theintercept--2020-06-01--In Final Stretch, Progressives Coalesce Around a Single Challenger to Rep. Eliot Engel

Attention to the race has picked up in recent months as the coronavirus ravaged New York City , and specifically the 16th Congressional District , which covers parts of the Bronx and Westchester and was one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic .
Engel has faced scrutiny over being absent from the district during the pandemic — and lying about it to The Atlantic .
“ With the election almost upon us , the reason why I entered the race hasn ’ t changed , ” Ghebreghiorgis said in a statement Monday .
“ I ’ m proud @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in making the final push to send Jamaal to Congress.
” Andom Ghebreghiorgis is dropping out of the race to unseat New York Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel and endorsing his former opponent Jamaal Bowman , signaling that progressives in the race are coalescing around the Justice Democrats-backed former Bronx middle school principal .
Engel , who has been in office since 1989 , is facing his first serious primary challenge since 2000 .
His progressive opponents have highlighted his record on foreign policy , from initial opposition to the Iran deal to support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
They have also focused on his campaign contributions from the defense industry , from which he has received more than $ 200,000 over the course of his career .
Ghebreghiorgis announced his campaign last June and has been focused on tying Engel ’ s record on foreign policy to worsening socioeconomic issues in the district and turning out nontraditional voters .
He waged a competitive campaign with a skeleton staff and grassroots support from a broad coalition of working people in the district .
Still , high-profile progressive groups , like Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ endorsed Bowman , helping to elevate his campaign and giving him a fundraising advantage .
Because of that , Ghebreghiorgis faced pressure to suspend his campaign for the greater good of the left — unseating Engel .
“ We ran a series of polls this week across the district and were surprised to see that most registered Dems are still undecided about who to vote for 3 weeks out from Election Day , ” Ghebreghiorgis said in a statement .
“ My mission has always been to bring new representation to the district @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As my campaign is not in the position to make that a reality at this time , I am hopeful Jamaal can lead us to the finish line.
” His withdrawal from the race and endorsement of Bowman was facilitated by the New York Working Families Party , according to sources close to the decision .
The WFP hailed the decision in a statement on Monday .
“ We ’ re proud to stand together with Jamaal and Andom , who are fighting for the change we need in the Bronx and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Green New Deal , and equitable funding for education , ” said WFP state director Sochie Nnaemeka .
“ With just three weeks until election day , it ’ s more important than ever that our movement come together to deliver the change working people deserve.
” The former special education teacher said he would continue fighting for the district and said his campaign had mobilized voters who had lost faith in their representative .
“ I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish , ” he said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as we continue to survive this pandemic ; the consciousness we raised and sparked ; the contribution we made to our continued struggle for a just America and world.
” Heading into the June 23 Democratic primary , Engel has a serious fundraising advantage , but Bowman has the benefit of grassroots support within the district , from which Engel has long been absent .
Bowman , who resigned from his job as a public middle school principal last December to focus on his campaign , is running on a platform built around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he told The Intercept last year .
That includes new deals for housing and education and support for Medicare for All , a Green New Deal , and criminal justice reforms .
Correction : June 1 , 2020 , 11:07 a.m .
ET A previous version of this article misspelled the name Ghebreghiorgis .
The article has also been updated to include a comment from the Working Families Party .

Andom Ghebreghiorgis is dropping out of the race to unseat New York Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel and endorsing his former opponent Jamaal Bowman, signaling that progressives in the race are coalescing around the Justice Democrats-backed former Bronx middle school principal.
“With the election almost upon us, the reason why I entered the race hasn’t changed,” Ghebreghiorgis said in a statement Monday. “I’m proud to stand with the Working Families Party in making the final push to send Jamaal to Congress.”
Attention to the race has picked up in recent months as the coronavirus ravaged New York City, and specifically the 16th Congressional District, which covers parts of the Bronx and Westchester and was one of the areas hardest hit by the pandemic. Engel has faced scrutiny over being absent from the district during the pandemic — and lying about it to The Atlantic.
Engel, who has been in office since 1989, is facing his first serious primary challenge since 2000. His progressive opponents have highlighted his record on foreign policy, from initial opposition to the Iran deal to support for the Iraq War and Israeli settlements. They have also focused on his campaign contributions from the defense industry, from which he has received more than $200,000 over the course of his career.
Ghebreghiorgis announced his campaign last June and has been focused on tying Engel’s record on foreign policy to worsening socioeconomic issues in the district and turning out nontraditional voters. He waged a competitive campaign with a skeleton staff and grassroots support from a broad coalition of working people in the district. Still, high-profile progressive groups, like Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement, had endorsed Bowman, helping to elevate his campaign and giving him a fundraising advantage.
Because of that, Ghebreghiorgis faced pressure to suspend his campaign for the greater good of the left — unseating Engel. “We ran a series of polls this week across the district and were surprised to see that most registered Dems are still undecided about who to vote for 3 weeks out from Election Day,” Ghebreghiorgis said in a statement. “My mission has always been to bring new representation to the district who understands the needs of the people. As my campaign is not in the position to make that a reality at this time, I am hopeful Jamaal can lead us to the finish line.”
His withdrawal from the race and endorsement of Bowman was facilitated by the New York Working Families Party, according to sources close to the decision. The WFP hailed the decision in a statement on Monday. “We’re proud to stand together with Jamaal and Andom, who are fighting for the change we need in the Bronx and Westchester: Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and equitable funding for education,” said WFP state director Sochie Nnaemeka. “With just three weeks until election day, it’s more important than ever that our movement come together to deliver the change working people deserve.”
The former special education teacher said he would continue fighting for the district and said his campaign had mobilized voters who had lost faith in their representative. “I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish,” he said. “Our neighbors we stood with and supported as we continue to survive this pandemic; the consciousness we raised and sparked; the contribution we made to our continued struggle for a just America and world.”
Heading into the June 23 Democratic primary, Engel has a serious fundraising advantage, but Bowman has the benefit of grassroots support within the district, from which Engel has long been absent. Bowman, who resigned from his job as a public middle school principal last December to focus on his campaign, is running on a platform built around “anti-poverty and anti-racist policies,” he told The Intercept last year. That includes new deals for housing and education and support for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and criminal justice reforms.
Correction: June 1, 2020, 11:07 a.m. ET
A previous version of this article misspelled the name Ghebreghiorgis. The article has also been updated to include a comment from the Working Families Party.


theintercept--2020-06-01--Trump Boosts Video of Dallas Clash Edited to Cast Machete-Wielding Vigilante as Victim

