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DC Police Chief Pamela Smith to step down from role
Pamela Smith, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, is stepping down after two and a half years on the job, the Washington DC mayor, Muriel Bowser, has announced.
Bowser appointed Smith to the position in July 2023, when she became the second woman and first Black woman to permanently run the agency since its founding in 1861.
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Smith says serving as Washington DC police chief was 'greatest honor' of her career
In a statement, Pamela Smith said she was “deeply humbled, grateful and deeply appreciative” of her time in her role, which she described as the “greatest honor” of her career. She gave thanks to the mayor for appointing her in 2023 and supporting her throughout her tenure, which she acknowledged had been both “challenging and rewarding”.
Smith adds that “tremendous progress” has been made but the city is not at “zero percent crime”.
She said:
I am confident that the department is in a strong position and that the great work will continue, moving in a positive trajectory to combat crime and enhance public safety. Washington, DC is an extraordinary place to live, visit, and work, and I remain inspired by the resilience and spirit of this community.
I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity as Chief of Police. It has been an honor to lead the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department, and I will always carry with the me the pride of having served this city.
Washington DC Mayor says outgoing police chief helped 'restore a sense of safety' in the city
Here is Bowser’s full statement on Smith stepping down:
When Chief Smith stepped up to lead the Metropolitan Police Department, we had no time to waste. She came in at a very challenging time for our community, when there was significant urgency to reverse the crime trends our city was facing post pandemic. Within a year of her tenure, we opened the Real-Time Crime Center.
We deployed newer and better technology. We worked with the Council to pass comprehensive legislation that prioritizes accountability. And Chief Smith got all of this done while also navigating unprecedented challenges and attacks on our city’s autonomy.
Chief Smith dramatically drove down violent crime, drove down the homicide rate to its lowest levels in eight years, and helped us restore a sense of safety and accountability in our neighborhoods. We are grateful for her service to Washington, DC.
DC Police Chief Pamela Smith to step down from role
Pamela Smith, the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, is stepping down after two and a half years on the job, the Washington DC mayor, Muriel Bowser, has announced.
Bowser appointed Smith to the position in July 2023, when she became the second woman and first Black woman to permanently run the agency since its founding in 1861.
Democrats urge Pentagon to release video of strike on alleged drug boat
Sam Levine
US Democrats on Sunday pushed the Trump administration to release video of a second strike on an alleged drug boat incapacitated in the Caribbean, continuing to escalate pressure on the Pentagon amid accusations the attack was unlawful.
Eleven people died in the 2 September attack, including two men killed in a follow-up strike as they reportedly clung to wreckage for an hour.
That killing has been met with intense scrutiny and accusations of war crimes after the Washington Post reported defense secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill them all”.
Adm Frank Bradley of the US navy, who oversaw the attack, told lawmakers on Thursday there was no such order – and the Pentagon has defended the legality of the attack. Experts have said the defense is legally shaky.
“If the Pentagon and our defense secretary are so proud of what they’re doing, let the American people see that video,” Adam Schiff, a Democratic senator from California, said during an interview on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“Let the American people see two people standing on a capsized boat, or sitting on a capsized boat, and deliberately killed and decide for themselves whether they’re proud of what the country is doing. I can’t imagine people would be proud of that.”
You can read the full story here:
Republicans in Texas, North Carolina and Missouri have passed new maps that could add as many as seven GOP-friendly seats, as my colleagues report in this story.
Democrats have countered that effort with new maps in California – where Republicans and the Trump justice department are suing to overturn the map – and in Virginia, which could offset those gains.
Indiana Republicans could upend Trump's redistricting push ahead of midterms
A proposal to redraw Indiana’s congressional boundaries faces its first public test in the state Senate later today, with uncertainty over whether it will pass.
Redistricting is typically done once a decade after the census. But Donald Trump has put pressure on GOP states in recent months to redraw their maps ahead of next year’s midterms, with the president wanting to protect the Republicans’ thin majority in the House.
Several Republican senators have indicated their opposition to the redrawing of the map mid-decade despite the pressure coming from the White House. Republicans currently hold seven of the state’s nine districts.
The newly drawn map – passed by the Republican super majority in the state House on Friday – splits the city of Indianapolis into four districts, distributed across other Republican-leaning areas. It also groups the cities of East Chicago and Gary with a wide swath of rural counties in northern Indiana. The contours would eliminate the districts of the state’s two Democratic congressional representatives.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has authorised a sweeping system of mass arrests, incarcerations and deportations under the banner of an illegal immigration clampdown.
Human rights experts, however, have raised serious concerns about the detention of children with their parents and the arrest of people without charge or due process.
The activities of ICE agents is causing fear and anxiety across American cities, with many immigrant communities, and people of colour born in the US, terrified of being racially profiled and swept up in the raids.
My colleague Lucy Campbell has this report shedding light on the collective trauma inflicted on the immigrant communities of New Orleans. Here is a video showing the strength of feeling against the ICE crackdown in a combative New Orleans city council meeting:
In other news, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has explained people’s right to refuse to speak to or comply with agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a video posted to social media yesterday, he vowed to protect the city’s three million immigrants and the constitutional and legal rights of every New Yorker.
Mamdani, who will take office on 1 January, said ICE agents cannot enter into private spaces – like homes and schools – without a judge-signed judicial warrant and people have the right to keep their door closed if there no such warrant is presented.
He said:
ICE is legally allowed to lie to you, but you have the right to remain silent. If you’re being detained, you may always ask, am I free to go repeatedly until they answer you.
You are legally allowed to film ICE as long as you do not interfere with an arrest. It is important to remain calm during any interaction with Ice or law enforcement. Do not impede their investigation, resist arrest, or run.
Mamdani’s video comes a week or so after a raid by federal immigration authorities on the edge of Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood, which was thwarted by about 200 protesters.
You can read the National Defense Authorization Act in full here.
Sprawling defense bill will 'restore warrior ethos', House speaker says
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. Lawmakers have unveiled an annual defense policy bill authorizing a record $901bn in national security spending next year.
The budget for the defense department is $8bn more than the $892.6bn in the Trump administration’s budget request for the department.
The sweeping 3,000-page bill includes a 4% raise for enlisted troops, with the legislation seeking to codify some of Donald Trump’s executive orders, including those aimed at accelerating American manufacturing of drones, and developing the so-called “Golden Dome” missile defense system that the White House envisions will protect the US from possible foreign strikes.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives will be cut under the bill, which will see troops deployed to the south-west US border to apparently intercept undocumented immigrants and drugs.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said the legislation would advance Trump’s agenda by “ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, securing the border, revitalizing the defense industrial base, and restoring the warrior ethos.”
European officials will be pleased to read that the bill prevents the Pentagon from cutting the number of troops permanently stationed or deployed to Europe below 76,000 for more than 45 days.
This is unless the defense secretary and head of the US European Command certify to Congress that the deployment is against America’s national security interest, and will have to provide assessments of the withdrawal’s impact, among other requirements.
The bill also provides $400m in military assistance to Ukraine, reflecting Kyiv’s need to defend itself against Russia’s continuing aggression.
On another foreign policy front, the bill repeals two resolutions authorizing the use of military force in Iraq in 1991 and 2002. Stay with us as we bring you more on this story and the other major political developments from the US.
