President Trump called into Hannity Thursday night where he spoke about Portland mayor Ted Wheeler, who was tear-gassed by federal agents when he marched with demonstrators the night before.
“We’ve been very, very strong,” Trump said, “and we have Mayor Weyland [sic], who I think is also, he’s also the police commissioner as I understand it.” “Wheeler,” Hannity corrected. “Uh, Mayor Wheeler. And he’s—he made a fool out of himself. He wanted to be among the people, so he went into the crowd, and they knocked the hell out of him. That was the end of him. So it was pretty, uh, pretty pathetic.”
Federal agents showed up in Portland several days ago, in full military gear, with no visible identification and traveling in unmarked vans. The agents began arresting protesters off the streets without any explanation as to why they were doing so, which many, including Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano, say is unconstitutional. In response, the demonstrations in Portland have only grown larger. The office of The Department of Justice Inspector General announced on Thursday it is launching an investigation into the actions of federal agents in Portland, as well as in Washington D.C.
At the same time that Trump was speaking, and as the standoff between protesters and federal agents continued, Wheeler appeared on Cuomo Prime Time and claimed that before the agents arrived, the protests in Portland were beginning to die down.
“Before the feds arrived, the situation was contained,” Wheeler said. “The nightly violence had dissipated. We were seeing smaller crowds. The energy had gone out of those crowds. And then they showed up, the entire thing blew up.” Wheeler added, “This was created directly by the Trump administration.”
Wheeler also described what he’d witnessed the night before while he was in the crowd.
“I saw firsthand last night, the indiscriminate use of tear gas and other munitions,” Wheeler said, “and it had no effect except really angering people and frustrating people, and now they’re outraged.”
Wheeler also claimed that the city of Portland is under siege, and that Trump sent agents in for the sole purpose of causing chaos.
“The president is using these federal forces as his own personal militia, I believe for the purpose of political grandstanding. He’s doing this.” Wheeler said. “He’s creating the chaos in Democratically controlled cities so, ironically, he can point to the chaos and then say, ‘Look, those Democratically controlled cities are in chaos and I, and only I, can stop the chaos.’ I think this is abhorrent and it’s a clear political stunt.”