relying on fragmentary video clips posted on social media by politically motivated witnesses to news events was on full display in Dallas on Saturday night .
Two witnesses , a Black Lives Matter protester and a right-wing video blogger , both captured a shocking act of violence on camera .
But while the protester ’ s raw footage , which gave a more complete picture of the incident , was not widely seen , the video blogger ’ s edited version , posted on Twitter with a misleading caption , was viewed more than 30 million times in 24 hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swallowed the blogger ’ s misleading video — which was edited to remove footage of a white man who was beaten charging at black protesters with a machete before they pummeled him — was the president of the United States , who tweeted about the clip with an outraged call for “ LONG TERM jail sentences ” for the protesters .
The edited clip was the work of Elijah Schaffer , a freelance producer for Glenn Beck ’ s Blaze TV and a pro-Trump political activist who hosts a YouTube talk show dedicated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10 p.m. local time in Dallas on Saturday , Schaffer uploaded 24 seconds of video that showed a white man , face down on the street , being kicked , stomped on and beaten with rocks and a skateboard by a group of mainly black protesters .
Before posting his video on Twitter , Schaffer edited out the first 18 seconds he had recorded , which showed what happened immediately before the beating began , and wrote a caption that gave the false impression that the man was a store owner who had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instagram account , where the same edit has been viewed over 500,000 times , with a close-up of the man ’ s bloody head on the pavement as a thumbnail , Schaffer explicitly cast the protesters as the aggressors , writing : “ It appears he attempted to defend a shop with a large sword .
Looters ran at him , then he charged rioters.
” In a subsequent appearance on Blaze TV , Schaffer told the conservative commentator Steven Crowder that the victim of the attack was “ a man who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a false rumor that he had died .
The tweet linking to Schaffer ’ s video that Donald Trump commented on echoed the false claim that the man who was beaten “ was protecting his business , ” and added a new one : that he had been “ stomped and stoned by Antifa , ” using the shorthand for anti-fascist activists who , in fact , played no role in the incident .
On Monday , Trump referred to the edited clip as evidence that “ innocent people have been savagely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dallas , Texas , who was left dying on the street.
” But Schaffer ’ s account of what prompted the fight and the man ’ s condition were both false , according to statements from the Dallas Police Department and a protester who also witnessed the incident and posted his own more complete but less viral video on Instagram .
Tamika Dameron , a Dallas police spokesperson , told The Intercept that the man who was beaten took to the streets of the Victory Park neighborhood on Saturday , “ carrying a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesters .
The victim confronted protesters while holding the machete and was subsequently assaulted by the protesters.
” The man , who has not been identified by the police , was treated at the scene by volunteer medics and brought to a hospital nearby where , Dameron said , “ he remains in stable condition.
” In remarks on Monday , Trump echoed Schaffer ’ s misleading account of what happened , including the false claim that the man “ was left dying on the street.
” The confrontation took place outside Hatchways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the intersection of High Market Street and Victory Park Lane , about about half a mile away from another street corner where officers were firing tear gas at kneeling protesters chanting “ No Justice , No Peace.
” According to Yoel Measho , a college student and videographer who took part in the protest , after it splintered he was marching with a group that included a young skateboarder when they came upon the man with the machete .
In a phone interview , Measho said that he started recording just after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and threatened the skateboarder , who was slightly ahead of the rest of the group .
Measho insisted that , although glass was broken at Hatchways at some point on Saturday night , there was “ no violence or looting of any kind ” when the man confronted the skateboarder .
The video Measho posted on Instagram showed what he described as the defensive action taken by the protesters after the man with the machete threatened the skateboarder .
The images show protesters hurling rocks at the man , who started to retreat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and instead turned and ran back at the skateboarder , shrieking and raising the machete over his head as if about to swing or throw it .
Video posted on Twitter by another protester also showed the man screaming as he ran at the demonstrators with the machete held up .
Like Schaffer ’ s video , Measho ’ s recording then shows a group of nearly a dozen protesters , most of whom were black , brutally beating and kicking the man until he lay face down on the ground , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Measho said that what he hadn ’ t captured on camera was the man slashing the skateboarder ’ s hand with the machete before the group pounced on him .
“ The kid had a huge slash in his hand , ” Measho wrote on Instagram , “ under no circumstances does anyone deserve to get beat like this but this is his fault.
” “ Do not believe the story of ‘ looters attacked innocent white man , ' ” he added , “ the Twitter video was cropped to make protestors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Antifa on the scene was an ironic one .
As volunteer medics treated the man for his wounds in the aftermath of the incident , a white protester who held up the machete for the cameras was wearing a red t-shirt with the word “ Catifa ” on it , above a cartoon of a radical cat in a bandana .
That scene was captured on video by Measho , who shared it in a Snapchat story , and by another witness .
Since video shot during the confrontation between the man with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ damage to Hatchways at that time , it appears to have been inflicted later .
Schaffer , the Blaze TV producer and host , also had video of the man running at the protesters and shrieking while holding up the machete , which he made a conscious decision to not show in the tweet that went viral .
We know that because he posted his raw footage , which suggests a more complex story than an innocent white man being attacked by black “ rioters , ” in another tweet later on Saturday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There is also evidence , in the video Schaffer shot , that the young black men who beat the white man with the machete , were not simply “ rioters ” as he claimed , but had attended the earlier protest against police brutality prompted by the killing of the Minneapolis security guard George Floyd .
One of the Dallas Morning News journalists who covered that protest earlier on Saturday night , Kevin Krause , shared a photograph of one protester holding up a sign reading “ The Revolution Has Begun !
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under his arm , can be seen 10 seconds into Schaffer ’ s viral clip , stepping in to stop the beating and saying “ Stop !
Stop !
” Even though Trump tweeted his video because he mistakenly thought that it showed a business owner who was attacked by Antifa , Schaffer was elated .
“ My coverage of the Dallas riots was just shared by the President of the United States , ” he tweeted .
“ I started this journey 2 years ago .
So many people discouraged me at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there was still time .
Now my work is changing the conversation in America.
” As Todd Gilman of The Dallas Morning News reported , Trump made it clear in a call with governors on Monday that he had no idea that the man with the machete had run at the protesters , wounding one of them , before he was beaten .
“ You don ’ t have to have a brick hit you in the face and you don ’ t do anything about it .
You are allowed to fight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unaware of evidence suggesting that it might have been the protesters who were fighting back .
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said that he had seen some video of the incident , according to WFAA , the local ABC affiliate .
“ It ’ s unacceptable for a beating to happen like that in my city , ” he said .
“ The police are looking into that situation and that ’ s going to be addressed in our criminal justice system.
” The Dallas Morning News reported that the police had arrested about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vandalizing buildings or inciting a riot .
The city imposed a 7 p.m. curfew on Sunday .
Last Updated : Monday , June 1 , 4:30 p.m. PDT This article was updated with an edited headline and to report two new comments from President Donald Trump on Monday about the violence caught on camera in Dallas on Saturday .

