Tristan Taylor speaks to media members Saturday about the aftermath of the protest and arrest at the intersection of San Juan Drive and W. McNichols Road in Detroit the night before. Wochit

WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump said Monday he is considering sending federal officers into several American cities, including Detroit, despite mostly peaceful protests there in recent weeks.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state Attorney General Dana Nessel denounced the president's statements, with the Democratic governor saying, "Quite frankly, the president doesn't know the first thing about Detroit."

"If he did," she continued, "he would know that for nearly two months now, Detroiters have gathered to peacefully protest the systemic racism and discrimination that Black Americans face every day. There is no reason for the president to send federal troops into a city where people are demanding change peacefully and respectfully."

Trump made the comments earlier in the day to reporters at the White House, praising federal response to protesters in Portland even though there has been widespread criticism after reports of federal officers detaining people in unmarked cars without explanation.Portland's mayor has denounced the federal presence and Oregon's attorney general has filed a lawsuit claiming agents have acted illegally by taking people into custody without warrants.

More: Federal agents in unmarked cars, 'wall of moms': Here's what's happening in Portland

More: President Trump weighs expansion of federal officer deployments; Chicago may be next

Federal officials have defended their response and, on Monday, it was confirmed that the Trump administration was considering sending federal officers into other cities, possibly beginning with Chicago. "In Portand, they've done a fantastic job," Trump said Monday.

In his remarks, Trump said local law enforcement in New York and elsewhere have their hands tied, despite offering no evidence of why that would be the case.

"I'm going to do something, that I can tell you, because we're not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore ... Oakland is a mess ... We're not going to let thishappen in our country," he said. The president then added that the cities are "all run by liberal Democrats."

"These are anarchists,these are not protesters," he said of the people involved in the protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May after a police officer kept a knee on his neck for several minutes. "These are people who hateour country and were not going to let it go forward."

While recent protests in Portland have seen police and demonstrators clash, that hasn't been the case recently in Detroit or many other cities.

Trump made no clarifying remarks about the situation in Detroit or elsewhere or offered any proof of why protesters should be considered anarchists. Earlier this year, however, he threatened to use military forces to put down protesters, saying the streets had to be dominated.

John Roach, a spokesman for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, said he wasn't sure why Trump would have included Detroit in his list.

"Detroit is one of the few large cities in the country that has experienced no fires, no stores looted and never requested the National Guard during the protests," he said. "Not sure where the president is getting his information."

Whitmer, meanwhile, said itwas "deeply disturbing that President Trump is once again choosing to spread hateful rhetoric and attempting to suppress the voices of those he doesn't agree with."

Nessel, also a Democrat, said Trump's remarks were politically motivated, coming even as Trump's reelection campaign released a TV ad falsely claiming the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden wants to defund police departments when Biden has specifically that he does not support doing so.

"(This) has nothing to do with protecting public health or safety," Nessel said. "Such threats undermine peace and stability in our communities by unnecessarily escalating tensions and encroaching on states rights."

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who has marched with protesters, said she won't back down from Trump's threat, even if he does send in federal agents.

"They'll have to arrest me first if they think they're going to illegally lay their hands on my residents," she said.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.

Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/07/20/donald-trump-detroit-protests-federal-agents/5474985002/

Read this article:

President Trump threatens to send federal officers to Detroit, other cities over protests - Detroit Free Press