Shortly after Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an order on Thursday night that installed an “emergency police commissioner” in the nation’s capital and rescinded its “sanctuary city” policies, her District of Columbia counterpart told the actual police chief that she did not need to comply.

The back-and-forth between the two attorneys general is a serious escalation in the fight over who controls the DC’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Earlier this week, citing an “emergency” that is not supported by federal or local crime statistics, Donald Trump ordered a 30-day federal takeover of the city’s police.

Since then, federal law enforcement personnel and hundreds of members of the DC National Guard have been patrolling the capital’s streets (or just milling around). However, it is unclear whether they have had any effect on (violent) crime.

The White House has touted arrests for offenses such as lewd acts and driving under the influence. In addition, one officer of the US Customs and Border Patrol had a sandwich thrown at him. However, that hardly justifies the extreme measure of taking over the MPD.

Then again, Trump’s fascist-adjacent power grab has very little to do with actually reducing violent crime. Instead, it is much more about exerting federal control over the city and harassing undocumented migrants, a number of whom have been arrested this week.

Bondi’s order makes clear that the city’s immigration policies, which she wants to revoke, are a key aspect of the takeover.

Citing increasing risks that the capital’s residents, workers, and tourists are facing from “rising violence,” which is a claim not supported by statistics, Bondi gets to the heart of the matter.

“These dangers are multiplied by the District’s sanctuary city policies, which actively shield criminal aliens from the consequences required by federal law,” she writes. “The proliferation of illegal aliens into our country during the prior Administration, including into our Nation’s capital, presents extreme public safety and national security risks to our country.”

Based on this flimsy excuse, her order rescinds these policies; installs Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, as “emergency police commissioner”; and directs the city’s actual police officials to get his approval for any orders they want to issue.

However, her DC counterpart wasted little time to intervene.

“It is my opinion that the Bondi Order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it,” wrote DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb in a letter to MPD Chief of Police Pamela Smith.

He notes that the Home Rule Act, which Trump invoked as the basis for his power grab, has limits that Bondi is trying to exceed.

“It does not authorize the President, or his delegee, to remove or replace the Chief of Police; to alter the chain of command within MPD; to demand services directly from you, MPD, or anyone other than the Mayor; to rescind or suspend MPD orders or directives; or to set the general enforcement priorities of MPD or otherwise determine how the District pursues purely local law enforcement,” Schwalb wrote.

Therefore, only Smith “may exercise all the powers and duties of the Chief of Police or issue any executive orders, general orders, or other written directives that apply to members of MPD.”

While it is unclear what will happen next, it is certainly nice whenever any official is standing up to Trump’s authoritarian power grabs.

One thing is certain: Nobody in the capital will be served by the actual chief of the MPD and an “emergency police commissioner” issuing contradicting orders, which means that all the president has achieved with his order is to sow chaos and harass the resident’s of a city in which only 6 percent of the people voted for him.