WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital sued to block President Donald Trump’s takeover of its police department in court on Friday, hours after his administration escalated its intervention into the city’s law enforcement by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department.

Trump has painted a picture of the U.S. capital as a city gripped by a wave of crime and pervasive homelessness, despite both federal and city crime statistics showing that violent crime has declined precipitously since a spike in 2023.