The danger of relying on fragmentary video clips posted on social media by politically motivated witnesses to news events was on full display in Dallas on Saturday night. Two witnesses, a Black Lives Matter protester and a right-wing video blogger, both captured a shocking act of violence on camera. But while the protester’s raw footage, which gave a more complete picture of the incident, was not widely seen, the video blogger’s edited version, posted on Twitter with a misleading caption, was viewed more than 30 million times in 24 hours.
Among the Twitter users who unthinkingly swallowed the blogger’s misleading video — which was edited to remove footage of a white man who was beaten charging at black and white protesters with a machete before they pummeled him — was the president of the United States, who tweeted about the clip with an outraged call for “LONG TERM jail sentences” for the protesters.
The edited clip was the work of Elijah Schaffer, a freelance producer for Glenn Beck’s Blaze TV and a pro-Trump political activist who hosts a YouTube talk show dedicated to mocking left-wing protesters.
Just before 10 p.m. local time in Dallas on Saturday, Schaffer uploaded 24 seconds of video that showed a white man, face down on the street, being kicked, stomped on and beaten with rocks and a skateboard by a group of mainly black protesters. Before posting his video on Twitter, Schaffer edited out the first 18 seconds he had recorded, which showed what happened immediately before the beating began, and wrote a caption that gave the false impression that the man was a store owner who had been attacked by looters.
https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer/status/1266925493384736769
On his Instagram account, where the same edit has been viewed over 500,000 times, with a close-up of the man’s bloody head on the pavement as a thumbnail, Schaffer explicitly cast the protesters as the aggressors, writing: “It appears he attempted to defend a shop with a large sword. Looters ran at him, then he charged rioters.”
In a subsequent appearance on Blaze TV, Schaffer told the conservative commentator Steven Crowder that the victim of the attack was “a man who was defending his store,” and passed on a false rumor that he had died.
The tweet linking to Schaffer’s video that Donald Trump commented on echoed the false claim that the man who was beaten “was protecting his business,” and added a new one: that he had been “stomped and stoned by Antifa,” using the shorthand for anti-fascist activists who, in fact, played no role in the incident.
On Monday, Trump referred to the edited clip as evidence that “innocent people have been savagely beaten — like the young man in Dallas, Texas, who was left dying on the street.”
Trump tells the nation that "innocent people have been savagely beaten, like the young man in Dallas, Texas, who was left dying on the street." There's quite a bit missing from that version of the story. https://t.co/QMJ9RgMUZY pic.twitter.com/xHjORjL4XT — Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) June 1, 2020
But Schaffer’s account of what prompted the fight and the man’s condition were both false, according to statements from the Dallas Police Department and a protester who also witnessed the incident and posted his own more complete but less viral video on Instagram.
Tamika Dameron, a Dallas police spokesperson, told The Intercept that the man who was beaten took to the streets of the Victory Park neighborhood on Saturday, “carrying a machete to allegedly protect his neighborhood from protesters. The victim confronted protesters while holding the machete and was subsequently assaulted by the protesters.”
Witnesses told police investigators that the attack began when the man “came to the protest wielding a large knife/machete at several protesters,”
The man, who has not been identified by the police, was treated at the scene by volunteer medics and brought to a hospital nearby where, Dameron said, “he remains in stable condition.”
In remarks on Monday, Trump echoed Schaffer’s misleading account of what happened, including the false claim that the man “was left dying on the street.”
The confrontation took place outside Hatchways, a co-working space and cafe at the intersection of High Market Street and Victory Park Lane, about about half a mile away from another street corner where officers were firing tear gas at kneeling protesters chanting “No Justice, No Peace.”
Large group of protesters chanting “No justice no peace” as they kneel in front of a line of Dallas police #DallasProtest pic.twitter.com/SIBUPUrtfA — Dom DiFurio (@DomDiFurio) May 31, 2020
According to Yoel Measho, a college student and videographer who took part in the protest, after it splintered he was marching with a group that included a young skateboarder when they came upon the man with the machete. In a phone interview, Measho said that he started recording just after the man with the machete pulled it out and threatened the skateboarder, who was slightly ahead of the rest of the group.
Measho insisted that, although glass was broken at Hatchways at some point on Saturday night, there was “no violence or looting of any kind” when the man confronted the skateboarder.
The video Measho initially posted on Snapchat and Instagram — and later provided to The Intercept — showed what he described as the defensive action taken by the protesters after the man with the machete threatened the skateboarder. The images show protesters hurling rocks at the man, who started to retreat, but elected not to run away, and instead turned and ran back at the skateboarder, shrieking and raising the machete over his head as if about to swing or throw it.
Video posted on Twitter by another protester also showed the man screaming as he ran at the demonstrators with the machete held up.
Like Schaffer’s video, Measho’s recording then shows a group of nearly a dozen protesters, most of whom were black, brutally beating and kicking the man until he lay face down on the ground, bleeding from his head and unresponsive.
Measho said that what he hadn’t captured on camera was the man slashing the skateboarder’s hand with the machete before the group pounced on him. “The kid had a huge slash in his hand,” Measho wrote on Instagram, “under no circumstances does anyone deserve to get beat like this but this is his fault.”
“Do not believe the story of ‘looters attacked innocent white man,'” he added in the Instagram post he later removed after getting death threats, “the Twitter video was cropped to make protestors look bad.”
Breaking in Dallas: this man just tried to attack a crowd with a machete. Only one person was slightly cut on the hand. pic.twitter.com/ey6BVU4ZA9 — Austen Holland (@ecom_austen) May 31, 2020
The only sign of Antifa on the scene was an ironic one. As volunteer medics treated the man for his wounds in the aftermath of the incident, a white protester who held up the machete for the cameras was wearing a red t-shirt with the word “Catifa” on it, above a cartoon of a radical cat in a bandana. That scene was also captured on video by Measho, who shared it first in a Snapchat story, and later made a copy available to The Intercept.
Measho’s video, and a second clip recorded by another witness, shows the blade clearly, which appears to be a Cold Steel Gladius Machete, which comes with a sheath identical to the one the man who charged the protesters was wearing.
A spokeswoman for the company that owns Hatchways, and a neighboring saloon, Billy Can Can, said in a phone interview that the businesses were not looted, although windows and glass doors were smashed at both places, and elsewhere on the block, and “BLM” and “Fuck Trump” graffiti was sprayed on the exterior of the building.
https://twitter.com/JasonOHC_Dallas/status/1267107371626700801
Since video shot during the confrontation between the man with the machete and the protesters showed no damage to Hatchways at that time, it appears to have been inflicted later.
Schaffer, the Blaze TV producer and host, also had video of the man running at the protesters and shrieking while holding up the machete, which he made a conscious decision to not show in the tweet that went viral. We know that because he posted his raw footage, which suggests a more complex story than an innocent white man being attacked by black “rioters,” in another tweet later on Saturday night, directed at news producers.
This video, recorded by @ElijahSchaffer of Blaze TV in Dallas on Saturday, shows what he edited out of the viral clip he posted 90 minutes earlier: proof that the man who was beaten was a machete-wielding vigilante who was chasing a protester when attacked pic.twitter.com/Es40kob1aP — Robert Mackey (@RobertMackey) June 1, 2020
There is also evidence, in the video Schaffer shot, that the young black men who beat the white man with the machete, were not simply “rioters” as he claimed, but had attended the earlier protest against police brutality prompted by the killing of the Minneapolis security guard George Floyd.
One of the Dallas Morning News journalists who covered that protest earlier on Saturday night, Kevin Krause, shared a photograph of one protester holding up a sign reading “The Revolution Has Begun!”
That same protester, holding his sign under his arm, can be seen 10 seconds into Schaffer’s viral clip, stepping in to stop the beating and saying “Stop! Stop!”
Even though Trump tweeted his video because he mistakenly thought that it showed a business owner who was attacked by Antifa, Schaffer was elated. “My coverage of the Dallas riots was just shared by the President of the United States,” he tweeted. “I started this journey 2 years ago. So many people discouraged me at first. Said I should quit while there was still time. Now my work is changing the conversation in America.”
As Todd Gillman of The Dallas Morning News reported, Trump made it clear in a call with governors on Monday that he had no idea that the man with the machete had run at the protesters, wounding one of them, before he was beaten. “You don’t have to have a brick hit you in the face and you don’t do anything about it. You are allowed to fight back,” Trump said, apparently unaware of evidence suggesting that it might have been the protesters who were fighting back.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said that he had seen some video of the incident, according to WFAA, the local ABC affiliate. “It’s unacceptable for a beating to happen like that in my city,” he said. “The police are looking into that situation and that’s going to be addressed in our criminal justice system.”
Another police spokesperson, Melinda Gutierrez, told The Intercept after this report was initially published that the preliminary police investigation suggested that the man who was beaten had initiated the conflict. “According to witnesses, the individual came to the protest wielding a large knife/machete at several protesters,” Gutierrez wrote in an email. “An unknown protester was attempting fight off the individual by using his skateboard and was subsequently cut in the hand, but not before disarming the individual. At this time, the crowd of protesters began assaulting the individual.”
The Dallas Morning News reported that the police had arrested about 90 people on Saturday night suspected of vandalizing buildings or inciting a riot. The city imposed a 7 p.m. curfew on Sunday.
Last Updated: Monday, June 1, 4:30 p.m. PDT
This article was updated with an edited headline and to report two new comments from President Donald Trump on Monday about the violence caught on camera in Dallas on Saturday.


theintercept--2020-06-02--Trump’s Threats to Antifa Are an Affront to Black Agency and a Risk to All Protest

