Trump orders Barr to defund 'anarchist jurisdictions'— Seattle, NYC, Portland, Washington DC
Donald Trump today ordered AG Bill Barr to designate various U.S. cities led by Democratic mayors as "anarchist juristictions," and to defund those "lawless" cities.
Seattle, Portland, New York and Washington are all on the Trump hit list.
"My Administration will not allow Federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones," said the memo, which was released by the White House on Wednesday.
President Trump has actively sought to punish NYC since day one.
- Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 2, 2020
He let COVID ambush New York.
He refuses to provide funds that states and cities MUST receive to recover.
He is not a king. He cannot "defund" NYC.
It's an illegal stunt.
From Reuters:
The memo instructs Attorney General William Barr to develop a list of "anarchist jurisdictions" that "permitted violence and the destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures" to restore order.
The memo also instructs White House budget director Russell Vought to issue guidance in 30 days "to the heads of agencies on restricting eligibility of or otherwise disfavoring, to the maximum extent permitted by law, anarchist jurisdictions in the receipt of Federal grants."
We will not allow President Trump's malicious infantile ways to hurt New York City.
- Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 3, 2020
Instead of these foolish stunts he ought to be focused on getting our country out of the COVID crisis.https://t.co/lMbbr6RJvq
Trump threatens to withdraw federal funds, possibly including health, education and safety net dollars Americans need to get through the pandemic and economic crisis. Again, he targets cities - including ours - with democratic Mayors, which he calls "anarchist jurisdictions."
- Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) September 3, 2020
It'd be in my lane to write an explainer about the legal context of Trump's memo on purportedly restricting funding to "anarchist" cities like New York, except the White House didn't even bother to try to cite a legal basis. It's just the usual get-a-one-day-headline vacuousness. pic.twitter.com/hxlYFNgRh7
- Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) September 3, 2020
TRUMP: "A person was on a plane, said there were about 6 people like that person, more or less, and what happened is the entire plane filled up with the looters, the anarchists, rioters, people looking for trouble. The person felt very uncomfortable on the plane." pic.twitter.com/VP0idEzLNi
- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 1, 2020