U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that DEA Administrator Terrence Cole will temporarily serve as the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department.

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

After a judge threatened to block an order federalizing Washington’s police, the Justice Department issued a new directive leaving the city’s police chief in charge, for now.

The city’s Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit calling for an emergency restraining order to block the move, accusing the Trump Administration of implementing a “hostile takeover” of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) that would lead to “imminent, irreparable harm”.

The showdown in Washington is the latest attempt by Trump to test the boundaries of his legal authority to carry out his tough-on-crime agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to speed up the mass deportation of people in the United States illegally.

Three US Republican-led states deployed hundreds more National Guard troops to Washington, DC, marking a significant escalation of federal law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital.

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund warned that the homicide rate in the nation's capital is five to six times higher than other major US cities.

Federal agents who typically investigate drug lords, weapons traffickers or cyber criminals have fanned out across the nation’s capital.