District of Columbia officials are claiming a victory after the Trump administration agreed to amend its attempt to wrest control of the city’s police force from the local government.

Under pressure from a federal judge, Trump administration lawyers agreed to reword a directive from the attorney general, Pam Bondi, placing a Justice Department appointee in direct control of the D.C. police department.

Under the new language, negotiated outside the courtroom, Ms. Bondi’s appointee will still be able to make demands of the department but will have to direct those requests through the D.C. mayor, Muriel Bowser.

“Very important win for Home Rule today,” the district’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb, told reporters after the hearing.

The District of Columbia had filed an emergency motion earlier Friday challenging Ms. Bondi’s installation of an “emergency police commissioner” to oversee the D.C. police department.

The suit claimed the appointment was a “brazen” trampling of the district’s rights and exceeded the president’s authority under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973.

Ms. Bondi’s directive named the Drug Enforcement Administration chief, Terry Cole, to the role and granted him the “powers and duties vested” in the position.

But District Judge Ana C. Reyes, a Biden appointee, appeared skeptical of the effort. She noted that Mr. Cole’s first name was misspelled in Ms. Bondi’s order.

“It doesn’t give a lot of confidence if you can’t get his name right,” Judge Reyes said.

Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth went back and forth with Judge Reyes at the start of the hearing on how the federal takeover is supposed to work.

A lawyer with the D.C. attorney general’s office, Mitchell Reich, said the department should be locally controlled.

“I agree with you that they’re not allowed to take over the police force,” Judge Reyes said. “And Mr. Roth, if I gave him truth serum, he’d probably agree.”

Following an extended break in the proceedings, Mr. Roth told the court that the language of Ms. Bondi’s order was being reworked to return direct control of the department to the police chief, Pamela Smith.

He said the new language would also redefine Mr. Cole’s role, designating him to request police services from the mayor on behalf of the Justice Department.

Judge Reyes said she was “happy” the two sides were talking. “It looks like hopefully this gets figured out without a judge ruling,” she said.

The federal takeover came after Mr. Trump claimed that Washington’s crime is out of control. Judge Reyes started her hearing stating it was not about whether crime is out of control in the city but simply about the legality of the attorney general’s directive.

Ms. Bondi claims federal authorities have already made more than 150 arrests and confiscated 27 guns since federal agents were deployed to the city on August 7. 

Several homeless encampments have also been cleared as part of the federally controlled operations.

More than 100 protestors rallied a short distance from the courthouse to protest the takeover.