Several key local electeds have grilled President Donald Trump (R) for threatening to have federal forces crush protests against racial injustice.
Trump’s threats came soon after he deployed such forces to Portland, Oregon, where they have brutalized and detained protestors.
House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-East Side, Greenpoint, Long Island City) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-West Side, Brooklyn) joined Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) in urging the Justice and Homeland Security Departments’ Inspectors General to investigate the forces’ conduct.
“Time after time, the Trump Administration continues to trample on the First Amendment rights of American citizens who are speaking out about the racial injustices in our country,” said Maloney. “Just last month, the Administration tear-gassed peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C. for a photo opportunity, and now unidentified law enforcement officials are kidnapping protesters in Portland, Oregon and threatening to target New York City next.
“As Chairwoman of the Oversight Committee, I have requested the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security Inspectors General immediately investigate the Trump Administration’s actions, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure this egregious abuse of power does not go unchecked.”
Meanwhile, City Council Criminal Justice Committee Chair Keith Powers (D-Upper East Side, Midtown East, Stuyvesant Town) insisted that the president was out of line in making such threats.
“Mr. Trump would do well to focus on the greater issues of this country and his complete mismanagement of a pandemic that has devastated the United States,” he said.
Mayor Bill De Blasio (D), on the other hand, offered proposals to prepare for the worst, including a promise to sue the Trump Administration if it follows through with such a deployment.
“We’ve seen the chaos secret police are creating in Portland,” he said. “We won’t let it happen here.”
