White House defends sending federal officers to US cities – but refuses to say what their mission is

Donald Trump's top spokeswoman on Tuesday defended his decision to send federal law enforcement officers to deal with violence in some US cities, but Kayleigh McEnany declined to define just where those troops' authority starts and stop when things get murky on the ground.

The president has sent a hodgepodge force of federal law enforcement officers from several agencies to Portland to deal with violence there, and he has suggested Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia could be next.

She cited part of the United States Code and claimed the Department of Homeland Security has the legal authority to "deputise" agents and officers from across the federal government to "defend" federal property and personnel. When pressed what other things those forces might be doing and where their authorities inside cities stop, she sidestepped.

Ms McEnany never defined their mission, and when she was asked about a potential deployment to Chicago, she declined to comment until Mr Trump actually orders federal officers into the Windy City's streets amid an uptick in violence and homicides there.

Mayors in those cities, all Democrats, have said they do not want the federal officers operating in their cities.

Mr Trump long has threatened to send federal forces or officers to Chicago, but so far, he has done so in Portland and Washington, DC, during protests following George Floyd's killing by a white police officer.

On Monday, he talked tough amid plummeting poll numbers and a fast-approaching November election.

"I'm going to do something, that, I can tell you," Mr. Trump told said in the Oval Office. "Because we're not going to let New York and Chicago and Philadelphia and Detroit and Baltimore and all of these – Oakland is a mess. We're not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal Democrats."

The president, as he has for weeks, said on Monday that Democratic mayors are unable to control major cities. It's part of his "law-and-order" campaign message, which is not yet resonating with voters as he trails former Vice President Joe Biden by double-digits nationally and by more than 6 percentage points in several key battleground states.

"Look at what's going on – all run by Democrats, all run by very liberal Democrats. All run, really, by radical left," Mr. Trump said. "If Biden got in, that would be true for the country. The whole country would go to hell. And we're not going to let it go to hell."

The next day, Ms McEnany said the president and his team have concluded the federal force can protect federal facilities and personnel, and investigate acts of violence against both. She also sidestepped questions about those forces appearing to do more than facility protection in Portland.

Democratic lawmakers have used words like "horrific" to describe scenes of federal law enforcement officers clashing with US citizens in Portland. Some anti-Trump Republican groups have called it tyrannical.

"What we have seen in the last 10 days in Portland has been horrific and unconscionable," Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley said in a statement. "Federal forces have shot an unarmed protester in the head with impact munitions, and paramilitary forces in camouflage have been grabbing people off the streets and putting them into unmarked vans. These are the actions of an authoritarian regime, not a democratic republic. This gross violation of Americans' civil rights must end immediately."