In late September, President Donald Trump ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to deploy National Guard troops to Portland to defend the city’s long-besieged Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. For years, that building and its employees have been under relentless attack from Antifa and other far-left extremist groups, while the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) has stood by, refusing to restore order or hold the offenders accountable.
Instead of protecting federal property and law-abiding citizens, the PPB has routinely turned a blind eye to left-wing violence — yet somehow finds the time and resources to harass, assault, and even arrest conservative independent journalists who dare to document it.
On Friday, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon announced that the Department of Justice is opening an investigation into the Portland Police Bureau’s policies and practices. The move comes after another chaotic week in Portland, where violence once again spilled into the streets — this time leaving independent journalist Katie Daviscourt with a black eye after she was struck with a flagpole by a leftist agitator.
Meanwhile, conservative reporter Nick Sortor was arrested by the PPB after attempting to defend himself from an attack. The message from Portland’s leadership couldn’t be clearer: left-wing mobs can run wild, but conservative journalists who refuse to be victims will be the ones in handcuffs.
If the Portland Police Bureau reacted to Antifa’s chaos with even half the speed it showed in waging legal warfare against the Trump administration, it wouldn’t be under federal investigation right now. The city’s leadership has spent years looking the other way as leftist mobs terrorized neighborhoods and federal facilities — yet suddenly found its sense of urgency when President Trump ordered troops to restore order.
On Saturday, a U.S. District Court judge handed Oregon and Portland officials a temporary restraining order blocking the administration’s National Guard deployment:
A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked President Trump’s deployment of 200 National Guard members to Portland, Oregon.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut granted Oregon and Portland officials’ request for a temporary restraining order, barring implementation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s memo that authorized federalizing the troops over the state’s objection.
“This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote.
Immergut denied the Trump administration’s request to pause her order while the administration appeals. Her order is set to expire in 14 days but could be extended, and she set a trial for Oct. 29.
The Portland Police Bureau and Oregon’s Democrat officials seem fully committed to their “Trump resistance” crusade — and new discovery documents from their countersuit against the Trump administration make that painfully clear.
Journalist Andy Ngo uncovered an internal email from PPB Sergeant Andrew Braun that perfectly encapsulates the mindset. In it, Braun essentially blames the victims — independent journalists Katie Daviscourt and Chelly Bouferrache, along with conservative activist Rhein Amacher — all of whom have been repeatedly assaulted by Antifa while documenting Portland’s ongoing anarchy. Rather than condemning the left-wing extremists behind the violence, Braun suggested these reporters brought it on themselves.
Yeah. This is the equivalent of telling a rape victim that she shouldn’t have batted her eyelashes, and that her outfit was too provocative. Braun wrote of Daviscourt, Bouferrache, and Amacher:
These 3 counter-protesters continue to be a chronic source of police and medical calls at ICE. Despite repeated advice from officers to stay away from the ICE crowd, they constantly return and antagonize the protesters until they are assaulted or pepper sprayed. They refuse or are reluctant to walk away from these confrontations, even when police are in the area trying to meet with them. They even engage in the same trespassing behavior on federal and trolley property as the main protesters.
Daviscourt, who nearly lost an eye to an Antifa thug girl, is rightfully pissed off:
“Anyone who knows me, knows that I stand by myself, I am non violent, never approach the crowd, and quietly film. I just want to do my job. It’s GAME ON!: she wrote.
It’s no wonder DHS Boss Kristi Noem is taking on these goofballs in Portland. She – and the country – have had enough.