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Portland mayor accuses federal agents of "abhorrent" and "unconstitutional" tactics

19 July 2020
Dan Ackermann

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that he "absolutely" believes the Trump administration is violating the Constitution by deploying unidentified federal agents to arrest protesters in the city.

The state of play: President Trump and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf have defended the use of federal law enforcement by claiming that violent anarchists have overrun the city, which has seen more than 50 nights of protests over the killing of George Floyd.

  • The U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon has called for an investigation into reports that officers have arbitrarily detained protesters in unmarked vans.
  • Trump tweeted on Sunday:"We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it. Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!"

What they're saying: "The president has a complete misunderstanding of cause and effect," Wheeler told Tapper. "What's happening here is we have dozens if not hundreds of federal troops descending upon our city and what they're doing is they are sharply escalating the situation."

  • "Their presence here is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism, and it's not helping the situation at all. They're not wanted here. We haven't asked them here. In fact, we want them to leave," he continued.
  • "The tactics that the Trump administration are using on the streets of Portland are abhorrent. People are being literally scooped off the streets into unmarked vans — rental cars, apparently. They are being denied probably cause, denied due process. They don't even know who's pulling them into the vans."

Go deeper: U.S. attorney calls for investigation into federal officers arresting Portland protestors

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.