Yahoo Finance Trump tactics 'poured gasoline on the fire' in Portland: Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff
Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff strongly condemned the Trump Administration’s deployment of federal law enforcement officers to Portland, Oregon, saying the move “poured gasoline on the fire” of an otherwise “mildly serious situation.”
Speaking to Yahoo Finance’s “The Ticker,” the executive chairperson of the Chertoff Group said his former department had overstepped its authority.
“I think there's a risk of losing public trust, if it appears that the department is allowing itself to be hijacked as a political prop,” Chertoff said.
Portland has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the demonstrations over the death of George Floyd on May 25. While the nightly protests in the city have largely remained peaceful, the deployment of federal militarized officers has escalated the standoff between demonstrators and law enforcement in front of the federal courthouse there. Officers have been criticized for their tactics, as they whisked away demonstrators in unmarked cars and tear-gassed activist mothers. Federal agents have arrested at least 83 people and charged 22 so far.
The deployments have spread to other cities, where demonstrations have turned violent. One person was killed during a protest in Austin over the weekend, while two were shot at a protest in Aurora, Colorado. In Richmond, white supremacists posing as Black Lives Matter demonstrators instigated the violence.
On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr defended the administration’s action before the House Judiciary Committee, saying “violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction.”
“What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called a protest; it is, by any objective measure, an assault on the government of the United States.”
Chertoff took issue with that characterization, saying President Trump’s rhetoric escalated demonstrations about racial inequality into a political one. Earlier this month, Trump singled out New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, and Oakland, as cities he was looking at to send additional federal officers.
“We're not going to let this happen in our country, all run by liberal Democrats,” Trump said.
“I think there was a somewhat heavy handed approach that the government took in terms of deploying security forces to the court as they roamed around the streets and wore uniforms that are really frankly more appropriate in the southern border where you're fighting armed drug gangs than U.S. cities,” Chertoff said.
On Monday, six Democratic mayors urged Congress to halt the deployment of federal officers to their cities, saying in a letter, “We call on Congress to pass legislation to make clear that these actions are unlawful and repugnant."
Chertoff said DHS should follow the example set by the Department of Defense following the protests at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., last month. After authorities violently removed protesters there to make room for a photo opportunity for Trump at St John’s Episcopal Church, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized for accompanying the president.
“My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics,” Milley said at the time.
“I think it's time for DHS to make it clear that it is not going to be a prop in a political campaign,” Chertoff said.
Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita
