Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan criticized the Portland mayor for the “ridiculous” and “stupid statement” that federal agents are “escalating the situation” in the city, calling it “not based on reality or acts”.
“The reality here is that this violence started in your city long before you deployed additional resources there,” Morgan told “America’s Newsroom” on Monday, the morning after the 53rd consecutive night of protests in Oregon’s largest city.
Over the weekend, protesters broke into the Portland Police Association building and set it on fire as protests over George Floyd’s death escalated for another night, according to Portland Police.
President Trump denounced the violent protests in Portland, and the Trump administration has enlisted federal agents, including the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group and a team of U.S. Customs and Border Protection based at the border. from the USA
On Monday, Morgan noted that the CBP team “is not only trained, but highly experienced in exactly these types of situations.”
The riots had frustrated Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, and other local officials who had said a small group of violent activists was drowning out the message from peaceful protesters. Wheeler also said that the presence of the federal police in Portland was exacerbating the situation.
“Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city.” Wheeler said Friday. “The words and actions of President Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have shown that this is an attack on our democracy.”
Speaking about CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Wheeler doubled down on his remarks.
“The president has a complete misunderstanding of cause and effect,” Wheeler said. “What is happening here is that we have dozens, if not hundreds of federal troops descending on our city and what they are doing is that they are intensifying the situation.” Your presence here is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism. “
“We haven’t asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave, “he added, calling for the intervention, which he says is” a blatant abuse of police tactics by the federal government “and the Trump administration,” a direct threat to our democracy. “
OFFICIAL PORTLAND SLAMS MAYOR, CLAIMS THE POLICE AND THE PROTECTIVE TROPICANTS ‘GOON SQUAD’ TARGET
Wheeler went on to say, “We are all telling the Trump administration to stop the rhetoric, get these people out of our city, they are not helping us, they are hurting us.”
“These people we are talking about are not protesters, they are criminals,” Morgan said Monday in response to Wheeler’s comments.
“Every night, they deliberately coordinate, organize, and plan to intentionally attack and destroy federal property and harm federal agents and officials. Those are criminals.
“That is why we are there and we will not go anywhere.”
Morgan went on to say, “What we need is for local leaders to stop saying ridiculous and irresponsible things, contact these protesters, and have the police work with us to get out and arrest and arrest these criminals.”
“That’s the right thing to do, but they refuse to do it,” Morgan continued.
Early Monday morning, protesters outside the Portland courthouse in the United States set fire to the entrance to the building in another night of conflict with federal agents who repeatedly fired tear gas at protesters to drive them away, according to authorities.
In a Sunday tweet, Trump wrote: “We are trying to help Portland, not hurt him.”
“His leadership, for months, has lost control of the anarchists and agitators,” he continued. “They are missing action. We must protect federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. It’s not just about protesters, it’s the real deal!
“The president is right,” Morgan said Monday.
“In fact, we have a legal responsibility, the federal protection service has the legal responsibility to protect federal buildings and they also have the legal authority to do so,” he said. “That’s why we are there.”
He added: “We actually had credible information that the federal buildings were going to be attacked, that’s what led us to put more resources there and guess what? That is exactly what happened. ”
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“In the past few days alone, we’ve had police stations and federal buildings boarded up with commercial-grade fireworks launched into these buildings to set them on fire with people inside,” he said.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
