DA warns of charges if federal agents commit crimes

PHILADELPHIA » Philadelphia’s top prosecutor has warned that federal law enforcement officers will be charged criminally if they unlawfully assault or kidnap anyone in the city.

District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, issued a statement Monday after President Donald Trump suggested he might deploy federal agents to Philadelphia, as has occurred in Portland, Oregon.

Republican Trump said at the White House on Monday that he was “going to do something,” listing Philadelphia and several other cities he said were all run by liberal Democrats.

Krasner’s statement noted his father and uncles served in the military during World War II to fight fascism.

He said charging federal officers who commit crimes of assault and kidnapping is “the least we can do” to honor people who opposed fascism during World War II as well as “those who are fighting it even now.”

Philadelphia and many other places have experienced large protests over police brutality and racial injustice in recent months, triggered by the May 25 death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, called the targeting of cities led by Democratic mayors “a politicization of federal resources that should outrage all taxpayers.”

Krasner said during a legislative hearing on Tuesday that his office will hold people legally accountable if they shoot people in the head with rubber bullets or engage in crimes.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to deploy about 150 of its agents to Chicago, according to an official with direct knowledge of the plans who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.