George Soros-backed Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said in an interview published on Wednesday that he is prepared to arrest federal law enforcement officers sent by the Trump administration to quell violence in inner cities, and appeared to compare those officers to Nazis.
Under Krasner, Philadelphia reportedly had already seen a sharp uptick in violent crime before the coronavirus pandemic and race riots that broke out in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Statistics from June of this year showed that gun violence in Philadelphia had already skyrocketed by 24% compared to last year.
“I’m going to do something — that I can tell you,” Trump said Monday. “Because 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. All run by liberal Democrats.”
Krasner responded to Trump’s remarks by saying in a statement Monday:
My dad volunteered and served in World War II to fight fascism, like most of my uncles, so we would not have an American president brutalizing and kidnapping Americans for exercising their constitutional rights and trying to make America a better place, which is what patriots do. Anyone, including federal law enforcement, who unlawfully assaults and kidnaps people will face criminal charges from my office. At trial, they will face a Philadelphia jury. It’s the least we can do to honor those who fought fascism, including those who are fighting it even now.
In an interview published by Bloomberg CityLab Wednesday, Krasner said that while “there’s nothing unusual about feds being involved in law enforcement in the city,” what was “unusual” was “the politicization of a normal relationship between federal law enforcement and local law enforcement,” which he did not elaborate on.
“And what is really unusual is the apparently illegal stormtrooper tactics that have been used by federal law enforcement in Portland,” Krasner said in an apparent attempt to demonize the officers as Nazis.
Other top Democrats have also sought to demonize the officers as Nazis, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC).
“We’re dealing with a shiny object that the president is waving around to distract from his outrageous failures in many other areas,” Krasner claimed. “And to try to use his usual tactics of neo-fascist division, hate, and racism to improve his almost deceased campaign.”
“If we have clear probable cause for the commission of crimes, by anyone, including law enforcement, including federal law enforcement, we will prosecute that,” Krasner continued. “We’re not going to tolerate any kidnappings and assaults going on in Philadelphia streets. We’re not going to tolerate showing up under the guise of making things safer and [instead] causing violence.”
Krasner made numerous political attacks during the interview, claiming that Trump was “perfectly willing to act like Putin.”
“He’s perfectly willing to act like some historical Argentinian dictator,” Krasner claimed. “He likes it. He likes the image of the strong man. Never mind that he avoided military service. He wants to be a strong man who is somehow going to use his singular force and not let any law or constitution get in the way to get what he wants. That’s all a bunch of crap.”
“This has nothing to do with actual law enforcement,” Krasner claimed without evidence. “It is a diversion of tax funds to try to bolster a campaign that is close to defunct. It’s just the worst kind of deception, division and hate, and we all know what happens to haters, which is they lose.”