The Chairmen of the three House Committees addressed the Inspectors General of the DOJ and the US Department of Homeland Security
The Chairmen-Democrats of the Legal, Internal Security, and Oversight and Government Reform Committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, Gerrold Nudler (New York), Benny Thompson (Mississippi) and Carolyn Maloney (New York), demanded an investigation on Sunday into the use of armed federal law enforcement personnel in dispersing the riots in the city of Portland, Oregon and the U.S. capital. This was stated in a letter circulated by the congressmen.
On Saturday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown (representing Democrats) demanded that U.S. President Donald Trump withdraw federal government units from the city and stop the detention of African-American protesters in Minneapolis (Minnesota) in connection with the death of African-American George Floyd.
In this regard, the committee chairmen appealed to the Inspectors General of the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Homeland Security Michael Horowitz and Joseph Caffrey. “Reports from Oregon this week make it clear that such misuse of resources and staff remains a growing threat. In this regard, we write to you to investigate the use of federal law enforcement agencies by [the Secretary of Justice and] Attorney General [William Barr] and Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolfe to disrupt First Amendment Protected Activities (TASS) in Washington, D.C., Portland and other cities throughout the United States,” the letter said.
“The legal basis for this use of force has never been explained, and frankly, it is not clear at all whether the Attorney General and the Acting Secretary have the authority to engage federal law enforcement officials in this manner,” said the congressmen. In their view, Barr “does not have unrestricted authority” to order “thousands of federal law enforcement officers to arrest and detain U.S. citizens exercising their rights under the First Amendment. “The acting secretary appears to rely on an ill-conceived order to protect historic statues and monuments as a justification for arresting American citizens under cover of night”, – the letter said.