Trump threatens to “clean out” Portland as Oregon governor announces federal force withdrawal
Aside from being charged hourly for the fence around the Portland federal building because it blocks the street ($192,000 at last count), federal forces will be withdrawn beginning Thursday. Trump apparently hasn’t gotten the memo.
“We're not leaving until they secure their city … if they don't secure their city soon, we have no choice — we're gonna have to go in and clean it out.”
Federal officers will start pulling out of Portland on Thursday in a phased approach and state troopers will arrive instead to back up officers from the Federal Protective Service to safeguard the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse, Oregon’s Gov. Kate Brown announced.
Brown called the federal officers “an occupying force” that has “refused accountability and brought strife to our community,” in a statement Wednesday.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad F. Wolf, in a separate announcement, said he had been in talks with the governor in the last day and agreed to a “joint plan to end the violent activity in Portland directed at federal properties and law enforcement.”
The development comes as the city marks the 62nd day of consecutive demonstrations since the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.
Thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand police reforms and decry police brutality and systemic racism. Much of the demonstrations had focused on the Justice Center until early July when protesters turned their attention to the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse, where President Donald Trump had sent up to 114 federal officers from the U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to bolster Federal Protective Service workers.
— SafetyPin-Daily (@SafetyPinDaily) July 29, 2020
— Common Dreams (@commondreams) July 29, 2020
In other news:
— SafetyPin-Daily (@SafetyPinDaily) July 29, 2020
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) July 29, 2020
Promoting an Ohio HVAC company
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 28, 2020
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) July 29, 2020
— Bill Bramhall (@BillBramhall) July 29, 2020
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 29, 2020
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) July 29, 2020
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