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Congress Pushed to Pass Fix After Watchdog Finds 13 Ex-Officials Illegally Campaigned for Trump
"Senior Trump administration officials showed an open contempt for the law meant to protect the American people from the use of taxpayer resources and government power for partisan politics."
Nov 09, 2021
As federal investigators announced Tuesday that at least 13 senior Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act--a key law restricting campaign activities by government employees--a leading ethics advocacy group responded by calling on Congress to pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act.
"There are significant enforcement challenges to enforcing the Hatch Act. Legislation like the Protecting Our Democracy Act would fix that."
In a 59-page report, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) said the Trump administration exhibited a "willful disregard for the Hatch Act" that was "especially pernicious considering the timing of when many of these violations took place."
"The report outlines how the 13 officials used their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of the 2020 presidential election," OSC said in a statement. "Taken together, the report concludes that the violations demonstrate both a willingness by some in the Trump administration to leverage the power of the executive branch to promote President [Donald] Trump's reelection and the limits of OSC's enforcement power."
Noah Bookbinder, president of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW), said in a statement Tuesday that "this report confirms that there was nothing less than a systematic co-opting of the powers of the federal government to keep Donald Trump in office. Senior Trump administration officials showed an open contempt for the law meant to protect the American people from the use of taxpayer resources and government power for partisan politics."
The 13 former Trump administration officials named in the OSC report are: Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, senior presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, White House adviser Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence Marc Short, and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.
"In each of these instances, senior administration officials used their official authority or influence to campaign for President Trump," the report states. "Based upon the Trump administration's reaction to the violations, OSC concludes that the most logical inference is that the administration approved of these taxpayer-funded campaign activities."
Violations include Pompeo addressing the 2020 Republican National Convention live from Jerusalem, Wolf administering oaths to newly naturalized U.S. citizens in a broadcast during the convention, and Conway, Miller, and others promoting Trump's reelection during television appearances.
It was an especially rough day for McEnany and Miller, who were also served subpoenas Tuesday by a congressional committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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The OSC investigation also found that presidential adviser Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act by using her Twitter account "for substantial official government activity and also to promote numerous candidates for partisan political office."
"However," it added, "the lack of any regulations or examples addressing the use of social media accounts for political activity," and the fact that the former president's eldest daughter used her personal Twitter profile, kept her off the list of 13 violators.
The report lists "statutory amendment" as a possible way to overcome significant barriers to enforcement enumerated in the paper. Proponents argue the Protecting Our Democracy Act--a measure introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and backed by over 150 groups that would prevent future presidential abuses of power, restore checks and balances, and protect elections from foreign interference--would do just that.
"OSC notes that there are significant enforcement challenges to enforcing the Hatch Act," said Bookbinder. "Legislation like the Protecting Our Democracy Act would fix that. Congress must act now so that this never happens again."
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Federal Judge Delivers 'Huge Victory' for Immigrants, Ordering Trump Administration to Fully Restore DACA
"It opens the door for more than a million immigrant youth who have been unfairly denied their chance to apply for DACA," said the director of the Justice Action Center.
Dec 03, 2020
Immigrant rights defenders celebrated Friday after a federal judge delivered yet another blow to the Trump administration's drawn-out effort to kill Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program that protects certain undocumented residents who were brought to the United States as children from deportation.
Building on his November ruling that was similarly welcomed by right groups, U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis of Brooklyn ordered (pdf) the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to post a public notice by Monday that it is accepting new applications for DACA, which enables Dreamers to legally live and work in the country.
Garaufis, a Clinton appointee, also reiterated a determination he made in his ruling last month: Chad Wolf was not legally serving as acting secretary of DHS when he issued a July memo restricting DACA to those already enrolled in the program and limiting renewals and work permits to just a year rather than two.
