Democrats Demand Answers About Trump's Federal Show Of Force In Portland
More than two dozen Senate Democrats sent a letter to the Trump administration on Wednesday demanding answers regarding the controversial deployment of federal law enforcement agents in Portland and possibly other major U.S. cities in the coming days.
The Democrats, led by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged Attorney General Bill Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to explain the legal rationale behind President Donald Trump’s deployment of federal officers, which he threatened to expand to other cities such as Baltimore and Chicago.
The letter sought to tie the federal incursion in U.S. cities to the forcible clearing of peaceful protesters in front of the White House last month, which Barr is said to have ordered.
“Critically, it remains unclear what legal authorities the federal government has invoked for its militarized interventions in American cities,” the letter read. “All of this is part of an alarming pattern by the Trump Administration in taking an aggressive and excessive response to protests catalyzed by the killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others.”
Unidentified federal law enforcement officers dressed in military-style camouflage were spotted stuffing protesters in unmarked cars over the weekend in Portland, where protesters have held demonstrations against the police killing of George Floyd. The reports from the scene drew condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike.
“We cannot give up liberty for security. Local law enforcement can and should be handling these situations in our cities but there is no place for federal troops or unidentified federal agents rounding people up at will,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted Monday.
Trump, meanwhile, said he ordered federal agents to quell what he called “anarchists and agitators” gathered in Portland. Protesters set a fire outside the U.S. courthouse early Monday,...
