White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sparred with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins during a tense exchange about President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, where violent clashes between Antifa rioters and federal agents have continued for weeks.
Collins questioned whether sending in the National Guard was necessary, citing comments from Portland’s police chief who claimed the president’s statements about the city “don’t match up with what’s happening on the ground.”
Leavitt pushed back sharply, suggesting Collins had relied on partisan sources and failed to investigate the situation firsthand.
“I would encourage you, as a reporter, to go on the ground and take a look for yourself,” Leavitt said. “There have been many members of the press — not the press in this room but independent journalists — some of whom we’ll be inviting to the White House very soon to share their stories. They have been in the middle of these riots and have witnessed the anarchy that is taking place night after night. It’s on video!”
When Collins attempted to interject, Leavitt pressed on. “You’re probably talking to partisan Democrat officials who are opposed to everything this president does,” she said.
The press secretary urged Collins and other reporters to speak directly with Portland residents affected by the unrest.
“These people are not there to peacefully protest,” Leavitt said, referring to the rioters. “They are there to cause mayhem and havoc.”
The exchange came amid escalating tensions between the White House and some media outlets over coverage of the administration’s response to ongoing protests and violent demonstrations. Trump has defended his decision to send in National Guard troops, arguing that local officials have failed to maintain order and protect federal property.
Leavitt said the president’s actions were aimed at restoring safety for residents and law enforcement officers caught in the nightly clashes between demonstrators and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, issuing a late-night ruling on Sunday that temporarily halts the move.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, determined that the deployment was unlawful and unconstitutional, granting an emergency temporary restraining order to prevent the use of California National Guard troops in Oregon. The order also prohibits the deployment of troops from other states or from Washington, D.C. into Oregon.
In her decision, Immergut wrote that the Trump administration’s directive violated federal statute 10 U.S.C. §12406 as well as the Tenth Amendment, which reserves certain powers to the states.
Immergut wrote that Oregon and the city of Portland “are likely to succeed on their claim that the President exceeded his constitutional authority and violated the Tenth Amendment.”
“It appears to violate both 10 U.S.C. §12406 and the Tenth Amendment,” Immergut said during the proceeding, according to reports.
Critics immediately panned the ruling as wrong-headed, noting that Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution names the president as the “commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States.”
Recent incidents cited by the Trump administration of protesters clashing with federal officers, “are inexcusable, but they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces,” the judge claimed in her ruling.
The Trump administration “made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power—to the detriment of this nation,” she added.
Her ruling did not seem to consider that local law enforcement in Portland has been essentially banned from assisting federal officers, nor the president’s constitutional role as head of the military.