Wolf's memo had come after the U.S. Supreme Court decided in June that the Trump administration cannot end DACA, which has benefited about 800,000 young undocumented immigrants. According to advocates, Garaufis' order to fully restore the program could soon benefit hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
"This is a really big day for DACA recipients and immigrant young people," Karen Tumlin, director of the Justice Action Center, who litigated the class-action case, told the New York Times. "It opens the door for more than a million immigrant youth who have been unfairly denied their chance to apply for DACA."
The news elicited a flood of celebratory tweets from Dreamers, as some young undocumented immigrants are known, and advocacy groups:
However, Dreamers "are not necessarily in the clear," the Washington Post reported Friday. "Attorneys general in Texas and other states have asked a federal judge to declare DACA unlawful and to provide for an orderly wind-down of it. A hearing in that case is scheduled for later this month."
Despite the ongoing right-wing attacks on DACA, Veronica Garcia, staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), also applauded the judge's order.
"The ruling is a huge victory for people who have been waiting to apply for DACA for the first time," she said in a statement. "Wolf's decision to suspend the program was just another attempt by the Trump administration to wield its extremely racist and anti-immigrant views and policies."
The ILRC previously put out a Blueprint for the Next Administration (pdf) that calls for fully restoring DACA. The document also urges the incoming administration to "review renewal applications that have been denied since 2017 and restore DACA for recipients that have been deported as a result of such denials."
President-elect Joe Biden, who served as vice president in the Obama administration, indicated after his defeat of President Donald Trump last month that he will appoint Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of homeland security. The move was praised by immigrant rights advocates who noted that Mayorkas oversaw the creation and implementation of DACA.
The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) said in a series of tweets Friday that while the ruling was a "major victory for immigrant youth, led by immigrant youth," the group looks forward to "working with the incoming Biden administration to create a permanent solution for immigrant youth and communities."
"As a result of this decision," the NILC said of Garaufis's ruling, "we encourage all eligible immigrant youth who hoped to file an initial #DACA application to consult with an immigration attorney to consider filing as soon as possible."
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Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib Lead Call for UN Probe Into Alleged DHS Human Rights Abuses
"Our government cannot be allowed to commit human rights atrocities or escape investigation, oversight, or criticism based on its powerful geopolitical position, as it so often has."
Oct 23, 2020
The four first-term progressive congresswomen collectively called the Squad led a letter Friday calling for independent international investigation of "recent, ongoing, and credible allegations of egregious human rights abuses by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), its components, and its private contractors."
"From the unwanted and unnecessary hysterectomies of migrant women, to the forced separation of children from their families, to the indefinite detention of immigrants in abhorrent conditions--the cruelty and callousness of the Department of Homeland Security under [President] Donald Trump knows no bounds," Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a statement Friday.
"This administration has demonstrated time and again its utter disregard for the lives of our immigrant neighbors, while our institutions of government have done little to hold it accountable--that must change. It's time we had a truly independent, external, and impartial investigation into these alleged human rights abuses by DHS, and I am proud to partner with my sisters in service in leading this call," she added.
Pressley was joined in demanding a probe of the agency's actions under the president by fellow Squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) as well as Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), and Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.).
The lawmakers sent identical, detailed letters (pdf) requesting investigations to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the U.N. Human Rights Council, and 14 independent experts that report to the council.
"All countries, regardless of size, power, or international standing must respect the human rights of all people and the United States is no exception," the letters state.
"Our government cannot be allowed to commit human rights atrocities or escape investigation, oversight, or criticism based on its powerful geopolitical position, as it so often has."
The letters come after the Los Angeles Times reported late Thursday that "at least 19 women at a Georgia immigration facility are now alleging that a doctor performed, or pressured them to undergo, 'overly aggressive' or 'medically unnecessary' surgery without their consent, including procedures that affect their ability to have children."
Although the DHS inspector general already opened an investigation into the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia after revelations from a whistleblower about medical practices at the facility, the lawmakers and supporters of their letters emphasized the need for independent reviews of those and other allegations.
