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,

Attorney General Pam Bondi tapped the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Thursday to serve as Washington’s “emergency police commissioner,” a move to wrest power from the District’s current police chief amid the Trump administration’s law enforcement takeover.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on the order, saying "there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official."

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb are clapping back a late-night attempt by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to unlawfully usurp the D.C. police chief. Their message: We’ll see you in court, President Trump.

The move amounts to a sweeping reversal of "sanctuary" policies in the nation's capital, allowing the Metropolitan Police Department, for the time being, to fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

The development came after Washington, D.C.'s attorney general filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department.