WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has directed his team to review federal aid to Portland, Oregon, that can be cut as his anger with the city’s anti-government and anti-fascism protesters mounts, the White House said on Friday.
“We will not fund states that allow anarchy,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. She gave no details about what funds Trump, a Republican, might try to block.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly use threats of withholding federal funding, which is mandated by Congress, to punish those he views as his political opponents, including Democrats in state and local government and elite universities, which he views as overrun by Marxists.
The streets of downtown Portland, the largest city in Oregon, have been filled sporadically in the last few years with left-wing protesters, most recently focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out Trump’s plan to arrest and deport more migrants.
Leavitt also said she was dismayed that a conservative independent journalist was among three people arrested by Portland police at a demonstration outside ICE’s offices.
“This incident is part of a troubling trend for Portland, where left-wing mobs believe they get to decide who can visit and live in their city,” Leavitt told reporters. “It is not their city, it is the American people’s city.”
Police said the journalist Nicholas Sortor was arrested along with two others for fighting at the protest and charged with disorderly conduct. Video showed Sortor arguing with protesters and he said on Friday he had acted in self-defense.
Leavitt said she had spoken with Sortor and that the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division was examining whether Sortor was a victim of “viewpoint discrimination” by Portland police.
Last week, Trump said he considered the city’s anti-fascism protesters, sometimes referred to as “antifa,” to be “domestic terrorists” and that he was sending soldiers there to protect ICE agents and facilities. This week, he said he was taking control of the Oregon National Guard, the state’s militia.
Spokespeople for Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, both Democrats, did not respond to requests for comment.
In response to the arrest of Sortor, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement it enforced the law impartially.
“As with all such situations, arrests are based on observed behavior and probable cause — not political affiliation or public profile,” the police statement said.
Wilson and other leaders in Oregon have denounced efforts to militarize policing in Portland and say Trump is violating the U.S. Constitution.
As with other states, most federal aid to Oregon helps fund healthcare, education and transportation infrastructure.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen; Writing by Katharine Jackson and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Cynthia Osterman)
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