"Holding the Department of Homeland Security accountable for its long history of abuses is a human rights, reproductive justice, and public health imperative--one that has been put on the backburner at the expense and detriment of our immigrant neighbors," declared Tlaib.
"That they have now been accused of literally removing immigrant women's wombs is perhaps the most egregious yet," she said. "As a mother, as a human being, I can no longer simply continue to call for our government to investigate itself. We've been down that road and it has resulted in no meaningful change, only impunity and additional atrocities."
Omar took direct aim at the president for forcibly separating families at the southern border--a widely condemned policy which, as a court filing from the ACLU revealed earlier this week, has led to at least 545 children remaining apart from parents, who haven't yet been located. The filing says about two-thirds of the parents are believed to have been deported to their countries of origin without their children.
"There can be no question now: The president of the United States oversaw massive human rights abuses within our own country, against children no less," Omar said. "This was child abuse on a massive scale. It is clear that the administration itself does not have the ability to hold itself accountable in a transparent or impartial matter."
The letters are endorsed by 53 groups, including Project South and the Government Accountability Project, which represent the Georgia whistleblower. The Government Accountability Project also represents "eight other whistleblowers within the DHS immigration system whose disclosures about practices that endanger the lives of immigrants in detention helped spur this call for intervention by the United Nations," noted staff attorney and International Program deputy director Samantha Feinstein.
"Unfortunately their warnings not only failed to prompt accountability and reform, but the DHS and its contractors revealed their indifference at best, and willful disregard at worst, to the lives of immigrants in detention," Feinstein said. "We applaud the calls by members of Congress for the United Nations to investigate the human rights violations revealed by whistleblowers, whose disclosure[s] are essential to ensuring that fundamental human rights are enforced."
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Calling Trump a 'Clear Threat to Our Democracy,' Civil Rights Group Sues Admin. Over Voter Intimidation
"The court should protect the fundamental right to vote by blocking Trump's attempt to prevent a free and fair election."
Oct 21, 2020
Latino civic engagement organization Mi Familia Vota Education Fund and several individual voters on Wednesday sued President Donald Trump and members of his administration for voter intimidation in violation of federal law.
The lawsuit (pdf), filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr, and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf as defendants based on what the plaintiffs describe as their "violent suppression of public protests opposing police brutality, the encouragement of white supremacist 'vigilantes,' threats to send 'sheriffs' and other law enforcement to the polls, the undermining of mail-in voting, and the rejection of the peaceful transfer of power."
"Court intervention is now critical to stop this illegal voter intimidation and to protect the fundamental right to vote."
-- Hector Sanchez Barba, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund
"Trump is a clear threat to our democracy," said Hector Sanchez Barba, the executive director of Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, in a statement released Wednesday by Free Speech for People, which serves as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. "He has terrorized the Latino community, and has brought our country to the brink of ruin."
"Now in an outrageous turn of events, he and his senior officials are intimidating voters," Sanchez Barba added. "Court intervention is now critical to stop this illegal voter intimidation and to protect the fundamental right to vote."
Ron Fein, legal director at Free Speech for People, echoed Sanchez Barba. "The court should protect the fundamental right to vote," Fein said, "by blocking Trump's attempt to prevent a free and fair election."
The lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration's aforementioned actions constitute illegal voter intimidation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 as well as an "unconstitutional suppression of speech and votes under the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments."
The plaintiffs accuse the Trump administration of a litany of crimes that undermine the ability of Americans to exercise their constitutional rights to democratic expression, from participating in peaceful demonstrations against police brutality to voting without fear of violent reprisal.
While the nationwide demonstrations against police violence and racism that erupted following the late May murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis law enforcement have "remained overwhelmingly peaceful," the statement noted, "Trump has repeatedly referred to participants as 'looters' and 'anarchists.'"
