DOJ considered charges against Portland officials who told police to NOT protect the courthouse

Portland city officials told the police to not protect the federal courthouse. If you will remember, when the feds sent officers into Portland to protect the courthouse, the city officials condemned the federal law enforcement for the violence that preceded them.

The Justice Department did look into criminal or civil rights charges against city officials in Portland, Oregon after nightly riots between lawbreakers and the police, and attacks on the police.

The AP made a point of saying the majority of protests are peaceful. That’s a non sequitur since the Portland riots are not peaceful and haven’t been night after night. The AP suggested the DOJ was considering an extreme response to the violence.

The Portland officials told the police to not protect the federal courthouse. They seriously relinquished their responsibilities.

For many nights, federal officials were told that Portland police officers were explicitly told not to respond to the federal courthouse as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside, some throwing bricks, rocks and other projectiles at officers, and not to assist federal officers who were sent to try to quell the unrest.

DOJ spokesperson Kerri Kupec said they did look into charges. She declined to comment on the status or whether charges would be brought. But bringing criminal civil rights charges against city officials for protest-related violence would likely present an uphill court battle for federal prosecutors, the AP stated.

Why? They told police to leave the courthouse unprotected.

Attorney General William Barr did not tell prosecutors in the department’s civil rights division to explore whether they could bring charges against Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan for allowing some residents to establish a protest zone this summer.

More than 100 people have been arrested in Portland on federal charges related to the unrest in the last few months. The FBI has said it was also shifting the agency’s resources to focus more heavily on violence and federal crimes committed during nightly racial injustice protests in the city that often end in vandalism, clashes with police, and dozens of arrests.

CITY OFFICIALS ENCOURAGED THE ATTACKS IN EVERY WAY THEY COULD

City officials encouraged the attacks by fining the feds for erecting a fence to protect the courthouse and keep the rioters at bay.

The Portland city council also banned Portland Police from communicating with federal authorities during the height of mass violence in downtown. The city did everything they could to keep the riots going as long as it targeted federal property.

They have not been held accountable and the AP obviously doesn’t want them to be.

We also know from a leaked DHS email that Antifa violence in Portland is ‘organized,’ not ‘opportunistic.’

The Democrat city officials definitely excused and encouraged violent protests:

ATTACKING THE FEDERAL COURTHOUSE

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