in the midst of the largest popular uprising in at least a decade , President Donald Trump posted a most Trumpian tweet .
It appeared to combine a profound ignorance of — or disregard for — the official mechanisms of U.S. governance , a deep connection to the mentality of his white supremacist base , a desire to distract and distort , and an authoritarian ( grimly justified ) confidence in the political consequences of his raging online proclamations .
“ The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization , ” he wrote .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likely prove false .
No actionable legal statute will designate antifa — an abbreviation of “ anti-fascist ” — a terrorist organization .
Trump has not , in one fell tweet , shifted the legal status of anti-fascist activity or antifa affiliations .
He has , however , signaled the strategy he plans to take to discredit a powerful , black-led liberation struggle , while further encouraging and legitimizing law enforcement crackdowns and white supremacist vigilantism against broad swaths of anti-racist , leftist dissent .
Blaming antifa is a move as cynical as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his bootlickers .
Meanwhile , liberal voices — claiming to support racial justice and oppose Trump with vigor — have been offering both tacit and explicit support for this pernicious “ outside agitator ” narrative .
By now , this should also come as no surprise .
To speak first to the limitations of Trump ’ s effort to scapegoat antifa as a terrorist organization : For one , as has been stated ad nauseam , antifa is not an organization but a set of practices , deployed by activists for nearly a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ material consequence for those who engage in fascist activity .
There are groups who come together under the “ antifa ” banner , but there is zero centralized leadership or membership structure .
Secondly , the U.S. has no statutes under which groups are designated domestic terror organizations .
The U.S. government only formally designates foreign groups as “ terrorist organizations ” ; the fact that actions are taken internationally by autonomous collectives in the name of “ antifa ” would not be sufficient to earn an official State Department terror label .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrorism categories to organize and describe cases , and a host of anti-terrorism laws are available for use against “ domestic extremists.
” Trump ’ s tweet was by no means meaningless , even if illogical .
Trump ’ s anti-antifa statements commit rhetorical violence , and provoke physical violence , in a number of directions .
For one , it is a historical racist trope to suggest that black communities could not rise up and self-organize huge revolutionary action .
In every major city , it is abundantly clear that these uprisings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The promulgating of outside agitator myths is an affront to the agency of communities organizing on the front lines of these battles .
The divide-and-conquer strategy is as old and tired as any “ bad protester versus good protester ” dyad , which again and again distracts from the plague of police violence attending every moment of antiracist protest .
It just so happens that it was a strategy favored by the Ku Klux Klan .
In the 1930s , the Klan issued flyers in Alabama stating that “ paid organizers for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get black people “ in trouble.
” As James Baldwin wrote in 1961 , “ It is a notion which contains a gratuitous insult implying , as it does , that Negroes can make no move unless they are manipulated.
” When Trump has railed against “ radical-left anarchists ” in recent days , the assumption is clear that these so-called infiltrators are white .
There is little doubt that white anarchists are taking part in current protests and , at times , taking militant action .
Having been involved in anarchist organizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I can assure you that there are simply far too few radical leftists to account for the vast scope of insurrectionary activity we are seeing .
And , more to the point , the black people taking radical action in this movement have no need for white leftist instigation .
When politicians like New York Mayor Bill de Blasio blame “ anarchists ” for the riotous protests in their cities , the tacit suggestion is that a furious eruption against the constant violence exerted against black life is somehow illegitimate or inexplicable — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Not to mention , most of these claims are provably false .
Minnesota Gov .
Tim Walz said on Saturday that 81 percent of protest arrestees were not locals ; numerous press reports found that over 80 percent of arrestees had local addresses .
“ Blaming anarchists and antifa , with absolutely no evidence , is a way to make what ’ s happening seem fringe and marginal when these are popular uprisings , ” said scott crow , an Austin-based anarchist , in a statement from the anarchist platform Agency .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at an unjust system.
” There are no doubt strong disagreements between those taking part in the current protests about preferable and acceptable tactics .
Questions over property destruction and looting and even the meaning of “ violence ” in these historic uprisings are far from settled ; I will hardly settle them here , and nor will I repeat arguments that I and so many others have made about the violence done by the liberal demand for civility .
Suffice it to say that the government , its police , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ preserving and respecting black lives .
The disproportionate , devastating deadly effects of the coronavirus pandemic on people of color , made to work and left to die , has made ever clearer what was already well exposed .
Meanwhile , white supremacists and the far right have committed over 70 percent of extremist murders in this country in the last decade ; not one killing is attributable to anti-fascist activism .
The FBI under Trump has also taken steps to obscure whether it is investigating white supremacist organizations .
Whether you agree @ @ @ @ @ @ @ associated with antifa , the Trump administration ’ s focus on these activities is , without question , in the defense of white supremacy .
Since there is no formal antifa organization , the label is also expansive enough to provide cover for a wide range of crackdowns and retaliations against any number of protesters .
Trump has blamed “ ANTIFA ” and Attorney General Bill Barr followed up by stating that the Justice Department will use its network of 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to identify the “ criminal organizers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ antifa and other similar groups.
” At the same time that pointing the finger at “ antifa ” can rhetorically deny black agency , it can also be a tool to unleash the weight of federal law enforcement against black protesters , as and when the government decides to apply the potentially capacious antifa label .
And leftist groups that have openly organized under the banner of anti-fascism will face further threats from law enforcement , which have already escalated under Trump .
Since day one of Trump ’ s presidency , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
On Inauguration Day , over 200 anti-fascist protesters were mass-arrested and hit with hefty felony riot charges , all of which were later dismissed or dropped .
In the wake of deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville , Virginia , in 2017 , Trump fired up crowds at his vanity rallies with roaring condemnations of “ anteeefa !
” In 2019 , he tweeted a threat to declare “ ANTIFA ” a “ major Organization of Terror.
” His lackeys in Congress then put forth a nonbinding resolution , which could have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ antifa ” a domestic terror group .
Dozens of repressive anti-protest laws have been added by state legislatures , in which all manner of collective dissent is designated an illegal riot .
It is a little on the nose : a presidency committed to policies and politics of fascistic racism , while explicitly naming anti-fascism as its enemy .
Yet the liberals of the so-called resistance have been willing enablers of the anti-anti-fascist narrative .
As I have noted , it remains a striking fact of centrist-to-right wing convergence that , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Charlottesville , America ’ s six top broadsheet newspapers ran more opinion pieces condemning anti-fascist action than pieces condemning white supremacists and Trump ’ s failure to disavow them .
And now , too , the president ’ s dangerous ranting about antifa has not produced liberal opposition ; from MSNBC pundits to the New York mayor , the infirm Trumpian narrative on this most historic moment is being affirmed .
Once again , as Martin Luther King Jr. observed in his 1963 “ Letter from a Birmingham Jail , ” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ devoted to ‘ order ’ than to justice ” provides as great a “ stumbling block ” to black liberation as the explicit white supremacist .
This is not an aberration but a continuation of a norm that long predates Trump .
Yet , as with the deadly and extreme violence carried out by riot police on city streets this week , we are observing a dangerous and fascistic escalation by the state .
On Monday evening , Trump made perhaps his most formally fascist statement to date .
After demonstrators outside St. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , D.C. , were tear-gassed to make room for his photo-op , Trump threatened to deploy the U.S. military against protesters .
“ If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents , then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them , ” he said .
Today ’ s unprecedented uprisings sit firmly in the legacy of the black radical tradition ; “ anti-fascist ” as a label need not apply .
Yet , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ceded to Trumpian vitriol .
In every major city where streets have been stormed , riot police have been confronted , and fires have blazed , we see anti-racist anti-fascism at work .

