theintercept--2020-07-25--Before Portland, Trump's Shock Troops Went After Border Activists

Border Patrol agents in military-style tactical gear grabbing protesters off the street in Portland , Oregon , have drawn condemnation from Democratic lawmakers , who have described the teams as “ secret police.
” For immigration advocates like Kaji Douša , a senior pastor at Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City , there is nothing secret — or particularly new — about them .
As the co-chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition , an immigrant rights organization , Douša knows what it ’ s like to have the weight of the Department of Homeland Security come down on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of internal DHS documents , produced in ongoing litigation surrounding the agency ’ s surveillance of her and dozens of lawyers , journalists , and asylum advocates who were targeted in a sweeping DHS spying operation during the 2018 midterm elections .
“ We were perceived to be radicals , ” Douša told The Intercept .
“ A lot of white people turned away because it wasn ’ t them , but now that it ’ s them in Portland , everybody ’ s like , ‘ Oh , this is crazy.
’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DHS operation among many that have taken place under the Trump administration .
The same Border Patrol tactical teams currently on the ground in Oregon were also deployed to provide muscle and a visible show of strength for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducting a crackdown on New York and other so-called sanctuary cities earlier this year .
During the enforcement blitz , an ICE officer dressed in tactical gear was spotted knocking on doors in a Bronx apartment building with a rifle propped against his shoulder .
In Brooklyn , a team @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the face while attempting to make an arrest .
As The Intercept reported in March , the escalated enforcement came as New York City was becoming the global epicenter for the coronavirus pandemic and led to the filling of local jails , which in turn became hot spots for Covid-19 .
“ We were raising the alarm about it , ” Douša said .
“ It feels like we ’ ve been screaming into a vacuum.
” Long before DHS deployed masked paramilitary agents to the Pacific Northwest , the agency was directing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president ’ s policies on the southern border , citing the coordinated circulation of public information , tweets , and potential vandalism as a precursor to extremist violence and domestic terrorism .
In the summer of 2018 , when the Trump administration was taking children from their parents by the thousands in an effort to ward off asylum-seekers at the southern border , a New York City-based data artist designed a tool for scraping LinkedIn that would collect and share information that ICE personnel had posted about themselves online .
Alarm bells went @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of doxing of DHS personnel and facilities could result in actualized violence against DHS employees by violent extremist actors , ” the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis warned in a June 29 , 2018 intelligence note , describing the actors in question as “ individuals vehemently opposed to purported or perceived DHS actions regarding immigration policy.
” While protests against the administration ’ s family separation policy were massive , widespread , and diverse , the note went on to say that “ the current publicity surrounding federal immigration policy most likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who self-identify or subscribe to anti-fascist ( ANTIFA ) anarchist extremist ideology.
” The DHS intelligence office reported with “ medium confidence ” that “ if any criminal acts were to be conducted by these domestic terrorists , these acts would most likely be limited to destruction of critical infrastructure.
” The intelligence note is among a trove of law enforcement documents that were recently hacked and posted online under the title BlueLeaks .
The leaked documents reveal several instances in recent years of DHS and its subagencies circulating warnings about a dangerous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrorist threat .
The documents bolster past reporting that has repeatedly demonstrated the agency ’ s targeting of leftist opponents of the Trump administration ’ s immigration and border policies , which set the stage for the federal law enforcement campaign the president is now seeking to take nationwide .
The materials are particularly noteworthy in light of recent events in Portland , in which DHS has cited the actions of “ violent anarchists ” as a justification for its show of force on the city ’ s streets , pointed to doxxing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are hidden from the public , and where the same DHS office that has hyped a threat from the left is now overseeing the intelligence work driving arrests on the ground .
The Intercept sent DHS a list of questions for this story , including clarification on how the agency is determining the political ideology of individual protesters accused of violence on the ground in Portland — earlier this month , for example , acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf issued a press release blaming “ violent anarchists ” for 70 incidents of “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( nearly all of the incidents involved graffiti or property destruction ) .
The agency did not respond .
When considering the Trump administration ’ s actions in Portland , “ it ’ s impossible not to recall the Department of Homeland Security ’ s targeting of activists and civil society organizations on the border for surveillance and criminal investigation , ” said Brian Griffey , a researcher at Amnesty International .
In 2019 , Griffey was the lead investigator on a report that documented how DHS engaged in a sweeping , multi-year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and journalists working on the border .
“ To label these political activists terrorists , it ’ s just the same in my mind as how they labeled activists and immigration lawyers on the border as criminals and smugglers , ” he said .
Having previously conducted human rights research in eastern Ukraine , Griffey has found himself increasingly concerned with the direction the administration now appears to be taking .
“ A lot of what ’ s happening here seems incredibly familiar , ” he said .
“ From little green @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesters to stage armed demonstrations outside Capitol buildings in regional areas .
As we get into election season this is a recipe for trouble if they don ’ t roll back the rhetoric and stop threatening civil society.
” There is no legal definition of a sanctuary city .
For the Trump administration , the term has typically meant ostensibly liberal jurisdictions where local law enforcement has pulled back on some element of cooperation with ICE — though ICE still operates in those cities , and in places like New York , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department can still lead to deportation .
President Donald Trump has repeatedly identified such jurisdictions as his political enemies .
The federal law enforcement posture that has garnered so much attention in the past month is largely an extension of that view and is being rolled out alongside a reelection effort framed around the notion that leftist activists and political leaders are in cahoots to destroy the country .
As Douša and Griffey noted , much of what ’ s happened in recent weeks , from the DHS operations themselves to the units @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the perceived threat , would be familiar to anyone who ’ s had a close eye on the border in recent years .
On January 17 , 2018 , a specialized Border Patrol unit conducted a raid on a humanitarian aid station in the unincorporated border community of Ajo , Arizona .
Scott Warren , a geographer and volunteer with the faith-based organization No More Deaths and several other humanitarian groups was arrested along with two young undocumented men from Central American who were attempting to cross one of the deadliest stretches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Patrol agent who later admitted that he did not know how to secure a warrant for a wiretap had conducted a multi-month “ investigation ” into the aid facility .
The U.S. Attorney ’ s Office pursued the case aggressively , hitting Warren with two federal felony counts of harboring and one count of conspiracy .
He faced up to 20 years in prison .
The office brought nine other federal cases against No More Deaths volunteers accused of leaving jugs of water for migrants crossing the desert on public lands .
Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lock Warren away .
When the first trial ended in a hung jury , they brought another .
The second jury returned a verdict of not guilty after just two hours of deliberations .
Throughout Warren ’ s ordeal , prosecutors alleged that No More Deaths and groups like it were effectively a border-wide anarchist conspiracy network aimed at breaking U.S. immigration laws .
Warren ’ s case was among the first clear signs that the Trump administration was willing to devote considerable resources to aggressive and politically symbolic law enforcement activity in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ border agenda .
While Warren was able to avoid time behind bars during his brush with the Trump administration ’ s politicized brand of border law enforcement , others were not so fortunate .
On August 3 , 2018 , ICE agents in Texas arrested 18-year-old Sergio Salazar at an Occupy ICE encampment in San Antonio , Texas .
As The Intercept reported last year , Salazar ’ s tweets landed them on the radar of the Texas Department of Public Safety ( DPS ) , which forwarded the posts to an FBI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that included ICE personnel .
Federal authorities surveilled Salazar and the Occupy ICE encampment for weeks .
Tactical agents in masks not unlike those in Portland visited the camp at night .
One day after Salazar ’ s protections against deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals expired , an ICE team moved in and placed them under arrest .
In an evidence packet ICE compiled to support Salazar ’ s deportation , which Salazar shared with The Intercept , DHS argued that the recent high school graduate ’ s social media revealed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Group ‘ ANTIFA.
’ ” Salazar was locked up for 43 days before being deported — “ banished , ” in their words — from the only country they had ever known .
The BlueLeaks documents show that Salazar ’ s case was referenced in a report circulated by a law enforcement fusion center in Colorado the following year : “ On 03 August 2018 , an 18-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) recipient was arrested by the FBI after posting instructional videos for making bombs to kill ICE agents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ online against ICE agents.
” Salazar was not arrested by the FBI nor were they ever charged or accused of a crime .
The source of the fusion center ’ s reporting was an article published by the Center for Immigration Studies , an organization with longstanding ties to Trump ’ s top immigration architect , White House adviser Stephen Miller — the Southern Poverty Law Center includes the organization among its designated hate groups .
CIS rejects the characterization .
The author of the CIS post was Todd Bensman , a former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Public Safety who , according to biographies on CIS ’ s website and his own , had a supervisory role at DPS that “ frequently ” involved sharing intelligence with JTTFs and ICE at the time that DPS shared Salazar ’ s tweets with FBI .
Bensman left DPS for CIS the month of Salazar ’ s arrest , where he proceeded to write multiple articles and posted a video about the national security threat that people like Salazar posed , drawing comparisons to “ ISIS propagandists who become the targets of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proven so mortally effective.
” Bensman told The Intercept he was aware of Salazar ’ s case during his tenure at DPS , but that he went to “ great pains ” to compartmentalize his work in law enforcement from the public facing reporting he produces at CIS .
