City officials in Washington, D.C. are declaring victory after they say the Trump administration

backed away from a plan to appoint the nation's DEA chief as an emergency police commissioner,

a move they call an unprecedented federal power grab. The deal comes after the city sued to block

the president's attempt to take control of the Metropolitan Police Department.

In a court filing earlier today, D.C. police chief, Pamela Smith, warned, quote,

in my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive.

For perspective on this and the unfolding redistricting battle

in Texas, I spoke earlier today with Mark Elias, the Democratic Party's leading voting rights

attorney and founder of Democracy Docket. Mark, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it.

Thanks for having me. So as we said, D.C. is now suing the Trump administration for its

attempted takeover of the

city's police department. There was an emergency hearing today. How does this effort by President Trump

to deploy the National Guard to federalize the D.C. Police Department? How does it fit into his

broader strategy of expanding executive power, especially in Democratic-led jurisdictions?

Yeah, so look, Donald Trump is an authoritarian, and he admires authoritarian.

I mean, you don't take my word for it, look at who he pals around with, and look at who he cites with approval.

And one of the things that authoritarianes do, and one of the things he has tried to do,

is to exert police power, whether it's through taking over local police, whether it's through

deploying the National Guard, whether it's in L.A. or actually deployed the military,

whether it is dramatically expanding the use of federal law enforcement and roles

that they were never contemplated for. And he is doing this because he wants to show that he is in

charge, that he is able to exert power throughout the country, not just in Congress where

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