Together with Barr and Wolf, Trump "has falsely referred to the decentralized 'Antifa' (anti-fascist) movement as a domestic terrorist organization," the statement said, despite the fact that it is the pro-Trump members of heavily armed, far-right paramilitaries, such as Kyle Rittenhouse, who have provoked violent, sometimes deadly, confrontations on the streets of U.S. cities.
Furthermore, "the administration's response, which has included the deployment of unidentified DHS agents illegally detaining protesters and passersby in Portland, Oregon and questioning organizers of other assemblies about their political beliefs," has suppressed citizens' constitutional right to protest.
"Trump's deployment of federal law enforcement against assemblies of individuals perceived to be in opposition to him, coupled with his decision not to deploy federal law enforcement officials against assemblies of individuals perceived to support him, intimidates individuals who plan to express political opposition to Trump or vote against him," the complaint reads, "by communicating that Trump endorses physical violence against his political detractors."
Free Speech for People's statement further detailed numerous ways that Trump, who has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the event of an electoral loss, has attempted to sabotage the election:
As many states have expanded access to voting-by-mail in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump has repeatedly attacked and attempted to delegitimize the practice. He has publicly confirmed that his efforts to intimidate and coerce people not to vote by mail are subjectively motivated by the intent to harm his political opponents in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump megadonor and Postmaster Louis DeJoy, meanwhile, "initiated or oversaw drastic reductions to USPS staffing and service, limited the use of mail trucks, and removed hundreds of public mailboxes and postal facility sorting machines to undermine" the post office.
Moreover, "those seeking to vote in person also face intimidation from Trump and his allies," given that the president "has called for armed military and law enforcement presence at polling stations in the name of preventing fraud, and encouraged supporters to serve as poll watchers for the campaign."
The statement explained that among Trump's supporters are the Proud Boys, a white supremacist organization whom Trump publicly told to "stand by" during the first presidential debate last month.
According to the lawsuit, "The pattern of conduct described above has had, as a foreseeable impact, an objective intimidating effect on eligible voters."
The plaintiffs allege that "many Americans have been intimidated by this conduct... to the extent that it has discouraged their plans to register to vote, to vote, or to conduct voter registration, persuasion, or mobilization activities at public assemblies."
The civil rights group is asking the court for a preliminary injunction restraining Trump, Barr, and Wolf from continuing to engage in voter intimidation in violation of multiple laws.
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Citing 'Abysmal Record on Human Rights,' Amnesty Makes Rare Demand to Halt Wolf's Nomination as DHS Chief
Wolf appeared before a Senate panel after a federal judge ruled last week he is likely unlawfully serving as the department's acting secretary.
Sep 23, 2020
Amnesty International USA on Wednesday issued a rare call to halt the nomination of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to permanently take on the role "unless and until all information relevant to Wolf's involvement in human rights violations--including the family separations policy--is fully and thoroughly investigated."
"From proposing the separation of families to recklessly detaining tens of thousands of people during a global pandemic to deploying DHS forces to 'dominate' civil rights protesters, Wolf has an abysmal record on human rights."
--Charanya Krishnaswami, Amnesty InternationalCharanya Krishnaswami, Americas advocacy director at Amnesty, explained that her group generally doesn't take a position on individual government appointments but is calling on the Senate to investigate Wolf "given the gravity and range of rights abuses that have taken place during his leadership at the Department of Homeland Security."
Wolf has overseen DHS on a temporary basis since November 2019. The department has been without a Senate-confirmed leader since former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen's April 2019 resignation.
"From proposing the separation of families to recklessly detaining tens of thousands of people during a global pandemic to deploying DHS forces to 'dominate' civil rights protesters, Wolf has an abysmal record on human rights," Krishnaswami said Wednesday, noting that "internal emails show Wolf was directly involved in the decision-making process that led the administration to implement family separation to deter people from seeking safety."
The acting secretary "has expanded and defended the 'Remain in Mexico' policy, which has sent tens of thousands of people to dangerous and precarious conditions in Mexico while they seek asylum in the United States," she said. Wolf has also "aided the administration in weaponizing the pandemic to expel tens of thousands of asylum-seekers, families, and children in plain violation of asylum and anti-trafficking laws."
