President Donald Trump revealed the reason why he did not send additional federal forces into Seattle, amid protests breaking out across the nation calling for an end to racism and police brutality.
During his meeting with the National Association of Police Organization leadership, Trump claimed law enforcement has become the target of a “dangerous assault by the radical left.”
Trump accused “left wing extremists” of causing chaos in different cities including Portland and Seattle.
He noted he was going to send federal agents into Seattle, but chose not to as soon as he believed protesters began to back down.
“We were getting ready to go into Seattle. We would’ve solved that problem very quickly. When they heard that we were going in, they went in. And, by that time, the anarchists were exhausted and they just raised their hand. They were exhausted and tired and they had a lot of drugs, and a lot of alcohol and they just gave up,” Trump said.
Check out his comments below:
Trump says he didn't send federal forces into Seattle because "the anarchists were exhausted and they just raised their hand — they were exhausted and tired and they had a lot of drugs, a lot of alcohol and they just gave up." pic.twitter.com/qPN6faiBFl
— American Journal News (@AmerJournalNews) July 31, 2020
Trump’s comments come just days after the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday the Trump administration will be deploying additional federal agents to Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee, as IJR previously reported.
According to a statement released by Attorney General William Barr, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee have all seen an increase in violent crime, specifically homicides.
While additional federal forces are being deployed to some cities, others are seeing agents withdraw.
According to Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D), Vice President Mike Pence has agreed to a “phased” end to the deployment of federal agents to Portland, as IJR previously reported.
In a series of tweets issued Wednesday, Trump said if additional agents had not been sent to Portland the city would have been “burned and beaten to the ground.”
Protests erupted across the nation after George Floyd, a Black man, died on May 25 in Minneapolis after policeman knelt on his neck for almost 9 minutes.
