Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan: Trump Purposefully Trying to Incite Violence

A protester uses a scope on top of a barricade to look for police approaching the newly cr
JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) on Monday accused President Donald Trump of purposefully attempting to incite violence in response to the president suggesting his administration is planning on cracking down on the city’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ).

Durkan wrote on Twitter:

Our President will do anything to avoid listening to the voices of millions of Americans asking for change. He instead distracts with lies and language purposefully intended to incite violence. He thrives on division when we desperately need to move forward as a nation.

The Democrat mayor added:

Seattle won’t lose sight of what we need: allowing our community to exercise their first amendment rights, demilitarizing our police force, rethinking who responds to 9-1-1 calls, and investing more to create meaningful change for our black and brown communities.

Earlier Monday, President Trump told reporters at the White House that he has discussed with Attorney General William Barr  what actions could be taken against far-left protesters who currently occupy several blocks in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

“You have a governor who doesn’t do a damned thing about it, and you have a mayor that doesn’t know she is alive. If they don’t do the job, I will do the job,” said President Trump.

“I have already spoken to the Attorney General about it,” the president added, before stating that his administration can do “about ten different things, any one of which will solve the problem quickly.”

As Breitbart News reported:

CHAZ — a six-square block autonomous zone formed by anarchists, Antifa members, and Black Lives Matter activists — has its own quasi-Border Patrol. Organizers said the armed guards have their weapons concealed and are there to defend CHAZ’s borders.

Like its border controls, CHAZ is surrounded by a border wall via vehicle barriers as well as random fencing

Opposite the United States’ deportation policy, though, occupants of CHAZ can be seemingly removed by a mob without any due process. Last week, a man said he was deported from CHAZ for being pro-life. The man was chased out of the autonomous zone by a mob taunting him.

Appearing Saturday on Fox News Channel, acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said that there “isn’t a specific timeline” for the Trump administration to take action against the CHAZ, nor are government officials “in a hurry to escalate anything.”

“There isn’t a specific timeline, per se,” he explained. “But certainly, this is a subject of — as you all pointed out, that boils down to law and order, and the most important role of government at all three levels is public safety, and at all three levels, public safety officials, police, military, whatever they may be, depending on the level, are governed by civilian authority.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.