Justice Dept. deems New York City, Portland and Seattle 'anarchist jurisdictions'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Department of Justice on Monday released a list of cities it has deemed "anarchist jurisdictions" under President Donald Trump's instructions earlier this month to review federal funding to local governments in places where violence or vandalism has occurred during protests.
That memo directed Attorney General William Barr, in consultation with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, to identify jurisdictions "that have permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract these criminal activities (anarchist jurisdictions)."
On Monday, the Justice Department labeled New York City, Portland and Seattle such areas, though the department said it was still working to identify other jurisdictions that meet criteria outlined in Trump's memo.
"We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance," Barr said. "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."
Trump wants to pull federal funds from 'anarchist' cities
Sept. 3, 202001:42
As part of its rationale for labeling the cities as such, the Justice Department cited city councils voting to cut police funding, the refusal to prosecute protesters for charges like disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, the rejection of federal intervention, and law enforcement officials suffering injuries during violent outbursts.
New York Attorney General Letitia James responded to the Justice Department's announcement in a statement Monday, saying Trump is "using the last few months of his presidency to sow more chaos, more hatred, and more fear," and pledged to defeat the Trump administration in court over any such withholding of funding to the city and state.
"This designation is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to scare Americans into voting for a commander-in-chief who is actually incapable of commanding our nation," she said, adding that Trump "should be prepared to defend this illegal order in court, which hypocritically lays the groundwork to defund New York and the very types of law enforcement President Trump pretends to care about."
Democratic mayors and governors earlier this month bashed Trump over his latest effort aimed at what he calls "Democrat-run" cities and states. They said it was illegal for the executive branch to unilaterally withhold funding from their jurisdictions and that Trump was merely seeking another distraction from the U.S. coronavirus death toll, which has now topped 200,000.
"It is another attempt to kill New York City," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters during a late-night conference call earlier this month, adding Trump "better have an army if he thinks he's going to walk down the streets in New York."
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called Trump's efforts "the latest baseless, petty and divisive move by President Trump to distract from his abject failure to protect Americans from COVID-19."
"With more than 185,000 lives lost on his watch, we won't forget," he said. "The president cannot and will not defund us. He is not a dictator and laws still apply to him."
At the time, a White House official said the effort was aimed at withholding grant money from such jurisdictions it deemed to be "anarchist."
"We're not going to keep providing those funds from the federal level if they're not using them," the official said.
Allan Smith
Allan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.
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Trump is just pissed because the city painted Black Lives Matter on the street outside his Trump Tower in NY.
Portland and Seattle dont matter to him because they are in blue states. He didnt touch Minnesota (Minneapolis) or Wisconsin (Kenosha) because he still has slim hopes they will vote for him.
Once reelected, Trump and Barr will have to send in the Feds to help the National Guards to quell the pre-planned, well organized, and Soros funded black shirts rioting nationwide
So? I declare the Justice Department to be corrupt!
Because Trump allowed Trump Tower to hold secret meeting with Russians, it should be renamed The Kremlin 2.0.
I'll forward your declaration to Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, Robert Mueller, James Comey, and Andrew McCabe.
All those things are happening. How can anyone defend or excuse them?
Now that is some gaslighting. Trump didn't create the chaos in these cities. They did it to themselves. Trump is obviously trying to stimulate the government in these cities to take ordinary action to bring peace to their cities. I don't know if this current effort will be allowed by the courts, but I sympathize with what he is trying to do.
What else is he supposed to do? Ignore it? That's what local governments have been doing for months and look where it has gotten them.
How many times do you need to have people who know Trump, have dealt with him for years, and understand him completely , tell you that all he cares about is himself before you start to believe them? Donald Trump couldn't care less about the people in Portland or Seattle, and even NY now because he knows many people in NY can't stand him and think he is an embarrassment.
All this "anarchy" baloney is an appeal to his base to make sure they vote for him so he can defeat "socialism" for them, aka white fright.
Even if everything you say about Trump is true, that doesn't change the facts of the situation underpinning this move. There is chaos in these cities and local authorities have been ignoring it. You can't justify or excuse that, and hating Trump doesn't change it.
I wonder if the people in New York City , Portland and Seattle believe they are living in anarchist jurisdictions ? Somehow I doubt it.
The real problem with what Trump and the DOJ want to do is that it's a slippery slope. Every city has all sorts of problems that are chronic and you can always make the argument that the problem is being ignored or the response of government is inadequate. Ultimately, they have the privilege of being incompetent. I don't think this new idea is going to go anywhere.
They are not. The city has calmed down a lot and Gov Cuomo has been keeping on top of things. There is no anarchy going on.
I have to agree. I think it is posturing for the election.
All of these things look like they fall under the jurisdiction of the States not the Fed. I thought Republicans were for maintaining States Rights, and the Democrats for strengthening the Federal system. All my years studying political science seems to have been a waste. /s
It seems that all political ideology is being thrown away by the Right's quest for power. They have already bankrupted their religious power (what is Christian about the way evangelicals fawn over this administration actions) and their political have gone by the way side too (where is the individualism of the conservative? Now its "herd mentality"- all behind trump or else. Aren't these the same goobers that fly Confederate flags, the flag that "championed State's Rights?" Now you MUST obey the donald and the Fed. or face their wrath..? WTF? All of the items copied above are the providence of the State not the Fed. Where are the champions of the 10th amendment?
My final comment is this: if you gave up your morals and political ideology for this President, then all you really cared about was political power.
Agreed. See my @3.1.3.