Though he believes federal law enforcement would not have devoted the resources to the Salazar case that it did absent a serious threat , he acknowledged that he did not have access to the case file ICE presented laying out its purported evidence to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was exculpatory information about that investigation , I certainly would have written about it , ” Bensman told The Intercept .
Salazar ’ s life was upended entirely by the investigation Bensman ’ s previous office set in motion .
From an apartment in Mexico , they wrote : “ Despite the hateful behavior and writings of the DHS and its employees against a teenage me , I still believe a better world is possible and still hold in my heart a vision of a world where migration is not criminalized or regulated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that on June 22 , 2018 , while much of the country was reacting in horror at the Trump administration ’ s family separation policy , and Salazar and their friends were occupying the ICE facility in Texas , U.S. Customs and Border Protection was reporting “ an increase in social media threats targeting DHS personnel.
” The threats included “ advocating violence against ICE officials and destruction of government property , the release of DHS officials ’ personally identifiable information ( PII ) , and the release of DHS facility locations.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ locations , like the details government employees post on their LinkedIn pages , are publicly available information .
CBP acknowledged that “ while doxxing itself may be constitutionally protected , ” the government would continue to monitor “ incidents of doxing where there is a reasonable belief that the doxed information could lead to violent domestic extremist activity.
” In a preview of what would become a Trump administration talking point regarding the recent protests , CBP warned that “ anarchist extremists have previously exploited constitutionally protected events to engage in violence against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dozen “ indicators of planned criminal or violent domestic extremist activity , ” which included “ preoperational surveillance of government buildings , symbols of capitalism , or symbols of corporate globalization ” and “ possessing anarchist signs.
” “ Some of these behavioral indicators involve constitutionally protected activities , ” CBP noted .
“ These indicators , therefore , only support a reasonable suspicion of violent activity when considered in conjunction with additional , supporting facts.
” In the months after the alerts were issued , the Trump administration shifted into election mode @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their way north from Central America to rally the president ’ s base for the 2018 midterm elections .
When the caravans reached Tijuana at the end of the year , they were met with tear gas lobbed over the border wall by DHS officers and agents .
Last February , The Intercept revealed that the agency had embarked on a sprawling , binational intelligence-gathering operation run by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement focused on journalists , immigration attorneys , and asylum advocates in the area .
Targets of the program were routinely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Diego , in some cases for hours at a time .
Multiple lawyers and photojournalists were barred from traveling internationally .
Members of the press were forced to turn over their notes , cameras , and phones while plainclothes U.S. border officials pumped them for information about activists working with the caravans .
A month after The Intercept ’ s investigation , NBC San Diego obtained a cache of documents , leaked by an ICE whistleblower , showing that DHS had built a “ secret database of activists , journalists , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caravan and in some cases , placed alerts on their passports.
” The program featured the lead DHS border and immigration enforcement agencies , as well as the FBI , and it fell under the umbrella of “ Operation Secure Line , ” the Trump administration ’ s border surge of military units during the midterms initially dubbed “ Faithful Patriot.
” Douša was among the immigrant rights advocates included in the database .
In a section of Douša ’ s classified DHS file titled “ Target Significance , ” CBP ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Possible connection to recent ANTIFA movement along the southwestern border.
” “ There were 59 of us in the Operation Secure Line targeting database that basically tied all of us to so-called antifa , ” Douša said .
“ I have no idea what that is.
” The DHS border spying revelations prompted a bipartisan letter to the head of CBP from Sens .
Ron Wyden and Chuck Grassley last March demanding answers .
The border enforcement agency initially dismissed the matter then , four months after the story broke , admitted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a cross-border intelligence operation .
In October , the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of asylum advocates caught in the surveillance program , accusing CBP , ICE , and the FBI of First and Fourth Amendment violations .
“ The government ’ s powers are not limitless , ” the complaint read .
In July of last year , Willem Van Spronsen , a 69-year-old , self-identified anarchist , who went by the pen name Emma Durutti , was shot dead by police while allegedly carrying a rifle and throwing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a privately run ICE jail in Tacoma , Washington .
The incident is the most serious escalation of force involving leftists challenging DHS to date .
Other reported threats that federal authorities have investigated in recent years appear far shakier .
Last May , the FBI circulated a report , later leaked to Yahoo News and included in the BlueLeaks cache , titled “ Anarchist Extremists Very Likely Increasing Targeting of US Government Entities in Arizona , Increasing Risk of Armed Conflict.
” As Yahoo News noted in its coverage , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ document , “ almost all of the evidence cited in the report involved nonviolent protest activity.
” The reporting came just months after the San Diego Union-Tribune broke the news that the Trump administration ’ s targeting of journalists and advocates at the border may have been linked to a bizarre FBI investigation in which an alleged “ Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander ” was suspected of trying to sell guns to antifa in order to “ stage an armed rebellion at the border.
” Like many of the materials that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , DHS documents concerning antifa suggest that the agency struggles to identify real threats in a world rife with internet jokes .
In July 2019 , for example , CBP alerted personnel about a social media user who had compared immigration agents to the “ gestapo ” and written “ kill all ICE agents , ” and “ an Antifa member ” who had written the following : “ I have perfected an acid that you can mix into milkshakes that will still taste refreshing and creamy but give you 3rd degree chemical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the milkshake intel with a list of precautions “ to reduce the risk of targeting or attack.
” The antifa-anarchist boogeyman that has haunted the minds of the nation ’ s border and immigration agencies for the past three and a half years has now gone national .
According to a leaked DHS document obtained by Lawfare , the same office of intelligence and analysis that described “ anti-fascist ( ANTIFA ) anarchist extremists ” as domestic terrorists in 2018 is now collecting intelligence for federal law enforcement operations in Portland .
Just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a white police officer in Minneapolis and a local precinct went up in flames , Trump declared that he would designate antifa a terrorist organization .
Highlighting antifa by name , Attorney General William Barr announced that the nation ’ s JTTFs , the same federal task forces involved in Salazar ’ s deportation , would be called upon to “ identify criminal organizers and instigators ” whose role in hijacking the nationwide protests amounted to “ domestic terrorism.
” According the attorney general , the FBI is currently pursuing more than 500 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” along with the word “ antifa , ” was one of the markers used in the secret DHS database of advocates on the border .
“ We shouldn ’ t be looking at DHS in isolation from DOJ , ” Faiza Patel , co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice , told The Intercept .
“ Historically those two agencies have been engaged in turf battles , but it does seem that they are working pretty much in tandem here.
” As The Intercept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump Super PAC has pointed to the administration ’ s antifa crackdown to raise money for the president ’ s reelection campaign .
“ This is a political move , ” Patel said .
“ The feds don ’ t normally respond to graffiti when the local police say they can handle it.
” In a press conference on Wednesday , the president , accompanied by Barr and the heads of DHS and the FBI , announced that ramped-up federal law enforcement will be coming to several other cities around the country .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ into New York as part of the sanctuary city crackdown earlier this year , an underground network of advocates organized a rapid response system for identifying ICE activity in immigrant communities .
Experiences like that are now informing how immigration advocates interpret and respond to the present moment , Douša explained .
“ It ’ s very concerning to us , but it doesn ’ t feel all that different to me yet , ” she said .
To the extent that there have been any radical shifts in the past few weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fact “ that white people are starting to care .
”

Images of Border Patrol agents in military-style tactical gear grabbing protesters off the street in Portland, Oregon, have drawn condemnation from Democratic lawmakers, who have described the teams as “secret police.” For immigration advocates like Kaji Douša, a senior pastor at Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City, there is nothing secret — or particularly new — about them.
As the co-chair of the New Sanctuary Coalition, an immigrant rights organization, Douša knows what it’s like to have the weight of the Department of Homeland Security come down on you — she has a growing stack of internal DHS documents, produced in ongoing litigation surrounding the agency’s surveillance of her and dozens of lawyers, journalists, and asylum advocates who were targeted in a sweeping DHS spying operation during the 2018 midterm elections. “We were perceived to be radicals,” Douša told The Intercept. “A lot of white people turned away because it wasn’t them, but now that it’s them in Portland, everybody’s like, ‘Oh, this is crazy.’”
The surveillance was just one politicized DHS operation among many that have taken place under the Trump administration. The same Border Patrol tactical teams currently on the ground in Oregon were also deployed to provide muscle and a visible show of strength for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers conducting a crackdown on New York and other so-called sanctuary cities earlier this year. During the enforcement blitz, an ICE officer dressed in tactical gear was spotted knocking on doors in a Bronx apartment building with a rifle propped against his shoulder. In Brooklyn, a team of ICE officers shot a man in the face while attempting to make an arrest. As The Intercept reported in March, the escalated enforcement came as New York City was becoming the global epicenter for the coronavirus pandemic and led to the filling of local jails, which in turn became hot spots for Covid-19.
“We were raising the alarm about it,” Douša said. “It feels like we’ve been screaming into a vacuum.”
Long before DHS deployed masked paramilitary agents to the Pacific Northwest, the agency was directing its intelligence efforts against opponents of the president’s policies on the southern border, citing the coordinated circulation of public information, tweets, and potential vandalism as a precursor to extremist violence and domestic terrorism.
