News and Commentary

Top DHS Official: Calling Federal Officers ‘Nazi,’ ‘Stormtrooper’ May Be Libelous

   DailyWire.com
U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) speaks during a news conference on July 24, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images

Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli said Friday that federal law enforcement agents may be able to bring libel claims against Democrats who have called them “Nazis” or “stormtroopers.”

Cuccinelli made the comments to Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” which was guest hosted by Lisa Boothe. Cuccinelli was referring to remarks previously made by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).

“When you see such libelous, slanderous comments from people who know better — Let’s not kid ourselves, the speaker of the House knows that she is using Nazi allusions to refer to correct, professional law enforcement officers,” Cuccinelli said, referring to federal agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI, and the Federal Protective Service.

“If I was a CBP agent or ICE agent, or FBI agent — and if I was an FPS agent — I might sue for libel,” he suggested.

Multiple prominent Democrats have made Nazi references to the federal agents deployed to protect federal buildings and monuments that are being freely destroyed by violent rioters in U.S. cities such as Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.

Pelosi tweeted on July 17: “Unidentified stormtroopers. Unmarked cars. Kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti. These are not the actions of a democratic republic. @DHSgov’s actions in Portland undermine its mission. Trump & his stormtroopers must be stopped.”

“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,” she continued.

As The Daily Wire previously reported, Waters told MSNBC host Joy Reid that Trump deploying federal agents was a “trial run” for what he would do if he loses re-election in November.

“As a matter of fact, it has been suggested that this is a trial run of the President of the United States who may be organizing to not accept what happens when we have the election if he’s not elected,” Waters said. “Is he going to pull out his military? Is he going to engage us? He has already alluded to there may be a civil war if he’s not re-elected. This is dangerous, we are trying to find out more about it.”

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) also compared federal agents lawfully protecting federal buildings from criminals to Nazis, as The Daily Wire reported.

“For all of a sudden for these people to go in there, nothing from the governor, nothing from local law enforcement, just show up with their faces covered in unmarked cars […] That kind of activity is the activity of a police state, and this president and this attorney general seem to be doing everything they possibly can to impose Gestapo activities in local communities, and that is what I have been warning about for a long time,” Clyburn said.

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  Top DHS Official: Calling Federal Officers ‘Nazi,’ ‘Stormtrooper’ May Be Libelous