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Trump officials in talks with Oregon governor to pull federal forces from Portland Trump officials in talks to withdraw federal forces from Portland
(about 2 hours later)
Talks in early stages and no agreement made, official says, after another night of protests in which federal officers used teargas to break up demonstratinonsTalks in early stages and no agreement made, official says, after another night of protests in which federal officers used teargas to break up demonstratinons
The Trump administration has started talks with the Oregon governor’s office and indicated that it would begin to draw down the presence of federal agents sent to quell two months of chaotic protests in Portland if the state stepped up its own enforcement, a senior White House official said Tuesday. Signs have emerged that Donald Trump might be prepared to pull back federal agents from Portland, Oregon, after several nights of violent clashes with local protesters have prompted accusations that the president is deploying paramilitary forces in violation of the US constitution.
The official stressed to the Associated Press that the talks with the office of Democratic governor Kate Brown are in the early stages and there is no agreement. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss private conversations and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mike Pence, the vice-president, told the Fox News Channel late on Tuesday the administration was talking with Oregon’s Democratic governor, Kate Brown. He did not provide details.
Brown didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Portland mayor Ted Wheeler’s office also didn’t immediately respond to an email. The Associated Press, citing an unidentified White House official, reported on Wednesday the Trump administration held out the possibility of drawing down the federal troop presence if the state stepped up its own enforcement.
Meanwhile, law enforcement officers again used teargas to disperse protesters early Wednesday on the streets of Portland as loud booms filled the air. Trump said at the White House the federal presence would remain for now.
Just a day earlier, the US Marshals Service and Department of Homeland Security were weighing whether to send in more agents. The marshals were taking steps to identify up to 100 additional personnel who could go in case they were needed to relieve or supplement the deputy marshals who work in Oregon, spokesman Drew Wade said. “We’re not leaving until they secure their city. We told the governor, we told the mayor: secure your city,” Trump said, repeating his threat to send more federal officers if the situation gets worse.
Homeland Security was considering a similar measure with Customs and Border Protection agents, according to an administration official with direct knowledge of the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly about the plans and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. The federal government has deployed teams of agents, at times heavily armed and clad in camouflage, to the Portland protests, drawing criticism from Democrats and civil liberties groups who allege excessive force and federal overreach.
The nightly protests often spiral into violence as demonstrators target the U.S. courthouse in Oregon’s largest city with rocks, fireworks and laser pointers and federal agents respond with tear gas, less-lethal ammunition and arrests. Brown and Portland’s mayor, both Democrats, have complained they never asked for the federal agents and their presence was worsening the situation with protesters.
Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan said Tuesday that she had received confirmation that US agents had left her city after being sent to Seattle last week to protect federal buildings amid lingering unrest. “The violence in Portland has got to stop. It is clear that the local leadership and the mayor of Portland are not willing to step up. That’s why we’re talking to Governor Kate Brown and the state of Oregon about working a way forward,” Pence told Fox.
The developments came as the American Civil Liberties Union in Oregon filed a motion alleging that the militarized US agents are attacking journalists and legal observers with riot-control munitions, despite a federal court ordering them to stop. Brown’s office has so far given no indication of her views in the matter.
Last week, the U.S. District Court in Portland - located in the same federal court building that’s been the focus of protests - temporarily blocked federal officers from targeting journalists and legal observers at the protests. Tuesday night was the 62nd consecutive night of protests in downtown Portland and the 28th night of confrontations with federal officers. The demonstrations began, in tune with scores of other cities around America, in the wake of the death in police custody of George Floyd as a statement about police brutality.
The ACLU asked the court to sanction and hold in contempt federal agents for violating the temporary restraining order. It also asked the court to order Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli to personally appear and show why they should not be sanctioned for contempt. But on 1 July, the nature of the events started to shift when federal forces began to gather more visibly around the US courthouse. The forces, led by agents of border patrol, acted ostensibly to protect federal property but as the confrontation intensified were criticized for acting like paramilitary forces including arresting protesters and placing them in unmarked vans.
The organization cited numerous instances in which agents have violated the order by firing impact munitions and using pepper spray against people clearly marked as journalists or legal observers. On Tuesday night, the head-to-head between demonstrators and the federal agents was relatively restrained, according to the local newspaper the Oregonian. But a familiar pattern repeated itself after midnight when agents dressed in desert camouflage unleashed teargas, pepper spray and flash bangs in response to a couple of fireworks being ignited on the other side of the perimeter fence.
The motion was filed after U.S. Attorney General William Barr defended the aggressive federal response to Congress, saying “violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests” sparked by Floyd’s death. Civil liberties groups have complained that the actions of the federal agents are disproportionate to the crowd control challenges they face. Their deployment has stoked unrest that appeared to be fading before the officers arrived.
Protesters have tried almost every night to tear down a fence erected to protect the building, set fires in the street and hurled fireworks, Molotov cocktails and bricks, rocks and bottles at the agents inside. With the distorting presence of the federal agents, the focus of the protests, especially in the early hours of the morning, has switched from supporting Black Lives Matters towards venting anger at Trump. “I wanted to stand up to Trump. We’re sick of this man and the damage he’s done,” a demonstrator told the Guardian.
The ACLU accused federal agents of acting unlawfully in Portland. It is not clear how serious the White House is about withdrawing the agents. Currently there are thought to be about 114 federal officers deployed at the Portland courthouse.
There was no immediate comment from the federal agencies on the motion and accusations. On Monday, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicated they were about to boost the size of the unit with 40 more border agents and about 100 deputy US Marshals.
Two groups also have sued the Department of Homeland Security, alleging it violated the constitution by sending federal law enforcement to disperse crowds with teargas and rubber bullets. Trump has also talked in aggressive terms about extending the use of what critics call federal paramilitaries to several other cities including Chicago, New York and Albuquerque. It is not incidental in an election year that all the cities he has targeted are Democratic-controlled.
By contrast, in Seattle US border patrol agents sent supposedly to protect federal buildings appear to have quietly been pulled out of the city. The deployment had been fiercely resisted by the governor of Washington state, Jay Inslee, and Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan.
The federal action has provoked several lawsuits trying to stop it on constitutional grounds in Portland. On Tuesday a new suit was lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union complaining about ongoing assaults by US agents on journalists and legal observers.
A court order was obtained on 23 July imposing a temporary restraining order on the border patrol and other federal agents from roughly handling reporters. But the new lawsuit contends that “within hours federal agents began violating the court’s order and have continued to do so every night since”.
The lawsuit argues that “these violations are not inadvertent. They are intentional acts by a lawless president who has sent his paramilitary forces to shoot up the streets of Portland.”
Among the assaults cited in the suit are a journalist who was shot and teargassed while trying to video an arrest, and a legal observer shot in her chest from just four feet away. Another photojournalist was shot even though she had “PRESS” clearly stamped on her helmet.