I covered the riots in Portland for two weeks. When you have a local DA who refuses to prosecute those who commit crimes, the feds need to step in.
“In a phone call with federal prosecutors last week, Attorney General William Barr suggested that individuals arrested during “violent protests” like those in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, could be charged with “sedition.”
“Attorney General William Barr told federal prosecutors in a call last week that they should consider charging rioters and others who committed violent crimes at protests in recent months with sedition, according to two people familiar with the call,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
The suggestion “alarmed” some attorneys, CNN adds, noting that the charges would suggest that violent protesters are conspiring together to overthrow or undermine the authority of the federal government.
Individuals are rarely charged with sedition. When it happens, those same individuals are rarely convicted. In 2010, CNN notes, the federal government charged ‘a right-wing militia called the Hutarees with seditious conspiracy. They were acquitted for lack of evidence. Federal prosecutors were successful in using the law against Puerto Rican separatists in the 1930s.”
Antifa explosives vs Portland Police
A short clip from my two weeks covering the Portland riots. Antifa threw commercial grade fireworks & water bottles at police in this clip. Police then began to rush (known as a "push") the rioters. It was long night of battle between Antifa anarchists & Portland police. It was the first night Antifa & BLM had returned to the federal courthouse that they had besieged over a month prior to this. I was on Steve Bannon's show several times known only as "THE EMBED" in order to protect my identity while I was inside the riots. I'll be releasing many videos of my coverage of the Portland riots that will appear in exclusive articles on my site this week. Many exclusive videos will be on my Patreon page where you can support my work as an independent journalist. https://www.patreon.com/rainforth
Posted by Jeff Rainforth on Sunday, September 13, 2020
As the Daily Wire previously reported, Barr and other Department of Justice officials are concerned that district attorneys in places like Portland are simply charging and releasing protesters who go on to engage in further destruction and violence.
When the Department of Homeland Security agreed, back in August, to pull elite Customs and Border Protection agents from their posts protecting a downtown Portland courthouse from nightly unrest, DHS “federal deputized” members of the Oregon State Police so that Oregon’s United States Attorney’s office could prosecute rioters if the Portland district attorney refused.
Motorcyclists vs Sacramento Antifa
Antifa & BLM were marching through an intersection in downtown Sacramento last night when a group of motorcyclists rolled up. Could’ve ended badly but no one hurt. The group was smashing windows throughout the downtown area as they marched. Halfway in you can see Sacramento Antifa members taking pics of the motorcyclists' license plates in order to dox them. They threatened to smash my phone because I was filming & later surrounded me & were jabbing me with the tips of their umbrellas.
Posted by Jeff Rainforth on Friday, August 28, 2020
Federal officials have charged at least 74 people in Portland with federal crimes, the Los Angeles Times reported in late August. “The misdemeanor and felony charges include assaults on federal officers, arson and damaging federal property,” the outlet notes.
Oregon Live adds that several Portland protesters were also charged with “rare” federal “civil disorder” for their roles in “alleged violence during this summer’s turbulent protests.” In Rochester, New York, the federal government intervened to charge two individuals accused of “civil disorder,” per the New York Times.
Antifa members attacked Fox 40 reporter Eric Rucker and tried to steal his phone last night in downtown Sacramento. Apparently he was filming. Antifa & BLM were telling everyone if they filmed that their phones wld be smashed. Threatened me as well. Same w other local news.
Posted by Jeff Rainforth on Friday, August 28, 2020
“The men who were charged on Wednesday, Dallas Williams-Smothers and Adam Green, were part of a crowd of protesters that grew to around 1,500 people on Saturday night, the authorities said,” per the NY Times. “Williams-Smothers, 20, threw a mortar-style firework at a line of officers and then ran off,” the outlet adds. Green swung a “wooden shield” at a cop trying to clear the streets after the Rochester police department declared the incident a riot.
“Civil disorder,” Oregon Live says, “is defined as ‘public disturbance involving acts of violence’ by three or more people ‘which causes an immediate danger of or results in’ injury to people or their property.”
The Associated Press reports that at least 300 people have been arrested on federal charges for their respective roles in ongoing unrest. Most of those individuals were charged with arson to federal property (which includes arson to police vehicles) or the illegal possession of a firearm. None of those 300 were charged with conspiracy to undermine the federal government.”
You can see some of my Portland & Sacramento riot footage on my Facebook page.
Jeff Rainforth is a freelance photographer & news editor covering events on the US/Mexico border, and riots & unrest in Democrat-run cities.
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