Long before DHS deployed masked paramilitary agents to the Pacific Northwest, the agency was directing its intelligence efforts against opponents of the president’s policies on the southern border.
In the summer of 2018, when the Trump administration was taking children from their parents by the thousands in an effort to ward off asylum-seekers at the southern border, a New York City-based data artist designed a tool for scraping LinkedIn that would collect and share information that ICE personnel had posted about themselves online. Alarm bells went off inside DHS.
“Multiple incidents of doxing of DHS personnel and facilities could result in actualized violence against DHS employees by violent extremist actors,” the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis warned in a June 29, 2018 intelligence note, describing the actors in question as “individuals vehemently opposed to purported or perceived DHS actions regarding immigration policy.”
While protests against the administration’s family separation policy were massive, widespread, and diverse, the note went on to say that “the current publicity surrounding federal immigration policy most likely will resonate with anarchist extremists or individuals who self-identify or subscribe to anti-fascist (ANTIFA) anarchist extremist ideology.” The DHS intelligence office reported with “medium confidence” that “if any criminal acts were to be conducted by these domestic terrorists, these acts would most likely be limited to destruction of critical infrastructure.”
The intelligence note is among a trove of law enforcement documents that were recently hacked and posted online under the title BlueLeaks. The leaked documents reveal several instances in recent years of DHS and its subagencies circulating warnings about a dangerous anarchist or antifa element constituting a domestic terrorist threat. The documents bolster past reporting that has repeatedly demonstrated the agency’s targeting of leftist opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration and border policies, which set the stage for the federal law enforcement campaign the president is now seeking to take nationwide.
The materials are particularly noteworthy in light of recent events in Portland, in which DHS has cited the actions of “violent anarchists” as a justification for its show of force on the city’s streets, pointed to doxxing as the reason that agents’ names are hidden from the public, and where the same DHS office that has hyped a threat from the left is now overseeing the intelligence work driving arrests on the ground.
The Intercept sent DHS a list of questions for this story, including clarification on how the agency is determining the political ideology of individual protesters accused of violence on the ground in Portland — earlier this month, for example, acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf issued a press release blaming “violent anarchists” for 70 incidents of “lawless destruction and violence” in Portland (nearly all of the incidents involved graffiti or property destruction). The agency did not respond.
When considering the Trump administration’s actions in Portland, “it’s impossible not to recall the Department of Homeland Security’s targeting of activists and civil society organizations on the border for surveillance and criminal investigation,” said Brian Griffey, a researcher at Amnesty International. In 2019, Griffey was the lead investigator on a report that documented how DHS engaged in a sweeping, multi-year campaign targeting human rights defenders, attorneys, and journalists working on the border. “To label these political activists terrorists, it’s just the same in my mind as how they labeled activists and immigration lawyers on the border as criminals and smugglers,” he said.
Having previously conducted human rights research in eastern Ukraine, Griffey has found himself increasingly concerned with the direction the administration now appears to be taking. “A lot of what’s happening here seems incredibly familiar,” he said. “From little green men, to the encouragement of far-right protesters to stage armed demonstrations outside Capitol buildings in regional areas. As we get into election season this is a recipe for trouble if they don’t roll back the rhetoric and stop threatening civil society.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrest an undocumented Mexican immigrant during a raid in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn on April 11, 2018 in New York City. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images
Political Enemies
There is no legal definition of a sanctuary city. For the Trump administration, the term has typically meant ostensibly liberal jurisdictions where local law enforcement has pulled back on some element of cooperation with ICE — though ICE still operates in those cities, and in places like New York, a low-level brush with the New York Police Department can still lead to deportation. President Donald Trump has repeatedly identified such jurisdictions as his political enemies. The federal law enforcement posture that has garnered so much attention in the past month is largely an extension of that view and is being rolled out alongside a reelection effort framed around the notion that leftist activists and political leaders are in cahoots to destroy the country.
As Douša and Griffey noted, much of what’s happened in recent weeks, from the DHS operations themselves to the units involved to the government’s characterization of the perceived threat, would be familiar to anyone who’s had a close eye on the border in recent years.
On January 17, 2018, a specialized Border Patrol unit conducted a raid on a humanitarian aid station in the unincorporated border community of Ajo, Arizona. Scott Warren, a geographer and volunteer with the faith-based organization No More Deaths and several other humanitarian groups was arrested along with two young undocumented men from Central American who were attempting to cross one of the deadliest stretches of the Sonoran Desert. A Border Patrol agent who later admitted that he did not know how to secure a warrant for a wiretap had conducted a multi-month “investigation” into the aid facility. The U.S. Attorney’s Office pursued the case aggressively, hitting Warren with two federal felony counts of harboring and one count of conspiracy. He faced up to 20 years in prison. The office brought nine other federal cases against No More Deaths volunteers accused of leaving jugs of water for migrants crossing the desert on public lands.
Trump administration prosecutors spent two years trying to lock Warren away. When the first trial ended in a hung jury, they brought another. The second jury returned a verdict of not guilty after just two hours of deliberations. Throughout Warren’s ordeal, prosecutors alleged that No More Deaths and groups like it were effectively a border-wide anarchist conspiracy network aimed at breaking U.S. immigration laws.
Warren’s case was among the first clear signs that the Trump administration was willing to devote considerable resources to aggressive and politically symbolic law enforcement activity in matters related to the president’s border agenda.
While Warren was able to avoid time behind bars during his brush with the Trump administration’s politicized brand of border law enforcement, others were not so fortunate.
On August 3, 2018, ICE agents in Texas arrested 18-year-old Sergio Salazar at an Occupy ICE encampment in San Antonio, Texas. As The Intercept reported last year, Salazar’s tweets landed them on the radar of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), which forwarded the posts to an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Antonio that included ICE personnel. Federal authorities surveilled Salazar and the Occupy ICE encampment for weeks. Tactical agents in masks not unlike those in Portland visited the camp at night. One day after Salazar’s protections against deportation under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals expired, an ICE team moved in and placed them under arrest. In an evidence packet ICE compiled to support Salazar’s deportation, which Salazar shared with The Intercept, DHS argued that the recent high school graduate’s social media revealed their affiliation with the “Anarchist Extremist Group ‘ANTIFA.’” Salazar was locked up for 43 days before being deported — “banished,” in their words — from the only country they had ever known.
While much of the country was reacting in horror at the family separation policy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was reporting “an increase in social media threats targeting DHS personnel.
The BlueLeaks documents show that Salazar’s case was referenced in a report circulated by a law enforcement fusion center in Colorado the following year: “On 03 August 2018, an 18-year-old Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient was arrested by the FBI after posting instructional videos for making bombs to kill ICE agents. He also posted several anonymous messages online against ICE agents.” Salazar was not arrested by the FBI nor were they ever charged or accused of a crime. The source of the fusion center’s reporting was an article published by the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization with longstanding ties to Trump’s top immigration architect, White House adviser Stephen Miller — the Southern Poverty Law Center includes the organization among its designated hate groups. CIS rejects the characterization.
The author of the CIS post was Todd Bensman, a former senior intelligence analyst at the Texas Department of Public Safety who, according to biographies on CIS’s website and his own, had a supervisory role at DPS that “frequently” involved sharing intelligence with JTTFs and ICE at the time that DPS shared Salazar’s tweets with FBI. Bensman left DPS for CIS the month of Salazar’s arrest, where he proceeded to write multiple articles and posted a video about the national security threat that people like Salazar posed, drawing comparisons to “ISIS propagandists who become the targets of hellfire missiles overseas because their incitement has proven so mortally effective.”
Bensman told The Intercept he was aware of Salazar’s case during his tenure at DPS, but that he went to “great pains” to compartmentalize his work in law enforcement from the public facing reporting he produces at CIS. Though he believes federal law enforcement would not have devoted the resources to the Salazar case that it did absent a serious threat, he acknowledged that he did not have access to the case file ICE presented laying out its purported evidence to support that claim. “If there was exculpatory information about that investigation, I certainly would have written about it,” Bensman told The Intercept.
Salazar’s life was upended entirely by the investigation Bensman’s previous office set in motion. From an apartment in Mexico, they wrote: “Despite the hateful behavior and writings of the DHS and its employees against a teenage me, I still believe a better world is possible and still hold in my heart a vision of a world where migration is not criminalized or regulated through violence.”
The BlueLeaks documents show that on June 22, 2018, while much of the country was reacting in horror at the Trump administration’s family separation policy, and Salazar and their friends were occupying the ICE facility in Texas, U.S. Customs and Border Protection was reporting “an increase in social media threats targeting DHS personnel.” The threats included “advocating violence against ICE officials and destruction of government property, the release of DHS officials’ personally identifiable information (PII), and the release of DHS facility locations.”
For the most part, DHS facility locations, like the details government employees post on their LinkedIn pages, are publicly available information. CBP acknowledged that “while doxxing itself may be constitutionally protected,” the government would continue to monitor “incidents of doxing where there is a reasonable belief that the doxed information could lead to violent domestic extremist activity.” In a preview of what would become a Trump administration talking point regarding the recent protests, CBP warned that “anarchist extremists have previously exploited constitutionally protected events to engage in violence against police.” The agency listed nearly a dozen “indicators of planned criminal or violent domestic extremist activity,” which included “preoperational surveillance of government buildings, symbols of capitalism, or symbols of corporate globalization” and “possessing anarchist signs.”
