As Barr Prepares To Defend Decision, US Mayors Seek Halt Further Federal Agent Deployment

As Attorney General William Barr prepared to defend the decision to send federal agents to the Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, Oregon, the mayor of Portland and other mayors are now pushing Congress to step in to block the deployment of more federal agents.

This comes as the Washington Post reports that more federal agents are being deployed to the city over the next week.

“The tactics that the Trump administration are using on the streets of Portland are abhorrent,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told CNN. “People are being literally scooped off the street into unmarked vans, rental cars, apparently. They are being denied probable cause. And they are denied due process. They don't even know who's pulling them into the vans. The people aren't identifying themselves. And, as far as I can see, this is completely unconstitutional.”

This sentiment was echoed by the mayors of Chicago, Seattle, Albuquerque, Washington DC, and Kansas City, Missouri. The mayors wrote an open letter shared on Twitter by Wheeler to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Meanwhile Barr is scheduled to testify to Congress Tuesday and according to his prepared remarks released by the Justice Depart he will say that “violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests” in Portland and elsewhere.

“Largely absent from these scenes of destruction are even superficial attempts by the rioters to connect their actions to George Floyd’s death or any legitimate call for reform," he will say according to the document.

Some Portland residents have also decided to take legal action in an effort to halt the deployment of federal agents. A coalition of protesters filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Department of Homeland Security on grounds it has violated the plaintiffs’ free speech protections, freedom from unreasonable seizure, and due process with the deployment of federal agents.

“They have been tear-gassed night after night, left vomiting and unable to eat or sleep because of the toxic poison blasted at them,” the criminal complaint acquired by NPR said.

“They have been shot at over and over — with rubber bullets, bean bags, pepper spray, and a range of other projectiles fired at close range and with brutal effect. They have had flash-bang explosive devices detonated right in front of them. They have been forced to speak and assemble in fear of not just bodily harm, but the possibility of sudden arrest without probable cause.”

However, Attorney General William Barr is set to defend the deployment of additional agents into Portland during a scheduled House Judiciary Hearing on Tuesday. The Department of Justice released a transcript of his prepared statement ahead of the hearing.

“To state what should be obvious, peaceful protesters do not throw explosives into federal courthouses, tear down plywood with crowbars, or launch fecal matter at federal officers. Such acts are in fact federal crimes under statutes enacted by this Congress,” the transcript said.

“Largely absent from these scenes of destruction are even superficial attempts by the rioters to connect their actions to George Floyd's death or any legitimate call for reform. Nor could such brazen acts of lawlessness plausibly be justified by a concern that police officers in Minnesota or elsewhere defied the law.”

Barr is also set to criticize the Democrat-controlled panel for criticism levied at him and ongoing investigations into the Trump administration.

“Ever since I made it clear that I was going to do everything I could to get to the bottom of the grave abuses involved in the bogus 'Russiagate' scandal, many of the Democrats on this committee have attempted to discredit me by conjuring up a narrative that I am simply the president's factotum who disposes of criminal cases according to his instructions,” the transcript said.