Krishnaswami continued:
Wolf has also presided over one of the deadliest years in immigration detention on record, keeping tens of thousands of people jailed arbitrarily and indefinitely during a global pandemic, where at least eight have died of Covid-19. Instead of releasing families from detention facilities, his department has sought to introduce family separation by asking parents to consider choosing to remain detained together indefinitely in dangerous conditions or separate from their children.
Wolf has served as the public face of DHS's protest deployments, justifying and publicly defending his officers' excessive use of force and unwanted presence in cities like Portland. Amnesty International USA has documented how federal agents working for DHS contributed to human rights abuses committed against Black Lives Matter protesters this summer, including medics, monitors, and members of the media.
The group's call came as Wolf appeared before Republican-controlled Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday morning. He was introduced at the hearing by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). President Donald Trump nominated Wolf to serve as secretary in late August, despite recent findings by the Government Accountability Office that Wolf's appointment to his current post violated federal law.
This @amnestyusa billboard was sitting outside the Senate building where @DHS_Wolf was testifying this morning. Not a single question was asked about the families he has kept locked up during a global pandemic. https://t.co/qki0jiHiit
-- Charanya Krishnaswami (@charanya_k) September 23, 2020
In mid-August, a report by the GAO found that Kevin McAleenan, who initially replaced Nielsen, "had not been designated in the order of succession," and "because the incorrect official assumed the title of acting secretary at that time, subsequent amendments to the order of succession made by that official were invalid," which applies to Wolf's appointment.
A DHS spokesperson told The Hill in August that "we wholeheartedly disagree with the GAO's baseless report." However, last week in a case challenging the Trump administration's asylum restrictions, a federal judge in Maryland ruled that advocacy groups are "likely to demonstrate" that Wolf's installation as head of DHS was invalid, so he didn't have the authority to impose the rules.
CNN reported Wednesday that "in response to the GAO and federal court filings, the department affirmed and ratified previous DHS actions carried out during Wolf's tenure as acting secretary, according to a Federal Register notice on Monday. Wolf wrote that the ratification was done 'out an abundance of caution,' given the challenges to his appointment."
During Wolf's tenure as acting secretary, DHS and agencies under the department--particularly U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)--have faced intense criticism from human rights and immigration advocacy groups, including Amnesty, who reiterated their opposition to his nomination ahead of Wednesday's hearing.
In a letter (pdf) Tuesday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) also called on members of the upper chamber to oppose Wolf's nomination. They wrote that "based on Mr. Wolf's track record it is clear he is unfit to serve as the Department of Homeland Security Secretary."
The opposition from advocacy groups and lawmakers, along with the Senate hearing, came as NBC News reported early Wednesday that the consulting firm where the acting secretary's wife, Hope Wolf, is an executive has been awarded over $6 million in contracts from DHS since September 2018. The report noted that Chad Wolf became chief of staff at the Transportation Security Administration, a DHS agency, in 2017, and Nielsen's chief of staff the following year.
A DHS spokesperson told NBC that "at no time in any of his positions since joining DHS has Acting Secretary Wolf been involved in awarding any contracts," and "even if he were involved with the procurement process for this particular contract, which he was not, he would have had to recuse himself due to even the appearance of impropriety."
However, the revelation still sparked calls for further investigation. "After Mr. Wolf joined DHS, it began pumping millions of dollars into his wife's firm, which also happens to be his largest financial asset," Kyle Herrig, founder and president of watchdog group Accountable.US, told the news outlet. "The arrangement is highly problematic and warrants congressional scrutiny."
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"The World's Most Dangerous Man" Picks on Portland to Pick Up Votes
Trump's quest for scenes of urban chaos may not be over, but for now, it could be ending with a whimper not a flashbang.