“Some of these behavioral indicators involve constitutionally protected activities,” CBP noted. “These indicators, therefore, only support a reasonable suspicion of violent activity when considered in conjunction with additional, supporting facts.”
In the months after the alerts were issued, the Trump administration shifted into election mode, zeroing in on migrant caravans making their way north from Central America to rally the president’s base for the 2018 midterm elections.
Central American migrants run away from tear gas thrown by the Border Patrol after they tried to cross from Tijuana to San Diego, as seen from Mexico on Jan. 1, 2019. Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images
When the caravans reached Tijuana at the end of the year, they were met with tear gas lobbed over the border wall by DHS officers and agents. Last February, The Intercept revealed that the agency had embarked on a sprawling, binational intelligence-gathering operation run by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement focused on journalists, immigration attorneys, and asylum advocates in the area. Targets of the program were routinely interrogated by DHS personnel when crossing into San Diego, in some cases for hours at a time. Multiple lawyers and photojournalists were barred from traveling internationally. Members of the press were forced to turn over their notes, cameras, and phones while plainclothes U.S. border officials pumped them for information about activists working with the caravans.
A month after The Intercept’s investigation, NBC San Diego obtained a cache of documents, leaked by an ICE whistleblower, showing that DHS had built a “secret database of activists, journalists, and social media influencers tied to the migrant caravan and in some cases, placed alerts on their passports.” The program featured the lead DHS border and immigration enforcement agencies, as well as the FBI, and it fell under the umbrella of “Operation Secure Line,” the Trump administration’s border surge of military units during the midterms initially dubbed “Faithful Patriot.” Douša was among the immigrant rights advocates included in the database. In a section of Douša’s classified DHS file titled “Target Significance,” CBP’s San Diego Intelligence Unit wrote, “Possible connection to recent ANTIFA movement along the southwestern border.”
“There were 59 of us in the Operation Secure Line targeting database that basically tied all of us to so-called antifa,” Douša said. “I have no idea what that is.”
The DHS border spying revelations prompted a bipartisan letter to the head of CBP from Sens. Ron Wyden and Chuck Grassley last March demanding answers. The border enforcement agency initially dismissed the matter then, four months after the story broke, admitted that U.S. and Mexican authorities had indeed engaged in a cross-border intelligence operation. In October, the American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of asylum advocates caught in the surveillance program, accusing CBP, ICE, and the FBI of First and Fourth Amendment violations. “The government’s powers are not limitless,” the complaint read.
The Anarchist-Antifa Boogeyman
In July of last year, Willem Van Spronsen, a 69-year-old, self-identified anarchist, who went by the pen name Emma Durutti, was shot dead by police while allegedly carrying a rifle and throwing “lit objects” at vehicles used at a privately run ICE jail in Tacoma, Washington. The incident is the most serious escalation of force involving leftists challenging DHS to date. Other reported threats that federal authorities have investigated in recent years appear far shakier.
Last May, the FBI circulated a report, later leaked to Yahoo News and included in the BlueLeaks cache, titled “Anarchist Extremists Very Likely Increasing Targeting of US Government Entities in Arizona, Increasing Risk of Armed Conflict.” As Yahoo News noted in its coverage, which included interviews with individuals included in the document, “almost all of the evidence cited in the report involved nonviolent protest activity.” The reporting came just months after the San Diego Union-Tribune broke the news that the Trump administration’s targeting of journalists and advocates at the border may have been linked to a bizarre FBI investigation in which an alleged “Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander” was suspected of trying to sell guns to antifa in order to “stage an armed rebellion at the border.”
Like many of the materials that have emerged from the Blue Leaks trove, DHS documents concerning antifa suggest that the agency struggles to identify real threats in a world rife with internet jokes. In July 2019, for example, CBP alerted personnel about a social media user who had compared immigration agents to the “gestapo” and written “kill all ICE agents,” and “an Antifa member” who had written the following: “I have perfected an acid that you can mix into milkshakes that will still taste refreshing and creamy but give you 3rd degree chemical burns hit me up.” CBP followed the milkshake intel with a list of precautions “to reduce the risk of targeting or attack.”
The antifa-anarchist boogeyman that has haunted the minds of the nation’s border and immigration agencies for the past three and a half years has now gone national. According to a leaked DHS document obtained by Lawfare, the same office of intelligence and analysis that described “anti-fascist (ANTIFA) anarchist extremists” as domestic terrorists in 2018 is now collecting intelligence for federal law enforcement operations in Portland.
The president, accompanied by Barr and the heads of DHS and the FBI, announced that ramped-up federal law enforcement will be coming to several other cities around the country.
Just days after George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis and a local precinct went up in flames, Trump declared that he would designate antifa a terrorist organization. Highlighting antifa by name, Attorney General William Barr announced that the nation’s JTTFs, the same federal task forces involved in Salazar’s deportation, would be called upon to “identify criminal organizers and instigators” whose role in hijacking the nationwide protests amounted to “domestic terrorism.” According the attorney general, the FBI is currently pursuing more than 500 such investigations. Incidentally, “instigator,” along with the word “antifa,” was one of the markers used in the secret DHS database of advocates on the border.
“We shouldn’t be looking at DHS in isolation from DOJ,” Faiza Patel, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told The Intercept. “Historically those two agencies have been engaged in turf battles, but it does seem that they are working pretty much in tandem here.”
As The Intercept reported earlier this month, an official Trump Super PAC has pointed to the administration’s antifa crackdown to raise money for the president’s reelection campaign. “This is a political move,” Patel said. “The feds don’t normally respond to graffiti when the local police say they can handle it.” In a press conference on Wednesday, the president, accompanied by Barr and the heads of DHS and the FBI, announced that ramped-up federal law enforcement will be coming to several other cities around the country.
When the White House began pushing DHS into New York as part of the sanctuary city crackdown earlier this year, an underground network of advocates organized a rapid response system for identifying ICE activity in immigrant communities. Experiences like that are now informing how immigration advocates interpret and respond to the present moment, Douša explained. “It’s very concerning to us, but it doesn’t feel all that different to me yet,” she said. To the extent that there have been any radical shifts in the past few weeks, she said, it’s the fact “that white people are starting to care.”


theintercept--2020-07-28--The Democratic Party’s Most Confounding Primary

late last summer that Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy was considering a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey , many political operatives reasonably asked … why ?
Elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 , the most high-profile aspect of Kennedy ’ s political career had been giving the Democratic response to the State of the Union in 2018 — and , of course , being a Kennedy .
Markey , meanwhile , wasn ’ t shrouded in any scandal and had recently introduced the Green New Deal resolution with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , an instant hallmark of progressive politics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ answer is a little more evident .
Last July , before Kennedy jumped in the race , a Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll showed that 45 percent of likely voters in the state were undecided about supporting Markey for reelection and 14 percent said they had never heard of him .
By September , Boston Globe/Suffolk University released another poll finding Kennedy leading Markey by 14 points in a potential Senate head-to-head , and more Massachusetts voters viewed Kennedy as the more liberal candidate and a better fighter for Democratic priorities than Markey .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ September , progressive groups were quick to jump behind Markey .
Markey has earned endorsements from a host of progressive organizations , ranging from national groups like Indivisible , the Sunrise Movement , and Planned Parenthood to teachers unions , peace groups , and environmental activists on the state level .
As the September 1 primary nears , progressives , many of whom are still mourning the losses of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic presidential primary , have turned their sights to saving Markey ’ s seat in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Green New Deal , which was unpopular among Democratic leadership in Washington when it was introduced .
It doesn ’ t matter to them that Kennedy also supports the Green New Deal , and some view his recent announcement that his family trusts have divested from oil and gas stocks as too little too late .
( In December , Markey ’ s campaign returned more than $ 46,000 from donors who didn ’ t meet requirements of the fossil fuel pledge , which both candidates signed . )
Many also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Senate because he ’ s calculated that it might be easier to unseat a 74-year-old incumbent now than it would be to beat Rep. Ayanna Pressley or Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in an open primary six years down the road .
Indeed , Kennedy ’ s stated rationale for entering the primary is a little fuzzy .
Both candidates admit that when it comes down to brass tacks , they are in line on major issues .
Kennedy ’ s case boils down to the idea that he thinks he could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ better than Markey has .
Senators have immense power beyond just voting on bills , Kennedy ’ s argument goes , and Markey hasn ’ t used his position effectively enough to serve the Democratic Party and the country .
The result is a Senate primary race that can best be described as pretty weird .
On the one hand , there ’ s an incumbent who has served more than 40 years in Congress running as some kind of grassroots underdog .
On the other hand , a literal Kennedy is claiming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and invoking language used by progressive insurgents who ’ ve sought new leadership to shake up the status quo .
There hasn ’ t been polling in the race since early May , when a UMass-Lowell poll showed the race had significantly tightened with Kennedy up by just 2 points .
That , Markey ’ s campaign manager John Walsh argued , is because the progressive base has consolidated behind the senator .
