Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf shot back after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to federal law enforcement officers attempting to quell unrest in Portland, Oregon, as “stormtroopers.”
“One, it’s disgusting. Two, it’s an assault on every federal or civilian or state and local law enforcement officer who has taken an oath to protect their communities, to protect, in our case, federal facilities, to do their jobs — and I think it’s very, very dangerous,” Wolf said Friday on Fox News.
Pelosi made the reference to “stormtroopers,” evoking Nazi Germany paramilitary forces, last week following claims that federal officers were detaining protesters in unmarked vehicles.
“Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti,” the California Democrat said. “These are not the actions of a democratic republic. @DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission. Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.”
Pelosi continued: “First Amendment speech should never be met with one-sided violence from federal agents acting as Trump’s secret police, especially when unidentified. This is disgraceful behavior we would expect from a banana republic — not the government of the United States.”
First Amendment speech should never be met with one-sided violence from federal agents acting as Trump’s secret police, especially when unidentified. This is disgraceful behavior we would expect from a banana republic — not the government of the United States.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 18, 2020
Wolf criticized Pelosi’s language as well as that of House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, who compared the officers to Nazi Germany’s secret police.
“The fact that you’re going to call any law enforcement, whether it’s ‘stormtroopers,’ we’ve heard them referred to as ‘thugs’ or ‘Gestapo’ — that is absolutely absurd,” Wolf said. “They are enforcing law. They are enforcing statute passed by Congress, passed by individuals like Speaker Pelosi and others, who have voted on legislation that gives the Department of Homeland Security the authority to protect federal facilities and make arrests on individuals that are targeting — criminal acts targeting federal facilities and federal law enforcement officers.”
Earlier this week, President Trump authorized the mobilization of hundreds of federal officers into other cities, including Chicago and Kansas City, to help stop surges in violence that erupted from protests following the death of George Floyd.
