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.

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.

Under the accord presented by the two sides to U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, Trump administration lawyers conceded that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's appointed police chief, Pamela Smith, would remain in command of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department.