But another poll , conducted around the same time by Emerson College/7News , showed Markey trailing Kennedy by 16 points @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and left-wing media has at times led the left to go fairly easy on the senator for votes they ’ ve criticized other Democrats for .
Over the years , like Joe Biden , Markey voted for the Iraq War , the Patriot Act , and the 1994 crime bill , and he opposed busing for desegregation in the 1970s .
When asked if he has any comments about these past votes , Markey told The Intercept that Black and brown men in the United States were “ owe [ d ] a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the 1994 crime bill , and said that ’ s why he ’ s co-sponsoring Sen. Cory Booker ’ s Next Step Act to overhaul the criminal justice system .
Markey offered similar remarks when he announced his 2018 co-sponsorship of the First Step Act , a precursor to Booker ’ s bill : “ The First Step Act is just the beginning of the national apology we owe to the generation of African-American men and women who lost their lives and futures in prison due to a few dollars of crack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” On Iraq , Markey says he “ deeply regret [ s ] that vote ” and blamed President George W. Bush for lying to Congress and the American people about nuclear weapons in the country .
“ I ’ ve worked every day to ensure we don ’ t have another needless war in the Middle East , ” he said , though he voted “ present ” in 2013 on military intervention in Syria , saying at the time that he needed to study the issue further .
“ Senator Markey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ progressivism in the Democratic Party for his entire career , ” Evan Weber , political director of the Sunrise Movement , said in a statement to The Intercept , citing the senator ’ s early support for net neutrality and opposition to nuclear weapons .
“ Has every vote he ’ s ever taken over his long political career been perfect ?
No .
But he ’ s often the person in his party forcing others to take hard or uncomfortable votes before positions become politically popular , creating the space and momentum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself as a stalwart leader of the progressive movement , and touted the significance of receiving progressive endorsements in his primary , the senator lacks a record of backing progressive primary challengers , something Warren and Sanders have embraced over the last few years .
Unlike Warren and Sanders , for example , Markey stayed out of Charles Booker ’ s competitive Senate bid in Kentucky this year , and in his home state , he ’ s standing behind Rep. Richard Neal , despite Neal facing a much more progressive challenger in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t endorse Pressley in 2018 , though his supporters say it matters that he didn ’ t endorse Mike Capuano , the incumbent , either .
Back in November , a reporter pressed Markey about why he wasn ’ t supporting Morse , given that he supports the Green New Deal , and Neal doesn ’ t .
“ Ultimately he supports taking bold action on climate change and changing the tax code that makes [ a Green New Deal ] possible , ” said Markey , defending his colleague .
Markey and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Morse were running .
“ I like both candidates , ” he added , referring to Booker and Morse .
“ On big votes Congressman Neal has been with me , but we have our differences.
” Kennedy hasn ’ t endorsed in the Morse/Neal contest either and told The Intercept that he plans to focus on his own race .
Kennedy has also been criticized by progressive groups for endorsing the more moderate candidates in Massachusetts races in which progressive challengers were running .
“ One thing we ’ ve pointed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had the choice to support progressive women of color — Ayanna Pressley and Nika Elugardo — but he didn ’ t , ” said Jonathan Cohn , a leader with Progressive Massachusetts , a statewide advocacy group that has endorsed Markey .
In those races , Kennedy endorsed incumbents Capuano and Jeffrey Sanchez , who both lost .
( This cycle Elugardo has endorsed Markey , and Pressley is staying out of the race . )
a Democratic activist in Massachusetts approached Kennedy after a campaign town hall and pressed him on why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ respect to Senator Markey , who is a good man , there ’ s more to this job than the way you vote and the bills that you file , ” Kennedy answered , as reported by Boston Magazine .
“ It comes with an ability to leverage that platform … and , with due respect to the senator , if you ’ re not going to leverage that now … then when ?
” But has Kennedy “ leveraged ” his House seat to the best of his ability ?
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Intercept , though acknowledged that he ’ s “ done it differently obviously ” than star representatives like Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez .
He credits those women for using their platforms to cast a spotlight on issues of importance .
“ I ’ ve tried to do that in a way that is most natural to me , ” he said , and pointed to his fundraising trips throughout 2018 to help Democrats flip the House .
Kennedy said this work helped flip the House in 2018 and in a recent debate , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relief groups and legal defense for immigrant families .
“ Let me be clear , ” he added .
“ When I critique Senator Markey … I ’ m not saying in persona , experience , history , or policy that I would be the next AOC or Ayanna Pressley .
Like that ’ s not who I am , that ’ s not the policy positions that I necessarily take.
” “ The reason Joe can go around [ fundraising ] is because he ’ s Bobby Kennedy ’ s grandson , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign manager .
“ It ’ s not because he ’ s ever led on a single issue since he ’ s been in Congress.
” Kennedy countered that he ’ s proud of his leadership in areas around mental health and LGBTQ issues , and noted he spoke to Black Lives Matter and transgender rights in his 2018 response to the State of the Union .
Kennedy ’ s campaign said its polling shows Markey leading with more white , affluent voters , while Kennedy is doing better with middle-class and working-class @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Latino communities .
“ We are proud of the broad and incredibly diverse base of support Joe has earned from communities of color to working-class cities and towns , ” Kennedy ’ s press secretary , Brian Phillips Jr. told The Intercept .
White , affluent voters tend to be more reliable Massachusetts primary voters , and so the Kennedy campaign is hoping for high turnout overall .
“ If you look to more moderate and conservative Democrats , they ’ re with Joe , ” said Walsh .
Kennedy , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with wealth and a dynastic political history , still feels like he hasn ’ t really been given a fair shake by the left .
Progressive media has gone after Kennedy for working for Michael O ’ Keefe , a conservative , tough-on-crime district attorney on Cape Cod .
“ Why did Joe Kennedy … choose in 2009 to help cage his indigent neighbors under the leadership of O ’ Keefe ?
” asked The Appeal ’ s Will Isenberg .
The Nation ’ s Maia Hibbett said Kennedy would have been “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ convictions , and evicting families from their homes ” during his time as a prosecutor .
Kennedy told The Intercept that he did not handle eviction cases , as those are civil suits , and that his time was spent primarily on DUIs , assault and battery charges , domestic violence , and opioid and mental illness drug cases .
“ The idea that your liberal ideology has to be in accordance with your boss is an absurd position to take , because yeah I disagree with him , but my job wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ implementing the laws that were actually uniform across the state , ” he said .
According to Kennedy , his nickname at the office was “ innocence project ” because of his commitment to criminal defense .
In May , Kennedy introduced a bill to establish a right to counsel for eviction , medical bankruptcy , and domestic violence cases — a decadeslong goal from the legal aid community .
Yet he earned minimal progressive plaudits , perhaps because earlier that month he was ripped online for a tweet that said no patient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ medical bankruptcy in the midst of a global health pandemic without a lawyer by their side.
” ( The next day he clarified , “ Let me be clear here : We need Medicare for all .
We need an end to medical bankruptcy .
… But until we get there , we need assurance that every patient will have access to legal counsel and aid if they are forced to fight their insurer in court.
” ) Kennedy has also been blasted by progressives for not co-sponsoring former Rep. John Conyers ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the House , but he said he was “ proud ” to co-sponsor Rep. Pramila Jayapal ’ s version , which builds upon earlier proposals from Sanders and Conyers , after working with her to ensure that it would cover abortions and long-term care .
“ Senator Markey has over the course of the past several months gone much further left than he ever has , ” Kennedy told The Intercept .
“ The progressive world has consolidated around him to make him the progressive in the race and tried to make me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ambition and my name , which has been frustrating to say the least.
” Kennedy said he wants more of an honest conversation about vote histories .
“ I looked at my record and what I ’ ve done and I ’ m just trying to say , ‘ Hey , you want to have a debate about who is more progressive ?
Fine .
I think the honest answer is there ’ s areas where Senator Markey has led , and there are areas I ’ ve led.
’ ” Kennedy ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus , who slammed Markey for his immigration record , pointing to a 2013 vote in which the senator broke with his caucus and the president to increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement ’ s detention bed quota .
Kennedy later voted for an omnibus spending bill that included the quota , along with all but three other House Democrats .
Markey certainly rejects the idea that he hasn ’ t led in the Senate and ticked off a number of his biggest accomplishments , from increasing fuel efficiency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for low-income students to access internet at home .
He feels his advocacy on issues like the climate crisis , net neutrality , and Medicare for All position him well to win his next election .
“ It ’ s not your age , it ’ s the age of your ideas that are important , ” Markey said .
“ And in terms of the age of my ideas , I ’ m the youngest person in this race.
” Markey isn ’ t alone on shifting leftward over the course of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grandfather was killed by a man who ’ s been up for parole many times in recent years , now supports eliminating life sentences without parole , although he said he wants to balance sentencing reform with the wishes of victims and their families .
That ’ s a change from earlier this year , when he wrote in a February candidate questionnaire that he supported eliminating life sentences without parole for juveniles and nonviolent cases , and “ heavily restricting , ” but not eliminating , qualified immunity .
“ I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since we even did that questionnaire , ” Kennedy said .
“ I ’ ve thought about that one a lot .