Jul 29, 2020
Watching the news from Portland, Oregon, where night after night anonymous Federal forces in combat gear and camouflage continued to go after protesters with tear gas, flashbangs, rubber bullets and batons, doing their damnedest to make a tough situation worse, I was again reminded of a simple fact. It will come as a shock to no one other than the most credulous:
Reality TV isn't real! A pearl-clutching revelation, I realize.
Professionally and socially, I know people who have written reality programming, who have produced it, who have edited it. The reality is a fantasy. Yes, real people are the characters but plotlines are formatted to fit the agreed-upon story, all the boring parts are edited out, events are juggled around to present characters in the most entertaining light, for good or evil.
Ultimate case in point: Donald Trump became a reality TV star--and president--by pretending to be something he is not, a self-made decisive billionaire with more business acumen than Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Warren Buffett combined.
Instead, reading his niece Mary L. Trump's heartbreaking new memoir, Too Much and Never Enough, he's revealed as a man filled with fear and insecurity who from childhood has lashed out with cruelty and prevarication at the least challenge and whose boasts of financial empire were built on the million and millions given to him by his father and a web of fraud, tax evasion, and bankruptcy that one day finally will be exposed for all to see.
"Honest work was never demanded of him," Mary Trump writes, "and no matter how badly he failed, he was rewarded in ways that are almost unfathomable. He continues to be protected from his own disasters in the White House, where a claque of loyalists applauds his every pronouncement or covers up his possible criminal negligence by normalizing it to the point that we've become almost numb to the accumulating transgressions. But now the stakes are far higher than they've ever been before; they are literally life or death. Unlike any previous time in his life, Donald's failings cannot be hidden or ignored because they threaten us all."
Mark Burnett, executive producer of The Apprentice, molded a willing Trump into a reality TV monster from the Planet Television, the place where nothing "real" is real. As per Mary Trump, when the show began in 2004, "Donald's finances were a mess... and his own 'empire' consisted of increasingly desperate branding opportunities such as Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka and Trump University... The Apprentice... despite all evidence to the contrary, presented him as a legitimately successful tycoon."
An editor on the show said, "Most of us knew he was a fake. He had just gone through I don't know how many bankruptcies. But we made him out to be the most important person in the world. It was like making the court jester the king."
We know from other reporting that the editors often had to "reverse engineer" episodes of the series when Trump impulsively changed his mind in the middle of shooting and a scramble ensued to undo the damage. Katherine Walker, one of the producers, told Patrick Radden Keefe of The New Yorker, in a 2018 profile of Burnett, that they often "struggled to make Trump seem coherent, editing out garbled syntax and malapropisms. 'We cleaned it up so that he was his best self,' she said, adding, 'I'm sure Donald thinks that he was never edited.'
However, she acknowledged, he was a natural for the medium: whereas reality-TV producers generally must amp up personalities and events, to accentuate conflict and conjure intrigue, "we didn't have to change him--he gave us stuff to work with."
I'll bet. His profane gift for manipulation and dissembling was further nurtured and encouraged at The Apprentice and now the nation and world suffer. Lashing out, in fear of losing reelection, he's used the lessons he learned from reality TV to mean and violent effect in Portland.
"Welcome to the world of performative authoritarianism," The Atlantic's estimable Anne Applebaum writes, "a form of politics that reached new heights of sophistication in Russia over the past decade and has now arrived in the United States. Unlike 20th-century authoritarianism, this 21st-century, postmodern influence campaign does not require the creation of a total police state. Nor does it require complete control of information, or mass arrests. It can be carried out, instead, with a few media outlets and a few carefully targeted arrests...
On Fox News, Sean Hannity has already denounced Portland as a "war zone." Tucker Carlson has spoken of protesters as "mobs" who keep liberal Democrats in power. The next stage will implicate Joe Biden in this same story: The president's aides have told journalists that Biden, if he wins, will "allow left-wing fascists to destroy America." Protesters, mobs, chaos, fascists, the left, the "Dems," Biden--they're all one narrative. The Trump administration will show people pictures of its uniformed troops pushing back against them, restoring order with a strong hand. And it will use the kind of language that appeals to that part of the population that prizes safety over all else.
