Friday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) accused President Donald Trump of ordering the use of federal police officers to “create chaos so that he can say that he’s a law and order president.”
Mitchell said, “Congressman, you’ve asked for an explanation from Homeland Security, and now we know the Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, from DOJ is investigating both there and at Lafayette Square across from the White House. What is going on here, and do you think it’s necessary for these troops to be —these federal agents to be deployed as aggressively as they are?”
Schiff said, “No, I don’t at all. And I don’t think it’s appropriate. And what’s more, the people in the region don’t want the presence of these federal troops, these largely unmarked federal troops. They think it’s only going to make it worse, that it’s going to be incendiary. And we’ve seen evidence that people are being grabbed off the street, hustled into unmarked vehicles by people who are not well identified, if they’re identified at all. And this includes people just peacefully protesting. This is the kind of thing you see in repressive regimes around the world, not in the United States. It’s kind of why it’s being done. It’s being done against the wishes of these local officials by the president of the United States because he feels it’s a good campaign issue for him to run on. He is more than willing to create chaos so that he can say that he’s a law and order president. Once again, I think that is looking out for his interests, and it is not looking out for the national interests in any way, shape, or form.”
He added, “The objective here is to have a campaign issue. And if it inflames tensions to send troops where they’re not wanted, the president is more than willing to do it.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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