… I am comfortable now with the idea that people should be eligible for parole .
… I also want to make sure victims ’ voices and survivors ’ voices are heard.
” At the end of the day , the Markey and Kennedy campaigns will have poured close to $ 20 million into a race that won ’ t help Senate Democrats add any seats in the chamber or markedly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the next congressional session .
Kennedy has raised more than $ 7.8 million so far , and Markey — who out-raised Kennedy for the first time last quarter , according to his campaign — has raised more than $ 10.4 million to date .
Both men cast their most recent fundraising hauls as evidence that their campaigns are surging .

When news broke late last summer that Massachusetts Rep. Joe Kennedy was considering a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey, many political operatives reasonably asked … why? Elected to the House of Representatives in 2012, the most high-profile aspect of Kennedy’s political career had been giving the Democratic response to the State of the Union in 2018 — and, of course, being a Kennedy. Markey, meanwhile, wasn’t shrouded in any scandal and had recently introduced the Green New Deal resolution with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an instant hallmark of progressive politics.
Polling voters, though, the answer is a little more evident. Last July, before Kennedy jumped in the race, a Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll showed that 45 percent of likely voters in the state were undecided about supporting Markey for reelection and 14 percent said they had never heard of him. By September, Boston Globe/Suffolk University released another poll finding Kennedy leading Markey by 14 points in a potential Senate head-to-head, and more Massachusetts voters viewed Kennedy as the more liberal candidate and a better fighter for Democratic priorities than Markey.
Soon after Kennedy announced his candidacy in September, progressive groups were quick to jump behind Markey. Markey has earned endorsements from a host of progressive organizations, ranging from national groups like Indivisible, the Sunrise Movement, and Planned Parenthood to teachers unions, peace groups, and environmental activists on the state level.
As the September 1 primary nears, progressives, many of whom are still mourning the losses of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic presidential primary, have turned their sights to saving Markey’s seat in the Senate — grateful for his early backing of the Green New Deal, which was unpopular among Democratic leadership in Washington when it was introduced. It doesn’t matter to them that Kennedy also supports the Green New Deal, and some view his recent announcement that his family trusts have divested from oil and gas stocks as too little too late. (In December, Markey’s campaign returned more than $46,000 from donors who didn’t meet requirements of the fossil fuel pledge, which both candidates signed.)
Many also suspect that Kennedy has decided to run for Senate because he’s calculated that it might be easier to unseat a 74-year-old incumbent now than it would be to beat Rep. Ayanna Pressley or Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in an open primary six years down the road. Indeed, Kennedy’s stated rationale for entering the primary is a little fuzzy. Both candidates admit that when it comes down to brass tacks, they are in line on major issues. Kennedy’s case boils down to the idea that he thinks he could “leverage” the Massachusetts Senate seat better than Markey has. Senators have immense power beyond just voting on bills, Kennedy’s argument goes, and Markey hasn’t used his position effectively enough to serve the Democratic Party and the country.
The result is a Senate primary race that can best be described as pretty weird. On the one hand, there’s an incumbent who has served more than 40 years in Congress running as some kind of grassroots underdog. On the other hand, a literal Kennedy is claiming to be bullied by the political establishment and invoking language used by progressive insurgents who’ve sought new leadership to shake up the status quo.
There hasn’t been polling in the race since early May, when a UMass-Lowell poll showed the race had significantly tightened with Kennedy up by just 2 points. That, Markey’s campaign manager John Walsh argued, is because the progressive base has consolidated behind the senator. But another poll, conducted around the same time by Emerson College/7News, showed Markey trailing Kennedy by 16 points.
Progressive enthusiasm for Markey from both the activist community and left-wing media has at times led the left to go fairly easy on the senator for votes they’ve criticized other Democrats for. Over the years, like Joe Biden, Markey voted for the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and the 1994 crime bill, and he opposed busing for desegregation in the 1970s.
Over the years, like Joe Biden, Markey voted for the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and the 1994 crime bill, and he opposed busing for desegregation in the 1970s.
When asked if he has any comments about these past votes, Markey told The Intercept that Black and brown men in the United States were “owe[d] a national apology” for the over-incarceration wrought by the 1994 crime bill, and said that’s why he’s co-sponsoring Sen. Cory Booker’s Next Step Act to overhaul the criminal justice system. Markey offered similar remarks when he announced his 2018 co-sponsorship of the First Step Act, a precursor to Booker’s bill: “The First Step Act is just the beginning of the national apology we owe to the generation of African-American men and women who lost their lives and futures in prison due to a few dollars of crack cocaine and an unjust War on Drugs.”
On Iraq, Markey says he “deeply regret[s] that vote” and blamed President George W. Bush for lying to Congress and the American people about nuclear weapons in the country. “I’ve worked every day to ensure we don’t have another needless war in the Middle East,” he said, though he voted “present” in 2013 on military intervention in Syria, saying at the time that he needed to study the issue further.
“Senator Markey has been on the cutting edge of progressivism in the Democratic Party for his entire career,” Evan Weber, political director of the Sunrise Movement, said in a statement to The Intercept, citing the senator’s early support for net neutrality and opposition to nuclear weapons. “Has every vote he’s ever taken over his long political career been perfect? No. But he’s often the person in his party forcing others to take hard or uncomfortable votes before positions become politically popular, creating the space and momentum for change.”
Like most politicians in office for as long as @EdMarkey, he has made taken bad votes, including the ‘94 crime bill. But unlike most politicians, he’s acknowledged when he’s been wrong & his moral compass has been remarkably consistent, almost unmatched for someone of his tenure https://t.co/HySajErMSi — Evan Weber ?? (@evanlweber) July 26, 2020
Though Markey has positioned himself as a stalwart leader of the progressive movement, and touted the significance of receiving progressive endorsements in his primary, the senator lacks a record of backing progressive primary challengers, something Warren and Sanders have embraced over the last few years. Unlike Warren and Sanders, for example, Markey stayed out of Charles Booker’s competitive Senate bid in Kentucky this year, and in his home state, he’s standing behind Rep. Richard Neal, despite Neal facing a much more progressive challenger in Alex Morse. Markey also didn’t endorse Pressley in 2018, though his supporters say it matters that he didn’t endorse Mike Capuano, the incumbent, either.
Back in November, a reporter pressed Markey about why he wasn’t supporting Morse, given that he supports the Green New Deal, and Neal doesn’t. “Ultimately he supports taking bold action on climate change and changing the tax code that makes [a Green New Deal] possible,” said Markey, defending his colleague. Markey and Neal both endorsed each other before Kennedy and Morse were running. “I like both candidates,” he added, referring to Booker and Morse. “On big votes Congressman Neal has been with me, but we have our differences.”
Kennedy hasn’t endorsed in the Morse/Neal contest either and told The Intercept that he plans to focus on his own race. Kennedy has also been criticized by progressive groups for endorsing the more moderate candidates in Massachusetts races in which progressive challengers were running.
“One thing we’ve pointed out is that in 2018, he had the choice to support progressive women of color — Ayanna Pressley and Nika Elugardo — but he didn’t,” said Jonathan Cohn, a leader with Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide advocacy group that has endorsed Markey. In those races, Kennedy endorsed incumbents Capuano and Jeffrey Sanchez, who both lost. (This cycle Elugardo has endorsed Markey, and Pressley is staying out of the race.)
Earlier this winter, a Democratic activist in Massachusetts approached Kennedy after a campaign town hall and pressed him on why he was running. “With due respect to Senator Markey, who is a good man, there’s more to this job than the way you vote and the bills that you file,” Kennedy answered, as reported by Boston Magazine. “It comes with an ability to leverage that platform … and, with due respect to the senator, if you’re not going to leverage that now … then when?”
But has Kennedy “leveraged” his House seat to the best of his ability?
“When I critique Senator Markey … I’m not saying in persona, experience, history, or policy that I would be the next AOC or Ayanna Pressley.”
“I think I have,” he told The Intercept, though acknowledged that he’s “done it differently obviously” than star representatives like Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez. He credits those women for using their platforms to cast a spotlight on issues of importance. “I’ve tried to do that in a way that is most natural to me,” he said, and pointed to his fundraising trips throughout 2018 to help Democrats flip the House. Kennedy said this work helped flip the House in 2018 and in a recent debate, he brought up his fundraising for Covid-19 relief groups and legal defense for immigrant families.
“Let me be clear,” he added. “When I critique Senator Markey … I’m not saying in persona, experience, history, or policy that I would be the next AOC or Ayanna Pressley. Like that’s not who I am, that’s not the policy positions that I necessarily take.”
“The reason Joe can go around [fundraising] is because he’s Bobby Kennedy’s grandson,” said Walsh, Markey’s campaign manager. “It’s not because he’s ever led on a single issue since he’s been in Congress.” Kennedy countered that he’s proud of his leadership in areas around mental health and LGBTQ issues, and noted he spoke to Black Lives Matter and transgender rights in his 2018 response to the State of the Union.
