Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will not be called a witness at a multi-day federal court hearing that could determine whether the city’s homeless plan is placed in the takeover.

Matthew Umhofer, an attorney for the Los Angeles Human Rights Alliance, told U.S. District Judge David O. Carter Tuesday that he and his legal team are withdrawing subpoenas sent to Bass and City Council members Monica Rodriguez and Traci Park in recent weeks. He said the fight against the city's opposition would delay proceedings for months.

The coalition filed a lawsuit in 2020 for its response to the homeless crisis, initially seeking testimony from three politicians as part of an evidence hearing that focused on whether the city failed to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement on the homeless program.

The agreement, reached in 2022, between the city and the alliance, requires the city to provide 12,915 beds to its unpopular population by June 2027. The coalition believes the city has failed to meet the agreement’s milestone and has no clear goals. City officials said they fully intend to comply with the deadline.

The possibility of Bass testifying in Carter court provides a rare source of drama for hearings over the past week that focuses on stereotypes such as the definition of a homeless camp.

Umhofer said in an interview that he gave up on bass and others as the city's attorneys threatened to appeal to prevent three politicians from testifying, which would delay at least two to three months.

"I don't think the mayor is timid in giving any testimony," he said. "She went into court several times and shared the key points of the conversation, but never experienced cross-examination. To make her boycott the subpoena was a definition of avoiding accountability and transparency."

Umhofer argued that the testimony provided last week was sufficient to prove that the city’s homeless plan should be supervised by a court-appointed third-party receiver.

The bass spokesman did not immediately respond to Umhoff's remarks. City attorney Theane Evangelis said Umhofer’s description of Bass was “at a loss” as a coward (made in front of a judge at a hearing Tuesday).

"The Alliance Attorneys clearly realized there was no legal basis," Evangelis later said in a statement. "They should never issue them first. The city's compliance with the agreement is resolving lawsuits in 2020, undoubtedly the first time that thousands of new housing units have been established in Los Angeles, homeless in Los Angeles in years."

Bass declared a 2022 homeless emergency on his first day of office, ensuring additional authority to grant contracts and signing lease agreements for temporary housing and other facilities. That same year, she launched within Safe, which has been transferring thousands of unpopular Angelenos to hotels, motels and other temporary housing. She also has a plan to speed up the recognition of certain types of affordable housing.

The alliance portrays the city’s homeless response plan as an irreparable break, believing that the only recourse is the judge handing them over to a third-party takeover. During the six-day testimony, the Alliance’s attorney repeatedly highlighted the findings of a consulting firm that the program lacked sufficient data systems and financial controls to leave them vulnerable to fraud.

The alliance's lawyers also noted that the city repeatedly missed quarterly milestones established in its settlement.

Last week, the city's attorneys argued that their client had done his best to comply with the settlement. They also argue that milestones are not mandatory. They say the alliance is a party that “ignors” the terms of the agreement.

Evangelis said the agreement allows the city’s obligations to be suspended and that if an emergency occurs, the terms of renegotiation are required. The fire in Palisades broke out in January, destroying thousands of homes.

"Instead of recognizing the enormous pressure our city has been under and delivering on its promises to meet and hold...a month after these fires, the coalition fled to court and sought sanctions against the city's alleged violations," Evangelis said in court last week.

The league placed bass on its witness list last month, saying she had “unique knowledge” about the facts and put herself at the center of debate by promising to lead homeless people.

The city's lawyers believe that putting Beth and two council members in the stands would put them "inappropriate burden" as elected officials. Instead, they were witnesses to the city’s top budget official Matthew Szabo, and Deputy Mayor Etsemaye Agonafer, who said they were the most knowledgeable about the settlement.

Last week, Carter delayed the ruling on whether Bass and Council members should testify, saying he wanted to hear first from Szabo and Agonafer, who dealt with the homelessness of the bass.

Agonafer testified for about four hours on Thursday. Szabo, which had overseen the city's compliance with the settlement, was questioned at four hearings. In multiple exchanges, he said he believed the city would comply with the terms of the settlement by June 2027.

Two council members sought as witnesses in the coalition, highly critical of the city’s homelessness program.

Rodriguez, who represents the Northeast San Fernando Valley, often uses the term “hell carousel” to describe the city’s struggles to obtain accurate data from the city’s county agency, Los Angeles Homeless Services.

Parker, who represents part of the West Side, said in a council budget review last month that the city wasted billions of dollars in homelessness plans. Before the vote, she also said the city “cannot manage” its own homeless affairs.