This all is meant as talking points for right-wing TV and radio and for Trump's campaign ads, and as a diversion from 150,000 COVID deaths (although it also may be a dress rehearsal for election trouble in November). Some say he's trying to scare suburban voters leaning toward Biden as Richard Nixon did in 1968 following urban uprisings after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the police riot in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. Others, including Amy Walter of The Cook Report and the PBS NewsHour, think it's more about stiffening the spine of his faltering base.
She notes a Kaiser Family Foundation poll that that from May to July, Trump job approval among Republicans has dropped across the board: down 12 points on job approval, ten on the economy and a "whopping" 26 points on coronavirus. Walters tweets, "Is getting his base back enough for him to win the race? Probably not. He's got to win back independents who've also soured on him. BUT, it sure would help GOP SEN candidates in IA, KS and Montana to have R voters come home."
So now the Trump administration has agreed to begin withdrawing the Feds from Portland, perhaps as early as Thursday if state and local law enforcement secure Federal buildings, and assuming conditions "significantly improve"--this despite Trump's claim Thursday morning, "We're not leaving until they've secured their city."
Regardless, he knows he already has the footage he needs for what he thinks will help him most. A handful of protesters late at night made noise and trouble with lasers, bottles and fire in a small area around the courthouse even though the vastest majority of ongoing demonstrations in Portland have been peaceful, as moms, dads and veterans march in support of Black Lives Matter and against the Federal presence on Portland's streets.
On Trump's behalf, Attorney General Barr and acting Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf will keep haranguing the aforementioned credulous (unfortunately, they have a lot of votes) with bogus claims that the placid streets of Portland were overrun with anarchists--or denying there's systemic racism among the police. The Federal dollars spent on military gear and personnel for use against American civilians should instead be going to cures for an ailing populace and an economy crippled by virus in which millions are devastated by poverty and a lack of food, housing and education.
"Perhaps most crucially, for Donald, there is no value in empathy, no tangible upside to caring for other people," Mary Trump observes in Too Much and Never Enough. "... This is another crisis in which it would have been so easy for Donald to triumph, but his ignorance overwhelms his ability to turn to his advantage the third national catastrophe to occur on his watch. An effective response would have entailed a call for unity, but Donald requires division. It is the only way he knows how to survive."
That's the reality. There's many a good reason her book is subtitled "How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man."
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'The Withdraw Is Conditional': After Oregon Governor Says Federal Agents Are Leaving Portland on Thursday, DHS, White House Say Not Yet
"The federal occupation of our community has brought a new kind of fear to our streets."
Jul 29, 2020
An immediate withdrawal of federal forces in Portland, Oregon appeared unlikely Wednesday even after Gov. Kate Brown, who called the officers "an occupying force," said they would leave the city on Thursday.
In a statement, Brown said that federal agents will begin leaving the city if certain conditions are met and that local and state police would take over protection of the outside of federal buildings in downtown Portland. Federal agents will mostly remain inside, she said, though there will be some forces remaining outside.
"The local Oregon officers of the Oregon State Police will provide protection for free speech and the security of the exterior of the courthouse with the Federal Protective Service," said Brown. "A limited contingent of federal officials, who act as building security year-round, will remain and will stay focused on the interior of the U.S. Courthouse."
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, in contrast to Brown's comments, said in a statement that his agents would remain on the streets in Portland until he deemed it necessary to withdraw--not on the governor's timeline.
"The Department will continue to maintain our current, augmented federal law enforcement personnel in Portland until we are assured that the Hatfield Federal Courthouse and other federal properties will no longer be attacked," said Wolf.
In an appearance on Fox News Wednesday afternoon, Wolf doubled down, telling anchor Bill Hemmer that agents would not be leaving the city on Thursday despite Brown's claims that they would.