Kennedy’s campaign said its polling shows Markey leading with more white, affluent voters, while Kennedy is doing better with middle-class and working-class white people, as well as Black and Latino communities. “We are proud of the broad and incredibly diverse base of support Joe has earned from communities of color to working-class cities and towns,” Kennedy’s press secretary, Brian Phillips Jr. told The Intercept. White, affluent voters tend to be more reliable Massachusetts primary voters, and so the Kennedy campaign is hoping for high turnout overall. “If you look to more moderate and conservative Democrats, they’re with Joe,” said Walsh.
Kennedy, who recognizes that he comes to this race with wealth and a dynastic political history, still feels like he hasn’t really been given a fair shake by the left. Progressive media has gone after Kennedy for working for Michael O’Keefe, a conservative, tough-on-crime district attorney on Cape Cod. “Why did Joe Kennedy … choose in 2009 to help cage his indigent neighbors under the leadership of O’Keefe?” asked The Appeal’s Will Isenberg. The Nation’s Maia Hibbett said Kennedy would have been “collecting quality-of-life fines, securing low-level drug convictions, and evicting families from their homes” during his time as a prosecutor.
“The progressive world has consolidated around him to make him the progressive in the race and tried to make me a mealy-mouth moderate who is running on ambition and my name.”
Kennedy told The Intercept that he did not handle eviction cases, as those are civil suits, and that his time was spent primarily on DUIs, assault and battery charges, domestic violence, and opioid and mental illness drug cases. “The idea that your liberal ideology has to be in accordance with your boss is an absurd position to take, because yeah I disagree with him, but my job wasn’t setting policy, it was implementing the laws that were actually uniform across the state,” he said. According to Kennedy, his nickname at the office was “innocence project” because of his commitment to criminal defense.
In May, Kennedy introduced a bill to establish a right to counsel for eviction, medical bankruptcy, and domestic violence cases — a decadeslong goal from the legal aid community. Yet he earned minimal progressive plaudits, perhaps because earlier that month he was ripped online for a tweet that said no patient should “be forced to fight off medical bankruptcy in the midst of a global health pandemic without a lawyer by their side.” (The next day he clarified, “Let me be clear here: We need Medicare for all. We need an end to medical bankruptcy. … But until we get there, we need assurance that every patient will have access to legal counsel and aid if they are forced to fight their insurer in court.”) Kennedy has also been blasted by progressives for not co-sponsoring former Rep. John Conyers’s original Medicare for All bill in the House, but he said he was “proud” to co-sponsor Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s version, which builds upon earlier proposals from Sanders and Conyers, after working with her to ensure that it would cover abortions and long-term care.
“Senator Markey has over the course of the past several months gone much further left than he ever has,” Kennedy told The Intercept. “The progressive world has consolidated around him to make him the progressive in the race and tried to make me a mealy-mouth moderate who is running on ambition and my name, which has been frustrating to say the least.” Kennedy said he wants more of an honest conversation about vote histories. “I looked at my record and what I’ve done and I’m just trying to say, ‘Hey, you want to have a debate about who is more progressive? Fine. I think the honest answer is there’s areas where Senator Markey has led, and there are areas I’ve led.’”
Last week, Kennedy’s campaign held a press conference with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who slammed Markey for his immigration record, pointing to a 2013 vote in which the senator broke with his caucus and the president to increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention bed quota. Kennedy later voted for an omnibus spending bill that included the quota, along with all but three other House Democrats.
“It’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas that are important. And in terms of the age of my ideas, I’m the youngest person in this race.”
Markey certainly rejects the idea that he hasn’t led in the Senate and ticked off a number of his biggest accomplishments, from increasing fuel efficiency standards to creating the largest federal program for low-income students to access internet at home. He feels his advocacy on issues like the climate crisis, net neutrality, and Medicare for All position him well to win his next election. “It’s not your age, it’s the age of your ideas that are important,” Markey said. “And in terms of the age of my ideas, I’m the youngest person in this race.”
Markey isn’t alone on shifting leftward over the course of this election cycle. Kennedy, whose grandfather was killed by a man who’s been up for parole many times in recent years, now supports eliminating life sentences without parole, although he said he wants to balance sentencing reform with the wishes of victims and their families. That’s a change from earlier this year, when he wrote in a February candidate questionnaire that he supported eliminating life sentences without parole for juveniles and nonviolent cases, and “heavily restricting,” but not eliminating, qualified immunity.
“I think my position on that has actually evolved since we even did that questionnaire,” Kennedy said. “I’ve thought about that one a lot. … I am comfortable now with the idea that people should be eligible for parole. … I also want to make sure victims’ voices and survivors’ voices are heard.”
At the end of the day, the Markey and Kennedy campaigns will have poured close to $20 million into a race that won’t help Senate Democrats add any seats in the chamber or markedly change the winner’s policy blueprint for the next congressional session. Kennedy has raised more than $7.8 million so far, and Markey — who out-raised Kennedy for the first time last quarter, according to his campaign — has raised more than $10.4 million to date. Both men cast their most recent fundraising hauls as evidence that their campaigns are surging.


theintercept--2020-07-28--Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Lieu Introduce Amendment to Curtail Federal Crackdown on Protesters

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ted Lieu of California are proposing an amendment this week that would prohibit funds from being used to send federal agents into American cities as part of Operation Legend or Operation Relentless Pursuit : Justice Department initiatives that have led brutal crackdowns on protesters in cities like Portland , Oregon .
While the Trump administration has framed the dispatching of secret police as efforts meant “ to help state and local officials fight the surge of violent crime , ” critics such as Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ measure , which was filed as an amendment to the upcoming House Appropriations bill , is co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib , of Michigan , Deb Haaland of New Mexico , and Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri .
The House Rules Committee is meeting today to decide which of the hundreds of amendments filed will be considered for a minibus spending package this week .
“ I thank Rep. Lieu for co-leading this important amendment , ” said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez in a statement .
“ Federal law enforcement officers are snatching Americans off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unmarked cars for the ‘ crime ’ of exercising their First Amendment rights .
The United States of America should not have secret police .
The idea that these federal law enforcement officers are there to protect Americans is a farce .
In his testimony today , Attorney General Bill Barr made clear once again that his only priority is to reelect the President , not to protect the American people.
” In Portland , officers have been using violent tactics against protests over racism and police brutality , facing off with demonstrators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about two months now .
There have also been recent reports and videos of anonymous , militarized federal agents snatching protesters off the street , throwing them into vans , and driving off .
Last week , President Donald Trump announced his administration is expanding the operation — which Democratic lawmakers have denounced as authoritarian and his “ shadowy army ” — to send agents to Chicago and Albuquerque .
The White House has also outlined plans to send law enforcement to Cleveland , Detroit , and Milwaukee — despite concern from many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 200 agents have been sent to Kansas City , Missouri , as part of Operation Legend .
“ Portland is struggling with the economic disaster of COVID-19 … and , by the way , crime in Portland has actually been lower than average in recent weeks , ” Wyden wrote in a recent NBC News op-ed .
“ It seems that , because liberal Portland in blue Oregon is not the violent wasteland the far-right echo chamber imagines , Trump and his flunkies are determined to bring violence to us.
” Wyden , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also pushed for similar action in the Senate , sending a letter to their colleagues in the Appropriations Committee on July 24 .
Attorney General William Barr announced the launch of Operation Relentless Pursuit , which committed at least $ 71 million in funding to bulk up law enforcement , in December 2019 .
Operation Legend , meanwhile , has been used to send federal agents to assist police officers .
Trump has been crafting a law-and-order narrative as part of his reelection bid , accusing Democratic lawmakers of failing to respond to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police killing of George Floyd .
In reality , the police have instigated or escalated several of the clashes and riots , including in Portland where a U.S .
Marshal severely injured a protester .
The deployments include increased numbers of agents from the FBI ; the Drug Enforcement Administration ; the Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco and Firearms ; U.S .
Marshal Service ; and Department of Homeland Security .

Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ted Lieu of California are proposing an amendment this week that would prohibit funds from being used to send federal agents into American cities as part of Operation Legend or Operation Relentless Pursuit: Justice Department initiatives that have led brutal crackdowns on protesters in cities like Portland, Oregon. While the Trump administration has framed the dispatching of secret police as efforts meant “to help state and local officials fight the surge of violent crime,” critics such as Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner have called the tactics “fascist.”
Read Our Complete Coverage Protests for Black Lives
The measure, which was filed as an amendment to the upcoming House Appropriations bill, is co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, Deb Haaland of New Mexico, and Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri. The House Rules Committee is meeting today to decide which of the hundreds of amendments filed will be considered for a minibus spending package this week.
“I thank Rep. Lieu for co-leading this important amendment,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. “Federal law enforcement officers are snatching Americans off of street corners and placing them into unmarked cars for the ‘crime’ of exercising their First Amendment rights. The United States of America should not have secret police. The idea that these federal law enforcement officers are there to protect Americans is a farce. In his testimony today, Attorney General Bill Barr made clear once again that his only priority is to reelect the President, not to protect the American people.”
In Portland, officers have been using violent tactics against protests over racism and police brutality, facing off with demonstrators around the federal courthouse every night for about two months now. There have also been recent reports and videos of anonymous, militarized federal agents snatching protesters off the street, throwing them into vans, and driving off.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced his administration is expanding the operation — which Democratic lawmakers have denounced as authoritarian and his “shadowy army” — to send agents to Chicago and Albuquerque. The White House has also outlined plans to send law enforcement to Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee — despite concern from many mayors and elected officials. More than 200 agents have been sent to Kansas City, Missouri, as part of Operation Legend.
