Chief Pamela Smith pushed back Friday morning on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s move to install the Drug Enforcement Administration chief at the head of the district’s police, warning that the directive could upend the department’s operations.

The move followed Attorney General Pam Bondi's announcement that DEA chief Terry Cole would assume the duties of police chief.

The suit, filed in federal court, is the biggest pushback from city officials since President Donald Trump invoked a provision of the Home Rule Act — the 1970s law that allows for limited self-governance by D.C.’s government — which allows the president to request MPD’s services to address “special conditions of an emergency nature.”