"We are not leaving Portland until we are assured that that courthouse is safe and secure," said Wolf. "We will continue to keep law enforcement officers in the area."
The White House confirmed that position to the Washington Examiner Wednesday.
"As the president and Secretary Wolf have both made clear, federal law enforcement officers will not leave until the seat of justice in Portland is secure," White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews said in a statement.
The Washington Post shed some light on the details of the plan:
The Federal Protective Service--the DHS agency responsible for protecting federal properties around the country--will remain at the courthouse with assistance from U.S. Marshals, Wolf said. Some state police will join them inside the perimeter fence, but DHS wants the state troopers and local police to keep the angry crowds and rioters away from the building, according to DHS officials who provided details on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss it publicly.
Federal agents descended on Portland earlier in the month in response to ongoing protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers in May.
Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler were both highly critical of the federal presence in the city, with Brown tweeting that the agents "have acted as an occupying force and brought violence."
"The federal occupation of our community has brought a new kind of fear to our streets," said Wheeler.
According to the New York Times:
Portland has seen more than 60 days of consecutive protests since Mr. Floyd's death. Much of the strife in the city had been between Portland police officers and the protesters.
But after President Trump issued an executive order to protect statues and federal property, federal officials sent militarized tactical teams to Portland. They employed aggressive tactics to keep demonstrators away from federal property. One protester was shot in the head with a crowd-control munition, and a Navy veteran was hit repeatedly with a baton as he stood still. In a tactic that was challenged in court by the Oregon attorney general, the federal officers used unmarked vans to target protesters for arrest.
Due to the conflicting statements on the timing and scope of the withdrawal, journalist Joshua Potash cautioned against reading too deeply into Brown's statement and urged demonstrators to remain vigilant.
"The withdraw is conditional, like the courthouse being secure," said Potash. "So feds can stay as long as they want."
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Citing Fears of a Defeated Trump Who Won't Go Willingly, Warren Calls on Cabinet Officials to End Deployment of Federal Agents Against Protests
"This is an urgent matter for American democracy and for the safety of Americans peacefully protesting in their communities."
Jul 29, 2020
Specifically citing President Donald Trump's refusal to commit to leaving office if he is defeated in November as a potential flashpoint for nationwide demonstrations, Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday sent a letter to four senior Cabinet officials asking them to commit to not deploying any more federal agents to quell domestic protests either before or after the upcoming elections.
The president, Warren writes in the letter (pdf), "has used these forces--who are improperly trained, unsuited for their operation, and have engaged in legally questionable tactics and arrests--in American cities despite clear opposition from governors, mayors, and citizens who are exercising their First Amendment rights in the communities in which these federal personnel have been deployed."
The letter--addressed to Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Attorney General William Barr, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf, and Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt--raises concerns that agents from the respective departments will be used for "future domestic actions against people exercising their right to protest."
"The deployment of federal paramilitary forces against civilians is a historic embarrassment for our nation, and harms the United States' standing in the world," writes Warren. "It has also contributed to the valid concern that President Trump--with the complicity of agency heads that agree to send these personnel--is turning your departments' personnel into tools of authoritarianism."
Warren adds:
The potential for President Trump to activate domestic forces as his "personal militia" (as former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge put it) is even more disturbing given his ongoing refusal "to reassure the country that he would abide by the voters' will" and peacefully leave office if he is voted out--resulting in "an unprecedented test of American democracy." I therefore write to seek your assurances that you will not allow the military or civilian forces under your control to be used by the President to suppress dissent and democracy.
In addition to demanding answers from the agency heads on a number of related questions, the Massachusetts Democrat also asks them to "commit to refuse to deploy the military or federal law enforcement forces under your control domestically against peaceful protesters or otherwise against Americans in advance of the November elections, and refuse to deploy in a manner intended to intimidate voters on November 3."
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