Photo: Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images
On Sunday, in the midst of the largest popular uprising in at least a decade, President Donald Trump posted a most Trumpian tweet. It appeared to combine a profound ignorance of — or disregard for — the official mechanisms of U.S. governance, a deep connection to the mentality of his white supremacist base, a desire to distract and distort, and an authoritarian (grimly justified) confidence in the political consequences of his raging online proclamations. “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” he wrote.
In a literal sense, the tweet will likely prove false. No actionable legal statute will designate antifa — an abbreviation of “anti-fascist” — a terrorist organization. Trump has not, in one fell tweet, shifted the legal status of anti-fascist activity or antifa affiliations. He has, however, signaled the strategy he plans to take to discredit a powerful, black-led liberation struggle, while further encouraging and legitimizing law enforcement crackdowns and white supremacist vigilantism against broad swaths of anti-racist, leftist dissent.
Blaming antifa is a move as cynical as it is predictable for the president and his bootlickers. Meanwhile, liberal voices — claiming to support racial justice and oppose Trump with vigor — have been offering both tacit and explicit support for this pernicious “outside agitator” narrative. By now, this should also come as no surprise.
To speak first to the limitations of Trump’s effort to scapegoat antifa as a terrorist organization: For one, as has been stated ad nauseam, antifa is not an organization but a set of practices, deployed by activists for nearly a century, which aim to create intolerable material consequence for those who engage in fascist activity. There are groups who come together under the “antifa” banner, but there is zero centralized leadership or membership structure.
Secondly, the U.S. has no statutes under which groups are designated domestic terror organizations. The U.S. government only formally designates foreign groups as “terrorist organizations”; the fact that actions are taken internationally by autonomous collectives in the name of “antifa” would not be sufficient to earn an official State Department terror label. Nonetheless, federal law enforcement uses domestic terrorism categories to organize and describe cases, and a host of anti-terrorism laws are available for use against “domestic extremists.” Trump’s tweet was by no means meaningless, even if illogical.
Trump’s anti-antifa statements commit rhetorical violence, and provoke physical violence, in a number of directions. For one, it is a historical racist trope to suggest that black communities could not rise up and self-organize huge revolutionary action. In every major city, it is abundantly clear that these uprisings are being led by young black people. The promulgating of outside agitator myths is an affront to the agency of communities organizing on the front lines of these battles. The divide-and-conquer strategy is as old and tired as any “bad protester versus good protester” dyad, which again and again distracts from the plague of police violence attending every moment of antiracist protest. It just so happens that it was a strategy favored by the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1930s, the Klan issued flyers in Alabama stating that “paid organizers for the communists are only trying” to get black people “in trouble.” As James Baldwin wrote in 1961, “It is a notion which contains a gratuitous insult implying, as it does, that Negroes can make no move unless they are manipulated.”
When Trump has railed against “radical-left anarchists” in recent days, the assumption is clear that these so-called infiltrators are white. There is little doubt that white anarchists are taking part in current protests and, at times, taking militant action. Having been involved in anarchist organizing in the U.S. for a decade, I can assure you that there are simply far too few radical leftists to account for the vast scope of insurrectionary activity we are seeing. And, more to the point, the black people taking radical action in this movement have no need for white leftist instigation. When politicians like New York Mayor Bill de Blasio blame “anarchists” for the riotous protests in their cities, the tacit suggestion is that a furious eruption against the constant violence exerted against black life is somehow illegitimate or inexplicable — that it must come from outside. Not to mention, most of these claims are provably false. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on Saturday that 81 percent of protest arrestees were not locals; numerous press reports found that over 80 percent of arrestees had local addresses.
“Blaming anarchists and antifa, with absolutely no evidence, is a way to make what’s happening seem fringe and marginal when these are popular uprisings,” said scott crow, an Austin-based anarchist, in a statement from the anarchist platform Agency. “This is a time of mass outrage at an unjust system.”
There are no doubt strong disagreements between those taking part in the current protests about preferable and acceptable tactics. Questions over property destruction and looting and even the meaning of “violence” in these historic uprisings are far from settled; I will hardly settle them here, and nor will I repeat arguments that I and so many others have made about the violence done by the liberal demand for civility. Suffice it to say that the government, its police, and the capital they protect are not interested in preserving and respecting black lives. The disproportionate, devastating deadly effects of the coronavirus pandemic on people of color, made to work and left to die, has made ever clearer what was already well exposed.
Photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Meanwhile, white supremacists and the far right have committed over 70 percent of extremist murders in this country in the last decade; not one killing is attributable to anti-fascist activism. The FBI under Trump has also taken steps to obscure whether it is investigating white supremacist organizations. Whether you agree or disagree with the confrontational tactics typically associated with antifa, the Trump administration’s focus on these activities is, without question, in the defense of white supremacy.
Since there is no formal antifa organization, the label is also expansive enough to provide cover for a wide range of crackdowns and retaliations against any number of protesters. Trump has blamed “ANTIFA” and Attorney General Bill Barr followed up by stating that the Justice Department will use its network of 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to identify the “criminal organizers and instigators,” while specifically naming “antifa and other similar groups.” At the same time that pointing the finger at “antifa” can rhetorically deny black agency, it can also be a tool to unleash the weight of federal law enforcement against black protesters, as and when the government decides to apply the potentially capacious antifa label. And leftist groups that have openly organized under the banner of anti-fascism will face further threats from law enforcement, which have already escalated under Trump.
Since day one of Trump’s presidency, his far-right regime has targeted anti-fascist activity. On Inauguration Day, over 200 anti-fascist protesters were mass-arrested and hit with hefty felony riot charges, all of which were later dismissed or dropped. In the wake of deadly white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump fired up crowds at his vanity rallies with roaring condemnations of “anteeefa!” In 2019, he tweeted a threat to declare “ANTIFA” a “major Organization of Terror.” His lackeys in Congress then put forth a nonbinding resolution, which could have precisely zero legal consequence, to name “antifa” a domestic terror group. Dozens of repressive anti-protest laws have been added by state legislatures, in which all manner of collective dissent is designated an illegal riot.
It is a little on the nose: a presidency committed to policies and politics of fascistic racism, while explicitly naming anti-fascism as its enemy. Yet the liberals of the so-called resistance have been willing enablers of the anti-anti-fascist narrative. As I have noted, it remains a striking fact of centrist-to-right wing convergence that, in the month that followed the intolerable events in Charlottesville, America’s six top broadsheet newspapers ran more opinion pieces condemning anti-fascist action than pieces condemning white supremacists and Trump’s failure to disavow them. And now, too, the president’s dangerous ranting about antifa has not produced liberal opposition; from MSNBC pundits to the New York mayor, the infirm Trumpian narrative on this most historic moment is being affirmed. Once again, as Martin Luther King Jr. observed in his 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” “the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice” provides as great a “stumbling block” to black liberation as the explicit white supremacist.
This is not an aberration but a continuation of a norm that long predates Trump. Yet, as with the deadly and extreme violence carried out by riot police on city streets this week, we are observing a dangerous and fascistic escalation by the state. On Monday evening, Trump made perhaps his most formally fascist statement to date. After demonstrators outside St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., were tear-gassed to make room for his photo-op, Trump threatened to deploy the U.S. military against protesters. “If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” he said.
Today’s unprecedented uprisings sit firmly in the legacy of the black radical tradition; “anti-fascist” as a label need not apply. Yet, as a description, it should not be ceded to Trumpian vitriol. In every major city where streets have been stormed, riot police have been confronted, and fires have blazed, we see anti-racist anti-fascism at work.


theintercept--2020-06-02--New York Police Are Attacking Protesters — They Know They Won’t Face Consequences

