Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is calling for federal law enforcement to investigate the mayor of Portland after the far-left extremist group, Antifa, was captured on video assaulting a journalist in broad daylight.
Warning: Article contains graphic images and video footage.
Other videos later emerged showing the black-clad, masked members beating two older men in the same area.
Cruz reacted to the assault of the journalist, Andy Ngo, by taking to Twitter: “Sickening criminal assault. To mainstream ‘journalists:’ don’t cover this up, don’t ignore it.”
He later added, “To federal law enforcement: investigate & bring legal action against a Mayor who has, for political reasons, ordered his police officers to let citizens be attacked by domestic terrorists.”
To law enforcement: find & prosecute these violent felons. https://t.co/03yIRM8Iey
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 30, 2019
To federal law enforcement: investigate & bring legal action against a Mayor who has, for political reasons, ordered his police officers to let citizens be attacked by domestic terrorists. https://t.co/5xyCDARICl https://t.co/c0Tf3SsKEf
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 30, 2019
Cruz, who won re-election in 2018, said in another tweet that “those who facilitated or turned a blind eye to domestic terrorists—e.g., the Mayor—should be held fully accountable. By DOJ. By civil litigators. By criminal prosecutors. AND by the media.”
In one tweet, Cruz linked to an article published by Breitbart about Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s policies on dealing with Antifa.
The article noted that Wheeler, who is also the police commissioner, has not condemned Antifa or taken any discernable action after Ngo was beaten on camera and hit with a milkshake that police said may contain quick-drying cement, which causes chemical burns if not quickly removed.
“Where the hell were all of you?” Ngo asked a police officer in a live stream he shared.
Richard Grenell, U.S. Ambassador to Germany, echoed the sentiment, writing on Twitter: “Where is Mayor Ted Wheeler?”
“This is unacceptable. I am outraged. This violence from intolerants must stop. Portland leaders must be held to account,” he added in another post.
Wheeler has received criticism for lax enforcement of laws when dealing with Antifa, an openly violent group that has communist origins. Antifa members usually dress in black and obscure their faces to try to avoid being prosecuted when assaulting opponents, bystanders, journalists, and others, and have rarely been punished for their ongoing violence in Portland in recent years.
In an infamous incident in October 2018, Antifa members blocked traffic in downtown Portland while police officers stood nearby and watched without doing anything. Antifa members caused serious damage to multiple vehicles, estimated in one case to have caused $3,000 damage to a vehicle.
Wheeler defended the police inaction, telling reporters: “I support the Portland Police Bureau’s decision not to intervene.”
“This is the story of Goldilocks and the two bears. The porridge is either too hot or it’s too cold,” he added. “At any given moment in this city, the police are criticized for being heavy-handed and intervening too quickly, or they’re being criticized for being standoffish and not intervening quickly enough.”
Demonstration Events Conclude in Downtown Portland -Three Arrested (Photo) https://t.co/Wk9w43dxqI pic.twitter.com/ZId9Jd1pk0
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) June 30, 2019
The Portland Police Department said in a statement sent to the Wall Street Journal that it feared intervention would “change the demeanor of the crowd for the worse.”
In addition to assaulting Ngo and others over the weekend, Antifa was also reported to have hit police officers with eggs and milkshakes. It wasn’t clear if those milkshakes also contained quick-drying cement.
Three people were arrested.
