DOJ labels three cities as ‘anarchist’
NYC, Seattle, Portland decry political ‘stunt’
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department on Monday singled out Portland, Oregon; New York City and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions” – cities that the Trump administration said have allowed violence to persist during months of civil demonstrations over racial injustice and police brutality and could lose federal funding.
The designation of the three cities – all led by Democrats – was in response to President Donald Trump’s Sept. 2 executive order, which threatened to withhold federal funding from cities where the administration said state and local officials have cut police department funding, refused offers for help from the federal government and failed to rein in violence.
The Office of Management and Budget will send guidance on restricting the cities’ eligibility for federal dollars.
“We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance. It is my hope that the cities identified by the Department of Justice today will reverse course and become serious about performing the basic function of government and start protecting their own citizens,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.
The mayors of Portland, Seattle and New York City criticized the move as a political stunt to punish Democratic cities beset by crisis amid a deadly pandemic and accused the Trump administration of trying to distract from its inability to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has killed nearly 200,000 in the country.
Trump has been campaigning on a law-and-order message, casting urban cities as places of violence, as he seeks a second term.
“This is thoroughly political and unconstitutional. The President is playing cheap political games with congressionally directed funds,” the three mayors said in a statement Monday. “What the Trump Administration is engaging in now is more of what we’ve seen all along: shirking responsibility and placing blame elsewhere to cover its failure.”
This is the latest in an escalation of tension between the Trump administration and cities led by Democratic mayors, as civil unrest over racial injustice, sparked by the death of George Floyd and other Black people at the hands of police, has stretched over months.
At a news conference Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he saw “anything but anarchy” as he greeted preschool children in Queens on their first day back in the classroom. The city’s corporation counsel also said officials will sue the Trump administration if it withholds federal funding.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said threatening to withhold federal funding is a “gross misuse of federal power.”
“Trump, the Department of Justice, and Barr’s obsession with Seattle and me is irrational and, most importantly, a huge distraction,” Durkan said Monday, alluding to a New York Times report last week that Barr had asked the agency’s Civil Rights Division to explore whether to charge Durkan for allowing protesters to establish a police-free zone this summer. The Justice Department denied that Barr directed prosecutors to do so.
In a joint statement following Trump’s executive order this month, the mayors of Portland, Seattle, New York City and Washington, D.C., said withholding federal funding would be illegal. Trump’s executive order also singled out Washington, D.C., although the Justice Department did not designate the district as an “anarchist jurisdiction.”
“We are confronting unprecedented challenges – fighting back a pandemic and economic devastation without another stimulus. Now, instead of leadership from the White House, we are faced with new attacks that are unlawful and will undoubtedly be defeated in court,” the mayors said.
The Justice Department listed several reasons for choosing Portland, Seattle and New York City, one of which is the cities’ decisions to eliminate positions and cut thousand of dollars from their police departments.
The department also mentioned the Capitol Hill Organized Protest area, or CHOP – several city blocks taken over by protesters following Floyd’s death. Seattle police cleared the area in July.