“Portland is struggling with the economic disaster of COVID-19 … and, by the way, crime in Portland has actually been lower than average in recent weeks,” Wyden wrote in a recent NBC News op-ed. “It seems that, because liberal Portland in blue Oregon is not the violent wasteland the far-right echo chamber imagines, Trump and his flunkies are determined to bring violence to us.”
Wyden, along with several other Senate Democrats, also pushed for similar action in the Senate, sending a letter to their colleagues in the Appropriations Committee on July 24.
NEW: @SenJeffMerkley and I are calling on Congressional leaders to prohibit DHS and DOJ from using taxpayer dollars to infringe on Americans’ constitutional rights. Congress must stop Donald Trump from deploying his fascist tactics around the country. This is the way to do it. pic.twitter.com/zIt3MWzDJi — Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) July 24, 2020
Attorney General William Barr announced the launch of Operation Relentless Pursuit, which committed at least $71 million in funding to bulk up law enforcement, in December 2019. Operation Legend, meanwhile, has been used to send federal agents to assist police officers.
Trump has been crafting a law-and-order narrative as part of his reelection bid, accusing Democratic lawmakers of failing to respond to violence stemming from the protests over the police killing of George Floyd. In reality, the police have instigated or escalated several of the clashes and riots, including in Portland where a U.S. Marshal severely injured a protester. The deployments include increased numbers of agents from the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; U.S. Marshal Service; and Department of Homeland Security.


theintercept--2020-07-28--National Guard Major Calls Assault on D.C. Protesters "Deeply Disturbing"

whistleblower told Congress on Tuesday that peaceful protesters were subjected to an “ unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force ” in Lafayette Square in Washington , D.C. , last month .
On the evening of June 1 , officers with the U.S. Park Police and Secret Service used tear gas , riot batons , and smoke devices to clear the square of protesters ahead of a staged photo where President Donald Trump posed in front of nearby St. John ’ s Church .
Maj. Adam DeMarco , appointed that evening to act as a liaison officer between the D.C. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , testified before the House Natural Resources Committee that the events of June 1 were “ deeply disturbing ” to him , and that he observed the protesters acting peacefully .
“ Having served in a combat zone , and understanding how to assess threat environments , at no time did I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent , ” DeMarco said in his opening statement .
“ In addition , considering the principles of proportionality of force and the fundamental strategy of graduated responses specific to civil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation of the use of force.
” Tuesday ’ s hearing also featured Acting Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan , who steadfastly insisted that the operation to clear the park was solely intended to put up a security fence around the square , and that it had nothing to do with Trump walking through and posing for a photo op with a Bible just minutes later .
“ Our focus that day was to install that fencing , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent zero correlation to our operation and the president ’ s visit to the church.
” As the square was being cleared , Trump gave a brief speech in the Rose Garden , saying “ As we speak , I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers , military personnel , and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting , looting , vandalism , assaults , and the wanton destruction of property.
” In his testimony , DeMarco said he did not know why the order was given the clear the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his testimony adds to a growing chorus of voices criticizing the Trump administration for its crackdown on protests in D.C .
The sudden escalation and violence against journalists , caught on video , immediately sparked widespread condemnation , including from foreign governments and Trump ’ s former defense secretary , Gen. James Mattis .
House Democrats have been probing the whether the violent clearing operation was ordered by senior officials in the Trump administration .
Attorney General William Barr and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were both nearby , and both have denied giving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Barr also faced questioning Tuesday from the House Judiciary Committee about the deployment of federal officers to Portland , Oregon , where they have assaulted protesters and seized them off the street for questioning .
Tuesday ’ s hearing was also Gregory Monahan ’ s first public appearance since June 1 .
He was scheduled to testify before the Committee on Natural Resources last month but canceled just days before , writing in a letter to the committee that he could not attend due to his attention to “ ongoing protests and … @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” But the move was conveniently timed .
Under the committee ’ s rules , the Democratic chair , Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona , can issue a subpoena without a committee vote , but only if Republicans on the committee are given seven days notice .
When Monahan canceled just before the hearing , the committee staff did not have enough time to organize a vote to subpoena Monahan .
“ Holding the vote isn ’ t always feasible on that short notice , ” said Adam Sarvana , communications director for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in an email .
During the hearing , Monahan stuck to a narrow script — maintaining that there was no connection between Trump ’ s photo op and the operation , and that protesters had been violent .
He even brought a police helmet he said was dented by a brick thrown by a protester , but did not provide any details about the incident .
Monahan and other administration officials have repeatedly claimed that 50 officers were injured due to violence from protests , though no documentation has been provided .
Under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Monahan testified that only one officer was injured on June 1 , and the injury took place after police had moved to clear the square .
Monahan also answered questions about internal documentation of the evening ’ s events .
The U.S. Park Police have come under fire for the fact that they did not record their radio transmissions during the operation , which is standard practice for the department .
U.S. Park Police also do not wear body cameras , unlike many police departments around the country .
In response to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cameras ’ “ alignment with contemporary trends in law enforcement , ” but said “ at this time we are not in a position to successfully implement , manage , and sustain a body-worn camera program .
”

A National Guard whistleblower told Congress on Tuesday that peaceful protesters were subjected to an “unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force” in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., last month. On the evening of June 1, officers with the U.S. Park Police and Secret Service used tear gas, riot batons, and smoke devices to clear the square of protesters ahead of a staged photo where President Donald Trump posed in front of nearby St. John’s Church.
Maj. Adam DeMarco, appointed that evening to act as a liaison officer between the D.C. National Guard and the U.S. Park Police, testified before the House Natural Resources Committee that the events of June 1 were “deeply disturbing” to him, and that he observed the protesters acting peacefully.
“Having served in a combat zone, and understanding how to assess threat environments, at no time did I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent,” DeMarco said in his opening statement. “In addition, considering the principles of proportionality of force and the fundamental strategy of graduated responses specific to civil disturbance operations, it was my observation that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation of the use of force.”
“Having served in a combat zone … at no time did I feel threatened by the protestors or assess them to be violent.”
Tuesday’s hearing also featured Acting Park Police Chief Gregory Monahan, who steadfastly insisted that the operation to clear the park was solely intended to put up a security fence around the square, and that it had nothing to do with Trump walking through and posing for a photo op with a Bible just minutes later. “Our focus that day was to install that fencing,” Monahan said. “There is 100 percent zero correlation to our operation and the president’s visit to the church.”
As the square was being cleared, Trump gave a brief speech in the Rose Garden, saying “As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults, and the wanton destruction of property.”
In his testimony, DeMarco said he did not know why the order was given the clear the square before the declared curfew. But his testimony adds to a growing chorus of voices criticizing the Trump administration for its crackdown on protests in D.C. The sudden escalation and violence against journalists, caught on video, immediately sparked widespread condemnation, including from foreign governments and Trump’s former defense secretary, Gen. James Mattis.
House Democrats have been probing the whether the violent clearing operation was ordered by senior officials in the Trump administration. Attorney General William Barr and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were both nearby, and both have denied giving an order to clear the scene. Barr also faced questioning Tuesday from the House Judiciary Committee about the deployment of federal officers to Portland, Oregon, where they have assaulted protesters and seized them off the street for questioning.
Monahan stuck to a narrow script, maintaining that there was no connection between Trump’s photo op and the operation, and that protesters had been violent.
Tuesday’s hearing was also Gregory Monahan’s first public appearance since June 1. He was scheduled to testify before the Committee on Natural Resources last month but canceled just days before, writing in a letter to the committee that he could not attend due to his attention to “ongoing protests and … violence and destruction of memorials and monuments.”
But the move was conveniently timed. Under the committee’s rules, the Democratic chair, Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, can issue a subpoena without a committee vote, but only if Republicans on the committee are given seven days notice. When Monahan canceled just before the hearing, the committee staff did not have enough time to organize a vote to subpoena Monahan. “Holding the vote isn’t always feasible on that short notice,” said Adam Sarvana, communications director for the committee’s Democratic staff, in an email.
During the hearing, Monahan stuck to a narrow script — maintaining that there was no connection between Trump’s photo op and the operation, and that protesters had been violent. He even brought a police helmet he said was dented by a brick thrown by a protester, but did not provide any details about the incident.
Read Our Complete Coverage Protests for Black Lives
Monahan and other administration officials have repeatedly claimed that 50 officers were injured due to violence from protests, though no documentation has been provided. Under questioning during Tuesday’s hearing, Monahan testified that only one officer was injured on June 1, and the injury took place after police had moved to clear the square.
Monahan also answered questions about internal documentation of the evening’s events. The U.S. Park Police have come under fire for the fact that they did not record their radio transmissions during the operation, which is standard practice for the department. U.S. Park Police also do not wear body cameras, unlike many police departments around the country.
In response to a question, Monahan said he acknowledged body cameras’ “alignment with contemporary trends in law enforcement,” but said “at this time we are not in a position to successfully implement, manage, and sustain a body-worn camera program.”