After days of increasingly violent repression of protests across the country , and after President Donald Trump called for protesters looting stores to be shot and Defense Secretary Mark Esper called U.S. cities a “ battlespace ” — the radio message was yet another indicator that police see protesters as enemies to combat rather than the citizens they are sworn to protect .
But the chatter was also a sign of how emboldened police have become in calling for violence , and how little they seem to fear repercussions for violent attacks on civilians .
The exchange , at 6:20 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of many publicly accessible websites that allow users to listen in on police and other emergency radio channels nationwide .
These sites have “ skyrocketed to the top of the App Store ” in the wake of George Floyd ’ s killing by police in Minneapolis , Vice reported this week .
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed the radio exchange and told The Intercept that it is under internal review .
As thousands of protesters converged in Brooklyn on Monday evening , NYPD scanners picked up a bit of radio chatter that stood @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police violence .
After a police dispatcher noted protester movement near the 77th Precinct , a voice on the same channel replies clearly : “ Shoot those motherfuckers.
” Just as clear was the immediate response : “ Don ’ t put that over the air.
” Despite the videos , advocates and victims of police violence fear that the officers involved in these incidents will escape accountability , as a number of officers assigned to protests have begun covering the badge numbers necessary to identify them .
The NYPD did not comment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Civilian Complaint Review Board , New York ’ s independent office for investigating police abuses , has received 467 complaints since Friday , when the protests started , “ and is committed to fully investigating them , ” a board spokesperson told The Intercept .
But the police department is investigating only six , according to Shea .
The NYPD spokesperson did not answer questions about several instances of police violence and misconduct that were caught on video .
A spokesperson for the Attorney General ’ s office told The Intercept they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but declined to comment further or provide detail on any other ongoing investigation into police actions .
“ I ’ ve seen that video and I ’ ve obviously heard about a number of other instances .
It ’ s inappropriate for protesters to surround a police vehicle and threaten police officers , ” de Blasio said earlier this week , in reference to one of those incidents .
“ If a police officer is in that situation , they have to get out of that situation.
” In response to the police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his pride as he congratulated his officers for their actions — days after condemning the officers who killed George Floyd in Minneapolis , calling their actions “ deeply disturbing ” and “ not acceptable ANYWHERE.
” Mayor Bill de Blasio , for his part , who also condemned Floyd ’ s killing in Minneapolis , continued his long-held practice of defending police misconduct in the face of indisputable evidence and attempted to shift the blame to protesters .
“ The disturbing videos and reports of the violent attacks by NYPD on protestors and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , are all too familiar to us , ” a group of New York City public defenders wrote in a statement on Tuesday .
“ They mirror the stories we hear every day of police acting with impunity , targeting , attacking , beating , lying , abusing , and disrespecting Black and brown people in the communities we serve in all five boroughs.
” In New York City , as across the country , officers have responded to protests prompted by anger at police violence and lack of accountability with yet more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Over the last several days , NYPD officers have beaten protesters with nightsticks , ripped off masks to pepper-spray them at close range , driven their vehicles into crowds , and in at least one occasion pointed a gun at a group of demonstrators .
These incidents , police critics say , represent a significant escalation while also being consistent with a long pattern of violence and lack of accountability by the country ’ s largest police department .
The abuse has been enabled by laws that shield officers from accountability and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well as by city leaders who have long allowed police to operate with impunity .
Covering one ’ s badge number is in direct violation of the NYPD ’ s patrol guide , which allows officers to wear “ mourning bands ” covering the seal of the city upon the death of an officer but mandates that the seal number and rank remain visible .
In April , Shea wrote on Twitter that some officers would be wearing mourning bands in commemoration of NYPD officers who died of Covid-19 .
But covering one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York ’ s Right to Know Act , which mandates officers identify themselves by name , rank , and shield number when they interact with people .
The act , which went into effect in 2018 , also requires officers to inform those they stop that they have a right to refuse consent for a search , and to document those requests .
“ It ’ s basically protecting NYPD officers from being held accountable in these mass protests , where they ’ re not actually following the law themselves , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Legal Aid Society ’ s Cop Accountability Project , in reference to growing reports of cops covering their badges .
“ Not only are they not following the law when it comes to the way that they ’ re interacting with individuals , but they ’ re also not providing the information that they should be providing when they ’ re interacting with the public.
” Officers had ignored their obligations under the Right to Know Act long before this week ’ s protest , Wong noted .
She called it a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It ’ s really problematic , because it makes it very difficult for advocates for individuals who are the victims of police brutality to hold these officers accountable if we ’ re not able to identify them , ” she added .
“ And so not only are they acting with impunity , but they are actively trying to hide their identities from people who would hold them accountable .
… They ’ re attacking protesters , and they ’ re covering their badge numbers .
And so , even if we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we supposed to hold them accountable ?
” For the most part , New York law protects officers from meaningful accountability .
For years , before this week ’ s protests , advocates have lobbied legislators to repeal a decades-old state law known as “ 50-a , ” which makes the personnel records of law enforcement officers “ confidential and not subject to inspection or review.
” As The Intercept has reported , officials have responded to pressure for greater police transparency with even stricter interpretations of 50-a , making everything from complaints @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reviews , to body camera footage largely inaccessible to the public .
Efforts to repeal 50-a in court have failed , but the legislation was back in the spotlight this week after Floyd was killed in Minneapolis .
Derek Chauvin , the officer accused of killing Floyd , had 18 previous complaints of misconduct filed against him .
In New York , which has one of the strictest laws in the country protecting the privacy of law enforcement officers , Gov .
Andrew Cuomo surprised advocates this week when he expressed support for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the legislation has been hotly debated during the nine years he has been in office .
“ I would sign a bill today that reforms 50-a , ” Cuomo said .
“ I would sign it today.
” De Blasio has defended 50-a , and under his administration the city has stopped making the outcomes of internal disciplinary reviews available to the public .
A spokesperson for Gov .
Cuomo told The Intercept that “ the Governor supports reforming 50-A , and has said he will sign a bill that does that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Attorney General to review all actions and procedures used during the protests.
” But advocates were skeptical of the governor ’ s promise — and insisted that the legislation should be repealed rather than simply amended .
“ He ’ s been silent on it previously , ” said Wong , of Legal Aid .
“ This is a movement that advocates have been working on for years and years and years — they ’ ve been pushing for a repeal of 50-a forever.
” “ New Yorkers have been demanding change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Reynoso echoed in a statement condemning the NYPD and the mayor ’ s handling of the protests .
“ The NYPD needs to immediately release the disciplinary records of all officers , and where patterns of misconduct by individual officers are discovered , those officers must be terminated immediately and prosecuted where appropriate.
” Even before the recent wave of protests , the coronavirus emergency had offered police a new opportunity to escape scrutiny .
A city official , speaking to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity , said that the CCRB @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the protests began .
With New York City the epicenter of Covid-19 , CCRB investigators , like other city employees , have been working remotely for weeks .
Although investigations into police misconduct can be done remotely , the official said — much of it involves pushing through cases that came in long before the pandemic — the novel coronavirus has presented unique problems .
First , the official said , the CCRB frequently fields complaints from populations for whom physical visits to the board ’ s office is a necessity : individuals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ internet and , in particular , New York City ’ s unhoused .
“ The other side of it is the PBA , ” the official said — the Patrolmen ’ s Benevolent Association , the hard-right union representing New York City ’ s cops .
“ There have been no officer interviews since the beginning of Covid , ” the official said , adding that without cooperation from the PBA , oversight investigators can only go so far .
All of this , of course , comes after weeks of controversy surrounding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ local social distancing guidelines — and , now , its hammer-fist approach to policing protests .
The PBA could not be reached for comment prior to publication .
While few expect the police department itself to conduct fair investigations of officer abuse during the protests , advocates warned that the questionable arrests and excessive force displayed in recent days would likely lead to scores of civil lawsuits against the city .
Last year , the city paid $ 69 million to settle lawsuits over police misconduct , an increase of nearly $ 30 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ litigating misconduct lawsuits cost the city some $ 230 million in 2018 and $ 335.5 million in 2017 .
Massive taxpayer-funded payouts over police misconduct are likely to come under increased scrutiny this year , since the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis is forcing the city to slash its budget for next year by $ 6 billion .
But , as The Intercept has reported , there is one city agency that has been largely spared the across-the-board cuts : the NYPD .

