DC mayor, attorney general clashed over whether to sue Trump

By Gabe Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser privately pressed the city’s attorney general to delay a lawsuit aimed at halting President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops, according to two sources familiar with the conversation.

DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb ended up filing the lawsuit anyway on Thursday.

The dispute reveals the deep divisions within DC government over how best to confront the administration’s aggressive anti-crime crackdown in the nation’s capital.

On Thursday morning, just hours before Schwalb filed the legal challenge, he and Bowser spoke by phone. The mayor urged him to wait until after September 10th – the date when Trump’s 30-day federal emergency declaration for DC is set to expire unless Congress intervenes to extend it. Details of the call were first reported by Axios.

Bowser – who has publicly criticized the National Guard presence in recent weeks, but who has also walked a fine line with the Trump administration – warned that a premature legal fight could antagonize Republicans and jeopardize the end of the emergency, both sources told CNN.

But Schwalb, unconvinced by what he saw as the mayor’s vague and overly optimistic approach, pressed ahead with the lawsuit, citing mounting evidence that the National Guard will remain in DC well beyond next week, one of the sources said.

At a press conference later that day, Bowser distanced herself from Schwalb’s lawsuit, instead pointing to her efforts to prove the city can police itself with more limited federal support following the end of the 30-day period.

“What’s fair to say is that my 100% focus is on exiting the emergency, and that’s where all of our energies are,” she told reporters when asked if she supports the legal challenge.

Spokespeople for both Bowser and Schwalb declined to comment on the exchange.

If the president’s emergency declaration expires next week, the Trump administration would lose its sweeping authority to commandeer resources from the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.

However, the end of the emergency wouldn’t automatically trigger the withdrawal of the National Guard or federal law enforcement, and Trump officials have signaled that both will remain in the nation’s capital for now.

Since Trump’s emergency declaration on August 11, Bowser has been largely cooperated with the administration and federal law enforcement to avoid provoking Trump and risking a more aggressive federal intervention. That could include federal funding being pulled, federal control over local schools or law enforcement, or even a full revocation of DC’s home rule — steps some Republican lawmakers have openly advocated.

Bowser has insisted that protecting DC’s limited autonomy is her “north star.” But her approach has drawn criticism from some Democrats, who argue she should take a stronger stance and resist the administration’s aggressive tactics.

Just last week, Bowser signed an executive order requiring ongoing coordination between the city and federal law enforcement – a move some progressive groups slammed as capitulation, but which Bowser indicated was a strategic offramp to push the Trump administration toward winding down its federal surge.

House Republicans are not expected to seek an extension for the president’s emergency, CNN learned Friday. Last week, Trump himself publicly praised Bowser’s willingness to work with his administration.

Yet, the military extended orders for National Guard troops to remain in DC through at least November, with roughly 2,300 soldiers deployed and no sign of an early exit, though a senior official familiar with the plans told CNN that the mission could still be cut short.

In recent weeks, Trump officials — including the president himself — have indicated that the federal surge, in some form, could last for months. A White House official told CNN, “President Trump is committed to the long-term safety and security of Washington DC for its residents and visitors.”

Schwalb, an independently elected Democrat who announced his re-election bid this week, has pledged to confront Trump’s tactics head-on.

Last month, he filed a different lawsuit after Attorney General Pam Bondi moved to appoint an emergency police commissioner to replace DC’s police chief and assume control of the department.

While Trump officials ultimately backed away from that sweeping takeover, they still retain the authority to request any services from the local police department for as long as the federal emergency remains in effect.

The clash over this lawsuit highlights the contrasting strategies Democratic leaders across the country are using to confront Trump. The president has threatened to deploy National Guard troops to other Democratic-led cities, including Chicago, and has suggested that the federal response in DC could serve as a blueprint for similar actions elsewhere.

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