Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told Fox News during an interview on Thursday night that Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown — both Democrats — refused federal help in securing Portland after violent anarchists have rioted for 47 days straight.
“Earlier this week I called not only the mayor but the governor. I offered DHS support to help them locally address the situation that’s going on in Portland and their only response was, ‘Please pack up and go home,'” Wolf told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “That is just not going to happen on my watch. So we need to make sure we are supporting our law enforcement officers here and making sure that they are going to continue to protect the federal courthouse here.”
“That’s our mission, we are not going to abdicate our mission, our responsibilities, however. Whatever the local leadership here is telling us, we’re going to do our job, we are going to do it professionally, but we are not going to have these violent anarchists who show up about the same time every night for a series of hours and having that federal destruction to property,” Wolf continued. “It’s time we take a stand, it’s time the local leaders here publicly condemn what the violent anarchists are doing. And only then I think will police, local police, and federal police get this under control.”
“What I’m asking all state and local leaders here in Portland, in Oregon, is come out specifically and publicly condemn these violent anarchists, because otherwise you’re creating an environment, you are fostering an environment that continues to breed this type of lawlessness,” Wolf concluded. “We saw this back in 2018, unfortunately, here in Portland where they set siege to an ICE facility for over 28 days. So, this is the type of environment again that is fostered here. We’ve had enough of it, we’re going to continue to protect the courthouse and do our mission at the end of the day.”
Video and transcript below:
FOX NEWS HOST SEAN HANNITY: Tonight Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf is condemning this violence, refusing to stand down. He joins us live on the ground in Portland. Sir, thank you for being with us. I guess the first question is, okay, in every case where the president has offered and given help, Minneapolis, D.C., for example, things have gotten under control. Seattle, we had reports and then confirmed by the president, he said, ‘yeah, we said we are going to go in,’ which precipitated finally the end of the ‘CHOP’, ‘CHAZ’ zone where innocent people died. Now it has happened in other cities, you see the violence in Chicago, you see the violence in New York, other places, so now you are going to get lectured by a mayor who is doing nothing to stop the violence or protect businesses in that city.
ACTING DHS SECRETARY CHAD WOLF: Thank you for having me, Sean, and that is exactly right. Earlier this week I called not only the mayor but the governor. I offered DHS support to help them locally address the situation that’s going on in Portland and their only response was, ‘please pack up and go home.’ That is just not going to happen on my watch, so we need to make sure we are supporting our law enforcement officers here and making sure that they are going to continue to protect the federal courthouse here. That’s what DHS does. That’s our mission. We are not going to abdicate our mission, our responsibilities, however. Whatever the local leadership here is telling us, we’re going to do our job, we are going to do it professionally, but we are not going to have these violent anarchists who show up about the same time every night for a series of hours and having that federal destruction to property. I was able to tour the courthouse, I saw the graffiti, I saw the broken windows, the broken doors. There is a facility right across the street from the courthouse that has 47 coats of paint on it. They have to paint the facility every night after it gets graffitied. It’s time we take a stand, it’s time the local leaders here publicly condemn what the violent anarchists are doing. And only then I think will police, local police, and federal police get this under control.
HANNITY: I’ve been saying if you like what is happening in New York, Chicago, Seattle, now Portland and other places, again cities run by liberal Democrats for decades, that would be a preview of coming attractions if Joe Biden is elected. I’m trying to wrap my mind around this, you’re offering to help create safety and security for the people of Portland. The president has offered all of these cities. Now, he can constitutionally use the 1807 Insurrection Act, but the president has also said that he is going to go in and he is going to restore order in these war zones. What will that entail? We are going to hear apparently very soon.
WOLF: Absolutely, and again, we continue to offer that support, specifically here in Portland, wanting to make sure that they have enough assets, whether it’s personnel, whether it’s capabilities, and that was my direct ask and offer to the mayor and again, the only response was, ‘please pack up and go home.’ And again, I ask the mayor and I ask others, what do you think is going to occur? We are going to have a courthouse, we’re going to have federal facilities overrun by these violent anarchists. What I’m asking all state and local leaders here in Portland, in Oregon, is come out specifically and publicly condemn these violent anarchists, because otherwise you’re creating an environment, you are fostering an environment that continues to breed this type of lawlessness. We saw this back in 2018, unfortunately, here in Portland where they set siege to an ICE facility for over 28 days. So, this is the type of environment again that is fostered here. We’ve had enough of it, we’re going to continue to protect the courthouse and do our mission at the end of the day.