As thousands of protesters converged in Brooklyn on Monday evening, NYPD scanners picked up a bit of radio chatter that stood out even in the atmosphere of boiled-over police violence. After a police dispatcher noted protester movement near the 77th Precinct, a voice on the same channel replies clearly: “Shoot those motherfuckers.” Just as clear was the immediate response: “Don’t put that over the air.”
The exchange, at 6:20 p.m., was captured via Broadcastify, one of many publicly accessible websites that allow users to listen in on police and other emergency radio channels nationwide. These sites have “skyrocketed to the top of the App Store” in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police in Minneapolis, Vice reported this week. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed the radio exchange and told The Intercept that it is under internal review.
After days of increasingly violent repression of protests across the country, and after President Donald Trump called for protesters looting stores to be shot and Defense Secretary Mark Esper called U.S. cities a “battlespace” — the radio message was yet another indicator that police see protesters as enemies to combat rather than the citizens they are sworn to protect. But the chatter was also a sign of how emboldened police have become in calling for violence, and how little they seem to fear repercussions for violent attacks on civilians.
In New York City, as across the country, officers have responded to protests prompted by anger at police violence and lack of accountability with yet more violence and, mostly, no consequence. Over the last several days, NYPD officers have beaten protesters with nightsticks, ripped off masks to pepper-spray them at close range, driven their vehicles into crowds, and in at least one occasion pointed a gun at a group of demonstrators. These incidents, police critics say, represent a significant escalation while also being consistent with a long pattern of violence and lack of accountability by the country’s largest police department. The abuse has been enabled by laws that shield officers from accountability and by barriers to police oversight — as well as by city leaders who have long allowed police to operate with impunity.
“The disturbing videos and reports of the violent attacks by NYPD on protestors and the media, while traumatizing to watch, are all too familiar to us,” a group of New York City public defenders wrote in a statement on Tuesday. “They mirror the stories we hear every day of police acting with impunity, targeting, attacking, beating, lying, abusing, and disrespecting Black and brown people in the communities we serve in all five boroughs.”
In response to the police crackdown, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea expressed his pride as he congratulated his officers for their actions — days after condemning the officers who killed George Floyd in Minneapolis, calling their actions “deeply disturbing” and “not acceptable ANYWHERE.” Mayor Bill de Blasio, for his part, who also condemned Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, continued his long-held practice of defending police misconduct in the face of indisputable evidence and attempted to shift the blame to protesters.
“I’ve seen that video and I’ve obviously heard about a number of other instances. It’s inappropriate for protesters to surround a police vehicle and threaten police officers,” de Blasio said earlier this week, in reference to one of those incidents. “If a police officer is in that situation, they have to get out of that situation.”
Read Our Complete Coverage Protests for Black Lives
The Civilian Complaint Review Board, New York’s independent office for investigating police abuses, has received 467 complaints since Friday, when the protests started, “and is committed to fully investigating them,” a board spokesperson told The Intercept. But the police department is investigating only six, according to Shea. The NYPD spokesperson did not answer questions about several instances of police violence and misconduct that were caught on video. A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office told The Intercept they are aware of the NYPD radio exchange, but declined to comment further or provide detail on any other ongoing investigation into police actions.
Despite the videos, advocates and victims of police violence fear that the officers involved in these incidents will escape accountability, as a number of officers assigned to protests have begun covering the badge numbers necessary to identify them. The NYPD did not comment on officers covering their badges.
Photo: Obtained by The Intercept
Covering one’s badge number is in direct violation of the NYPD’s patrol guide, which allows officers to wear “mourning bands” covering the seal of the city upon the death of an officer but mandates that the seal number and rank remain visible. In April, Shea wrote on Twitter that some officers would be wearing mourning bands in commemoration of NYPD officers who died of Covid-19.
But covering one’s badge number also violates New York’s Right to Know Act, which mandates officers identify themselves by name, rank, and shield number when they interact with people. The act, which went into effect in 2018, also requires officers to inform those they stop that they have a right to refuse consent for a search, and to document those requests.
“It’s basically protecting NYPD officers from being held accountable in these mass protests, where they’re not actually following the law themselves,” said Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project, in reference to growing reports of cops covering their badges. “Not only are they not following the law when it comes to the way that they’re interacting with individuals, but they’re also not providing the information that they should be providing when they’re interacting with the public.”
Officers had ignored their obligations under the Right to Know Act long before this week’s protest, Wong noted. She called it a “long-standing pattern with the NYPD.”
“It’s really problematic, because it makes it very difficult for advocates for individuals who are the victims of police brutality to hold these officers accountable if we’re not able to identify them,” she added. “And so not only are they acting with impunity, but they are actively trying to hide their identities from people who would hold them accountable. … They’re attacking protesters, and they’re covering their badge numbers. And so, even if we captured them on camera, how are we supposed to hold them accountable?”
For the most part, New York law protects officers from meaningful accountability. For years, before this week’s protests, advocates have lobbied legislators to repeal a decades-old state law known as “50-a,” which makes the personnel records of law enforcement officers “confidential and not subject to inspection or review.” As The Intercept has reported, officials have responded to pressure for greater police transparency with even stricter interpretations of 50-a, making everything from complaints of misconduct to the findings of internal reviews, to body camera footage largely inaccessible to the public. Efforts to repeal 50-a in court have failed, but the legislation was back in the spotlight this week after Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. Derek Chauvin, the officer accused of killing Floyd, had 18 previous complaints of misconduct filed against him.
In New York, which has one of the strictest laws in the country protecting the privacy of law enforcement officers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo surprised advocates this week when he expressed support for repealing 50-a, despite the fact that the legislation has been hotly debated during the nine years he has been in office. “I would sign a bill today that reforms 50-a,” Cuomo said. “I would sign it today.” De Blasio has defended 50-a, and under his administration the city has stopped making the outcomes of internal disciplinary reviews available to the public.
A spokesperson for Gov. Cuomo told The Intercept that “the Governor supports reforming 50-A, and has said he will sign a bill that does that,” adding that Cuomo “has asked the Attorney General to review all actions and procedures used during the protests.”
But advocates were skeptical of the governor’s promise — and insisted that the legislation should be repealed rather than simply amended. “He’s been silent on it previously,” said Wong, of Legal Aid. “This is a movement that advocates have been working on for years and years and years — they’ve been pushing for a repeal of 50-a forever.”
“New Yorkers have been demanding change for years,” Council Member Antonio Reynoso echoed in a statement condemning the NYPD and the mayor’s handling of the protests. “The NYPD needs to immediately release the disciplinary records of all officers, and where patterns of misconduct by individual officers are discovered, those officers must be terminated immediately and prosecuted where appropriate.”
Even before the recent wave of protests, the coronavirus emergency had offered police a new opportunity to escape scrutiny. A city official, speaking to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity, said that the CCRB was already in a tough position before the protests began. With New York City the epicenter of Covid-19, CCRB investigators, like other city employees, have been working remotely for weeks. Although investigations into police misconduct can be done remotely, the official said — much of it involves pushing through cases that came in long before the pandemic — the novel coronavirus has presented unique problems.
First, the official said, the CCRB frequently fields complaints from populations for whom physical visits to the board’s office is a necessity: individuals who lack access to phones or the internet and, in particular, New York City’s unhoused. “The other side of it is the PBA,” the official said — the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the hard-right union representing New York City’s cops. “There have been no officer interviews since the beginning of Covid,” the official said, adding that without cooperation from the PBA, oversight investigators can only go so far. All of this, of course, comes after weeks of controversy surrounding the NYPD’s hard-line enforcement of local social distancing guidelines — and, now, its hammer-fist approach to policing protests. The PBA could not be reached for comment prior to publication.
While few expect the police department itself to conduct fair investigations of officer abuse during the protests, advocates warned that the questionable arrests and excessive force displayed in recent days would likely lead to scores of civil lawsuits against the city. Last year, the city paid $69 million to settle lawsuits over police misconduct, an increase of nearly $30 million over the previous year. And litigating misconduct lawsuits cost the city some $230 million in 2018 and $335.5 million in 2017.
Massive taxpayer-funded payouts over police misconduct are likely to come under increased scrutiny this year, since the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis is forcing the city to slash its budget for next year by $6 billion. But, as The Intercept has reported, there is one city agency that has been largely spared the across-the-board cuts: the NYPD.


theintercept--2020-06-02--Minneapolis Police Union President: “I’ve Been Involved in Three Shootings Myself, and Not a One of

Minneapolis Police Union President: “I’ve Been Involved in Three Shootings Myself, and Not a One of Them Has Bothered Me”

in April , Lt. Bob Kroll , head of Minneapolis ’ s police union , said that he and a majority of the Minneapolis Police Officers ’ Federation ’ s board have been involved in police shootings .
Kroll said that he and the officers on the union ’ s board were not bothered by the shootings , comparing themselves favorably to other officers .
“ There ’ s been a big influx of PTSD , ” Kroll said .
“ But I ’ ve been involved in three shootings myself , and not one of them has bothered me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His comments underscore the rampant nature of police violence in the United States .
The number of times police officers fire their weapons swamps the level of violence in most other countries , where authorities rely on nonlethal methods of coercion , persuasion , or control .
Many police officers live with post-traumatic stress disorder induced by the violence associated with policing .
But not Kroll ’ s crew , he said .
“ Out of the 10 board members , over half of them have been involved in armed encounters , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t seem to have problems , ” he said .
“ Certainly getting shot at and shooting people takes a different toll , but if you ’ re in this job and you ’ ve seen too much blood and gore and dead people then you ’ ve signed up for the wrong job.
” Kroll has been a central figure in the unfolding protests and riots following the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin .
In a letter to union members on Monday , Kroll called Floyd @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ongoing protests as a “ terrorist movement ” that was years in the making , starting with a minimized police force .
He railed against the city ’ s politicians , namely Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and state Gov .
Tim Waltz , for not authorizing greater force to stop the uprising .
“ The politicians are to blame and you are the scapegoats , ” he wrote .
On Tuesday afternoon , the Minnesota AFL-CIO called for Kroll ’ s resignation , blaming him for his role in “ [ enabling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police ranks.
” Police forces across the country have been escalating violence against demonstrators ; driving vehicles into crowds ; firing rubber bullets , tear gas , and flash grenades at largely peaceful gatherings ; and even killing a man in Louisville , Kentucky .
“ The Nothing Sacred Interview Lieutenant Bob Kroll , ” was posted to YouTube and Facebook on April 29 , but has gone largely overlooked .
Kroll , in the interview with STIM Radio host Maxwell Thomas Silverhammer , also discusses efforts by the mayor and city council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers to forgo raises in order to help the city mitigate the budgetary crisis brought about the coronavirus pandemic .
“ The first thing we said was OK , let ’ s see the budget , let ’ s see the city budget .
And guys they ’ re pissing away , millions and millions of dollars to projects , ” he said .
“ Like , you know , they ’ re giving $ 15,000 a year to the transgender coordinator of the city.
” Kroll said that he asked for an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ save by postponing raises for the officers and said he was told that it would come to $ 410,000 .
That was an unacceptable sum , he said , because the city had been spending similar amounts settling claims of wrongful death by police officers .
Kroll ’ s curious logic argued that the police should be held blameless for the costly settlements because the true blame rested with city attorneys , who didn ’ t properly defend police officers when they were sued after fatal shootings .
“ They just paid a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out-of-court settlement because he was tased when he wouldn ’ t leave a bar , ” Kroll said , apparently not considering the possibility that the police could have declined to tase him .
“ The cops tased him , ” Kroll said .
“ You ’ re giving away money left and right in lawsuits , and you want us to take a bath ?
So forget it , ” Kroll said , adding that the settlement with the family of Terrance Franklin particularly bothered him .
Franklin , a burglary suspect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found hiding in a basement by five officers who unleashed a dog on him .
His family ’ s attorneys say an officer ’ s semiautomatic weapon accidentally went off , hitting two officers in the legs , and police responded by shooting and killing Franklin in anger .
Police claimed that Franklin attacked an officer and took control of the gun , a charge the family ’ s attorneys said was absurd and contradicted by evidence .
The city eventually agreed to a $ 795,000 settlement .
Kroll said that a good @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ stepped up and shot him in the head at close range.
” “ The Franklin one was near and dear to my heart because he shot two friends of mine , and a very good friend of mine was the one who shot and killed him in the confrontation , ” Kroll said .
Kroll ’ s politics are not incidental to what is effectively a police riot underway in Minnesota and across the country .
He ’ s one of Minnesota ’ s more outspoken supporters of President Donald Trump and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2019 campaign rally to praise the administration for “ letting the cops do their jobs.
” According to a 2015 Star Tribune report , Kroll clocked at least 20 internal affairs complaints during his three decades in the Minneapolis Police Department , “ all but three of which were closed without discipline.
” There have also been several lawsuits against Kroll , detailing a long history of allegations of bigoted comments , including one that accused him of using excessive force against an elderly couple during a no-knock raid and another that accused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and kicking ” a biracial 15-year-old boy while “ spewing racial slurs.
” “ The big buzzword they had was deescalation , ” Kroll said of police reform efforts .
“ You ’ re supposed to , you know , even if you ’ re lawful in using force , it could look bad and give a bad public perception.
” Being trained not to use force is what ’ s causing officers stress , Kroll said .
“ Certainly cops , it ’ s not in their nature .
So you ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said .
“ And it ’ s just not a natural — that ’ s where a lot of the stress does come from with the cops is not [ having ] the ability to grab somebody and say , no , step back or you ’ re going to jail and if need be , by force.
” Kroll also mocked the concept of procedural justice , an institutional reform meant to reduce police use of force through diversity and anti-bias training , saying that it ’ s an opportunity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at white men .
He said that in his early days of training , the rule was to “ ask them nicely to do something the first time , ” then give them a “ direct , lawful order ” to do so , and if they refuse — “ you make them with force , that ’ s how you get compliance.
” “ Those days are over , ” he said .
“ Now , it is ask them , love them , call , you know , give them their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And this is what they ’ re training new officers .
… Our cops went through that and they ’ re going , ‘ Oh my God.
’ Yeah , procedural justice .
And the theory behind it being that , you know , the white men have oppressed everyone else for 200 years .
So it ’ s their opportunity to get back.
” Minneapolis Police Officers Federation did not respond to a request for comment .

