Federal troops are patrolling the National Mall and neighborhoods across Washington while President Donald Trump's administration exerts extraordinary power over law enforcement in the nation's capital.

Related video above: DC attorney general on federal judge ruling that DC's police chief can maintain control of Metropolitan Police Department

But the administration backed down from an attempt to take over the city's police department by installing its own emergency police commissioner after a federal judge indicated she would rule against it. The partial retreat interrupted one aspect of the most sweeping uses of federal authority over a local government in modern times.

How it will play out and whether the federal government will use this experience as a potential blueprint for

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