Defends Portland federal agent tactics, threatens deployment to more cities

Since at least July 14, 2020, federal officers deployed to Portland, Oregon under a DHS operation had been detaining protesters in unmarked vehicles without identifying themselves; Acting DHS Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli confirmed the practice on July 18. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday, July 20, Trump said federal officers had done a "fantastic job" in Portland, describing detained demonstrators as "anarchists" rather than protesters, and said he would send "more federal law enforcement" to other cities. He named New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland as targets, characterizing them as "run by liberal Democrats." Oregon's governor, Portland's mayor, and the ACLU criticized the unmarked-vehicle tactics as unconstitutional; the deployments were later challenged in federal lawsuits.

“We're not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these — Oakland is a mess. We're not going to let this happen in our country.” Quote verified against source