In an interview in April, Lt. Bob Kroll, head of Minneapolis’s police union, said that he and a majority of the Minneapolis Police Officers’ Federation’s board have been involved in police shootings. Kroll said that he and the officers on the union’s board were not bothered by the shootings, comparing themselves favorably to other officers.
“There’s been a big influx of PTSD,” Kroll said. “But I’ve been involved in three shootings myself, and not a one of them has bothered me. Maybe I’m different.”
His comments underscore the rampant nature of police violence in the United States. The number of times police officers fire their weapons swamps the level of violence in most other countries, where authorities rely on nonlethal methods of coercion, persuasion, or control. Many police officers live with post-traumatic stress disorder induced by the violence associated with policing.
But not Kroll’s crew, he said. “Out of the 10 board members, over half of them have been involved in armed encounters, and several of us multiple. We don’t seem to have problems,” he said. “Certainly getting shot at and shooting people takes a different toll, but if you’re in this job and you’ve seen too much blood and gore and dead people then you’ve signed up for the wrong job.”
Kroll has been a central figure in the unfolding protests and riots following the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin. In a letter to union members on Monday, Kroll called Floyd a “violent criminal” and described the ongoing protests as a “terrorist movement” that was years in the making, starting with a minimized police force. He railed against the city’s politicians, namely Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and state Gov. Tim Walz, for not authorizing greater force to stop the uprising. “The politicians are to blame and you are the scapegoats,” he wrote.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Minnesota AFL-CIO called for Kroll’s resignation, blaming him for his role in “[enabling] violence and brutality to grow within police ranks.” Police forces across the country have been escalating violence against demonstrators; driving vehicles into crowds; firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and flash grenades at largely peaceful gatherings; and even killing a man in Louisville, Kentucky.
The conversation, “The Nothing Sacred Interview Lieutenant Bob Kroll,” was posted to YouTube and Facebook on April 29, but has gone largely overlooked. Kroll, in the interview with STIM Radio host Maxwell Thomas Silverhammer, also discusses efforts by the mayor and city council to pressure the police and other unionized workers to forgo raises in order to help the city mitigate the budgetary crisis brought about the coronavirus pandemic.
“The first thing we said was OK, let’s see the budget, let’s see the city budget. And guys they’re pissing away, millions and millions of dollars to projects,” he said. “Like, you know, they’re giving $15,000 a year to the transgender coordinator of the city.”
“Guys they’re pissing away, millions and millions of dollars to projects … they’re giving $15,000 a year to the transgender coordinator of the city.”
Kroll said that he asked for an assessment of how much the city would save by postponing raises for the officers and said he was told that it would come to $410,000. That was an unacceptable sum, he said, because the city had been spending similar amounts settling claims of wrongful death by police officers. Kroll’s curious logic argued that the police should be held blameless for the costly settlements because the true blame rested with city attorneys, who didn’t properly defend police officers when they were sued after fatal shootings.
“They just paid a former Minnesota Viking $385,000 in an out-of-court settlement because he was tased when he wouldn’t leave a bar,” Kroll said, apparently not considering the possibility that the police could have declined to tase him. “The cops tased him,” Kroll said.
“You’re giving away money left and right in lawsuits, and you want us to take a bath? So forget it,” Kroll said, adding that the settlement with the family of Terrance Franklin particularly bothered him. Franklin, a burglary suspect, unarmed and 173 pounds, was found hiding in a basement by five officers who unleashed a dog on him. His family’s attorneys say an officer’s semiautomatic weapon accidentally went off, hitting two officers in the legs, and police responded by shooting and killing Franklin in anger. Police claimed that Franklin attacked an officer and took control of the gun, a charge the family’s attorneys said was absurd and contradicted by evidence. The city eventually agreed to a $795,000 settlement. Kroll said that a good friend of his had killed Franklin: “stepped up and shot him in the head at close range.”
“The Franklin one was near and dear to my heart because he shot two friends of mine, and a very good friend of mine was the one who shot and killed him in the confrontation,” Kroll said.
Kroll’s politics are not incidental to what is effectively a police riot underway in Minnesota and across the country. He’s one of Minnesota’s more outspoken supporters of President Donald Trump and took the stage with him at a 2019 campaign rally to praise the administration for “letting the cops do their jobs.”
According to a 2015 Star Tribune report, Kroll clocked at least 20 internal affairs complaints during his three decades in the Minneapolis Police Department, “all but three of which were closed without discipline.” There have also been several lawsuits against Kroll, detailing a long history of allegations of bigoted comments, including one that accused him of using excessive force against an elderly couple during a no-knock raid and another that accused him of “beating, choking, and kicking” a biracial 15-year-old boy while “spewing racial slurs.”
“The big buzzword they had was deescalation,” Kroll said of police reform efforts. “You’re supposed to, you know, even if you’re lawful in using force, it could look bad and give a bad public perception.”
Being trained not to use force is what’s causing officers stress, Kroll said. “Certainly cops, it’s not in their nature. So you’re training them to back away,” he said. “And it’s just not a natural — that’s where a lot of the stress does come from with the cops is not [having] the ability to grab somebody and say, no, step back or you’re going to jail and if need be, by force.”
Kroll also mocked the concept of procedural justice, an institutional reform meant to reduce police use of force through diversity and anti-bias training, saying that it’s an opportunity for people of color to get back at white men. He said that in his early days of training, the rule was to “ask them nicely to do something the first time,” then give them a “direct, lawful order” to do so, and if they refuse — “you make them with force, that’s how you get compliance.”
“Those days are over,” he said. “Now, it is ask them, love them, call, you know, give them their space and give them their voice. And this is what they’re training new officers. … Our cops went through that and they’re going, ‘Oh my God.’ Yeah, procedural justice. And the theory behind it being that, you know, the white men have oppressed everyone else for 200 years. So it’s their opportunity to get back.”
Minneapolis Police Officers Federation did not respond to a request for comment.
Correction: June 3, 2020
This article previously misspelled the name of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.