D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser And AG Brian Schwalb Hold Press Conference On Lawsuit Against Trump

Forbes Breaking News

On Friday, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb held a press conference about their lawsuit against President Trump's D.C. Takeover.

Transcript

00:00Court, we made clear that under the Home Rule Act, the authority to appoint a chief of police

00:05sits squarely with the mayor and that the right to control the local policing of our city sits

00:11with the mayor and the chief of police, notwithstanding the government, the president

00:15and the attorney general's efforts to suggest that they had taken control of our police force

00:20and put somebody in to run our police force. I'm very gratified that the judge today recognized

00:25that that is flagrantly illegal, that it violates the clear language of the Home Rule Act and that

00:31for all intents and purposes, the chief of police remains the chief of police. Pamela Smith,

00:36appointed by the mayor, confirmed by the council, remains the chief of police for the District

00:40of Columbia in command and control of the more than 3,100 professional officers that work for MPD.

00:47My sincere hope is that we don't have to be back fighting over this issue again.

00:51The government, the federal government recognizing that the judge was going to have to make a ruling

00:59on this issue actually withdrew and said that they're going to rewrite the language that suggested

01:04that the person from the DEA was running the police department, which was illegal and clearly

01:11not going to happen. So the key for today is to know that our effort to avoid a hostile takeover

01:17our police force is not going to happen. Chief Smith remains in control of the police department

01:22under the supervision of our mayor. Very important win for Home Rule today.

01:33I'm Uriel Bowser. I'm the mayor of Washington, D.C.

01:37I am pleased to stand with our Attorney General, Brian Schwab, and his capable team at the Office

01:44Office of the Attorney General, as well as members of my team. We are grateful for the hard work

01:53that was done when we received an order late into the evening, yesterday evening, that we read as plainly

02:03against the Home Rule Charter. Our teams worked throughout the night. The judge herself commented

02:11on the hard work that was done and presented in the cases made. And I am encouraged by the judge's

02:20remarks and the federal government making the changes that were suggested and the judge's willingness

02:29to rule if that's not satisfactory. Thank you.

02:33My expectation is that the key issue with respect to control and command of our MPD has been

02:46resolved today and that it is clear as a matter of law that it is under the chief of police

02:50appointed by the mayor. Hey, Brian, Bob Barnard over here from Fox 5. Are you concerned at all that when

02:55President Trump gets wind of what the judge ruled, he's going to come right back and do it again?

03:01Look, all we can do as local officials elected and accountable to the residents of the District

03:06of Columbia is to stand up for Home Rule and our law. Even the President of the United States,

03:12even the Attorney General of the United States needs to comply with the law. And the Home Rule

03:16Charter and the Home Rule Act is very clear with respect to when the President can request

03:21limited services of MPD, limited by time, limited by emergency circumstances, and limited for federal

03:27purposes. And in all cases, those services must be requested to the mayor to be provided by the

03:34chief of police, not a hostile takeover of our police. And if it means standing up to the President,

03:40standing up to the Attorney General to ensure that the laws of our country are followed, we will do

03:44that. My hope is that we do not have to be back here relitigating it. Our local law enforcement

03:51has worked collaboratively with federal law enforcement from time immemorial. This is nothing

03:57new, and it's part of what the residents of the District of Columbia deserve, is a cohesive law

04:01enforcement effort, MPD with our federal enforcement partners. We don't need a hostile takeover from the

04:08federal government to do what we do every day. And my hope is we can get past this and get back to

04:12doing the hard work of continuing to drive crime down in our city, because any crime in our city is too

04:18much. We have to continue to be focused on that. And my hope is that we put that to bed today.

04:25What's your expectation of what happens with both the homeless in the district and people without

04:31status? Do they both need to be worried that DC police are now enforcing rules that prior to this

04:37they've not been? Look, we know that the law under the Home Rule Act allows the federal government during

04:44a course of an emergency to request the services of MPD in furtherance of a federal purpose. And whether

04:50it's clearing encampments that are adjacent to or near federal land or that might interfere with

04:55federal employees, if it's enforcement of immigration laws that are under the federal, we will have to

05:00confront that as it comes. We have made very clear that we have laws in our city and that the services that

05:08MPD provides in furtherance of a request from the president, those services must comply with the

05:14law. Mr. Attorney General, Luke Barr with ABC News. Are you, over here, are you surprised, can you

05:20first of all take us inside, can you take us inside the negotiations with the Justice Department? It was a

05:27prolonged negotiation. What was that, what were those conversations like? And then for the mayor,

05:32were you surprised to see the Attorney General's memo in executive order last night, given the sort of

05:40what appeared to be cooperation between federal and state, you know, authorities? Yeah, I'm not going to

05:46talk about the confidential settlement discussions and negotiations that went on today.

05:52We were surprised. I think you know that we reached out immediately to the Attorney General as the

06:00president's designee. We had a productive meeting. She described it as a productive meeting. And without

06:07notice, we got the order.

06:11Terry, going back to NBC News here, are you concerned about potentially escalating tensions between the federal

06:16agents and D.C. residents as we go into this weekend?

06:20What we know is that D.C. residents are worried and concerned. And we have a surge of federal officers.

06:28Chief Smith's job during this week has been to make sure that if we have and while we have federal

06:36officers, that they are being used strategically. And while we aren't controlling them, we do have the

06:46ability to influence how they're being deployed. Mayor Bowser. Thanks. No, no more questions. Thank you, everybody.

06:58We now return to our preview.

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