Following is a statement by Norm Eisen, Executive Chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, regarding Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department:

“The Trump administration’s attempt to wrest control of the Metropolitan Police Department from the elected leadership of Washington, D.C. is fundamentally wrong and plainly unlawful. The Home Rule Act only gives the federal government narrow and temporary powers in extraordinary situations. It does not provide a blank check to bulldoze the District’s right to self-govern.

“Democracy Defenders Fund stands shoulder‑to‑shoulder with D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb in opposing this overreach. Appointing the DEA head as ‘emergency police commissioner’ with full command over MPD is brazen overreach, unprecedented, and directly counter to the principles of democratic accountability and local autonomy enshrined in law.

"We support all efforts to restore D.C.’s self-governance, and we are prepared to take any legal action necessary to defend it.”