Attorney General Pam Bondi named Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) head Terry Cole to be the D.C. “Emergency Police Commissioner” amid President Donald Trump’s takeover of the police in Washington, DC.

In a directive issued on Thursday, Bondi said Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police,” adding the Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders.

The role of police commissioner Pamela Smith remains unknown.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb called Bondi’s directive “unlawful” and that it could not be followed by the police.

“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

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