President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Portland, Oregon, "would be burned and beaten to the ground" if not for the federal officers from the Department of Homeland Security that he deployed to the city last week.
Trump tweeted Wednesday afternoon:
"If the Federal Government and its brilliant Law Enforcement (Homeland) didn't go into Portland one week ago, there would be no Portland – It would be burned and beaten to the ground. If the Mayor and Governor do not stop the Crime and Violence from the Anarchists and Agitators immediately, the Federal Government will go in and do the job that local law enforcement was supposed to do!"
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump retweeted an opinion piece from former judge Andrew Napolitano, who criticized the use of federal law enforcement without the permission of the state's governor, and described the officers' actions as "kidnapping," as opposed to arresting.
"An arrest is a lawful restraint by a legitimate government authority pursuant to a warrant issued by a judge specifically naming the person to be arrested, or pursuant to probable cause of crime personally observed by the arresting officers," Napolitano wrote. "Neither of these was the case in Portland."
He added, "there is nothing lawful or orderly about what these agents did. Their activities in Portland are unlawful, unconstitutional, and harmful."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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