of Technology. But, given that he’s five years older than me, I don’t think we crossed over on campus.
BTW, I wonder how all of this is going over with the Trump supporters who loved pushing the “Copmala” meme during the election.
Steven, you are missing the presidential magic of [waiving hand broadly] “I find an emergency.”
Call me Mr Suspicious, but I can’t help wondering how useful control of the DC Police would be when 6 January 2029 rolls around.
Did you notice Cole’s skin tone? And his little goatee, which strongly implies a penis between his legs?
Pamela Smith has neither of these qualifications.
@Michael Reynolds: On the hand, I take the point, on the other getting obsessed with Epstein can also be an excuse to ignore a lot of bad actions by the admin.
As I tweeted the other day: “ While it may be true that Trump is militarizing DC to distract from Epstein and whatnot, don’t let Epstein and whatnot distract you from the fact that he is MILITARIZING a US city and is threatening to do it elsewhere.”
@Kingdaddy:
Which would be useful to harp on, if it weren’t true that their strategy will also include claiming results this action didn’t actually achieve.
Does anyone doubt that once the performative militarization of DC law enforcement has played out (and I’ll grant that could be a long time from now), the Trump administration will claim success? Suddenly, that DOJ report from earlier this year stating DC violent crime is at a 30 year low will become not information to ignore/hide but rather an accomplishment the Trumpists will take credit for.
The right wing went ape over a military exercise called “Jade Helm” in the Obama years, claimed it was the government taking over “our” cities. It’s all about putting those dark-skinned folks into their place, always has been.
@al Ameda:
I support the troops detaining any D.C. resident caught doing this. Good heavens.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I square the circle by complaining about both the bad actions, and about their being committed by a pedophile.
@al Ameda:
@DK:
In France that would call for the gendarmerie to be mobilized to exact vengeance with an extra special whiff of grapeshot.
Trust me on this.
@Steven L. Taylor:
Oh I am not implying that this is everything for Trump, just part of his usual grift. Yelling ‘squirrel!’ works when your supporters are credulous nitwits. I keep hearing that his tinfoil hat brigades will keep gnawing this bone, but I doubt it. They have never give AF about the truth, they’ve chosen to live in a world of lies, and they’ve mortgaged their souls to Trump, so they’ll find a way to go on pretending.
Where is it not a crime to put ketchup on a steak?
@Michael Reynolds:
Far, far, far too many American tables. Probably British ones as well.
That’s before we get into the issue of A1 in the US and HP sauce in the UK.
@Michael Reynolds:
Probably the same places where people tip 10%.
I’m guessing that Mar-a-Lago buys ketchup in bulk.
@Matt Bernius:
I wonder if this is a Blue State/Red State divide too?
@DK:
I agree. These are probably the same people who put ketchup on a Louisiana Hot Sausage too.
@JohnSF:
Believe me, I trust you. I visit France pretty much every year. Let me add – the gendarmerie are not wrong to do this. Also, if you’re visitor, you could well be detained and ordered to leave the country.
@Matt Bernius:
HP sauce is essential with a proper fried breakfast.
I shall fight and die on this hill!