On Monday's New Day on CNN, co-host John Berman subjected Ken Cuccinelli to a contentious grilling over efforts against left-wing rioters in Portland as the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security appeared as a guest to answer questions about the federal law enforcement activity by agents from his department.
By contrast, in the next hour, Berman gave carte blanche to House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn as the South Carolina Democrat cried "police state" accused the administration of engaging in "Gestapo activities" in Portland.
At 7:19 a.m. Eastern, Berman began the segment with Cuccinelli by recalling that federal agents used teargas against protesters who, in the CNN anchor's words, were "disassembling" a fence that surrounds the city's federal courthouse:
JOHN BERMAN: Breaking overnight, federal police fired tear gas at protesters in Portland, Oregon, as some of them began disassembling a fence around the federal courthouse. … This morning, there are growing questions about camouflaged federal officers who have arrested protesters and in some cases put them into unmarked cars. Portland's mayor says these federal agents are escalating the situation.
Berman asked Cuccinelli about the possibility of expanding federal law enforcement actions to other cities. He then brought up criticisms from Portland's Democratic mayor, Ted Wheeler, as he followed up:
BERMAN: The mayor of Portland actually says -- you said the federal officers went in there after several weeks of the violence. The mayor there says the violence was actually improving and on the verge of being almost completely better, but the federal law enforcement deployment made it worse. Your response?
After the two got into a back and forth over video of an apparently nonviolent protester being pepper-sprayed, which Cuccinelli argued did not involve DHS agents, Berman suggested that it was "Orwellian" for protesters to be arrested and put into unmarked vehicles:
BERMAN: One of the videos that has caused concern -- and Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon disseminated as well -- was of a man being put in an unmarked van on the streets. I wonder if we can show this video so people can see. These are the CBP agents that you were talking about approaching the man, taking him, and then putting him in an unmarked van. Now, locals there were asking for the officers there to identify themselves. There are people who have described this -- this is not me -- as "Orwellian" -- being put into an unmarked vehicle being driven away by officers who don't identify themselves. What's your view of this act?
Cuccinelli schooled the CNN host by pointing out that it is very commonplace for law enforcement agencies to sometimes employ unmarked vehicles.
In the next hour, it was very different when the same CNN anchor brought up the federal actions in Portland with Democratic Congressman Clyburn. Berman began the segment by recalling complaints by Democrats over the issue, and invited the South Carolina Democrat to air his concerns:
BERMAN: New this morning, congressional Democrats demanding an investigation into the federal law enforcement actions against protesters in Portland, Oregon. They say the Trump administration's actions abused emergency authorities and violates constitutional rights. … The Democrats calling for an investigation into what's happening in Portland. What do you want to know?
Clyburn hyperbolically complained about the actions of DHS agents:
For these people to go in there -- nothing from the governor, nothing from local law enforcement -- to show up with their faces covered in unmarked cars. This commercial that we are now hearing in this ad from the Lincoln Project is exactly what we're about to experience in this country. That is the beginning of the ending of this democracy. That kind of activity is the activity of a police state, and this President, and this Attorney General seem to be doing everything they possibly can to impose Gestapo activities in local communities...
Instead of challenging any of his Democratic guest's inflammatory assertions, Berman blandly changed the subject to the passing of Congressman John Lewis. At CNN, it's become a daily talking point that democracy is about to die in darkness, and the government under Trump is fascist.
This episode of CNN's New Day was sponsored by Ensure, Flex Seal, and Pet Smart. Their contact information is linked.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Monday, July 20, New Day on CNN:
7:19 a.m. Eastern
JOHN BERMAN: Breaking overnight, federal police fired teargas at protesters in Portland, Oregon, as some of them began disassembling a fence around the federal courthouse. This was the scene over night. This morning, there are growing questions about camouflaged federal officers who have arrested protesters and in some cases put them into unmarked cars, Portland's mayor says these federal agents are escalating the situation. Joining me now is Ken Cuccinelli. He's the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security. Ken, it's great to have you on. Thanks so much for being with us.
Overnight, you told the Washington Post, quote, the agency -- the Department of Homeland Security -- "will maintain a heavy presence in Portland and send reinforcements to other cities if violence surges." What does this mean exactly in terms of other cities? And what can we expect in terms of a federal law enforcement national deployment?
[Ken Cuccinelli recalls that after six weeks of protests, uniformed federal agents were sent in after intelligence suggested a danger to the federal courthouse.]
BERMAN: Let's break that down into parts. The mayor of Portland actually says -- you said the federal officers went in there after several weeks of the violence. The mayor there says the violence was actually improving and on the verge of being almost completely better, but the federal law enforcement deployment made it worse. Your response?
KEN CUCCINELLI, HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT: No, look, he has to say something. He's kowtowing to a local political base, and if you look at the day-by-day -- literally, every single day since late May they've had violence in Portland. The idea that our advancing other agents in the July 4th weekend somehow escalated violence is just -- it's literally just a talking point from there.
BERMAN: Well, we are hearing -- we are hearing that from locals as well. We're hearing that from local press as well.
CUCCINELLI: The intelligence we had was correct from that weekend.
BERMAN: You said specifically that these federal agents are acting when "unusually threatened." Those are the exact words you just said to me. I want to put Chris David -- video of 53-year-old, a Navy veteran, up on the screen. I don't know if you can see this, but this happened over the weekend.
CUCCINELLI: I cannot.
BERMAN: Chris David, 53-year-old veteran -- he's the large veteran -- our audience can see him, you can't -- but he's standing still, and he's being hit repeatedly with batons there. Is that what you mean when you say the federal officers are being unusually threatened?
CUCCINELLI: What you have there is Marshal Service folks -- you don't have DHS officers. I'm familiar with the video that you're talking about, and all I have is the video that I've seen. I haven't seen either the audio or the reports of officers of what was going on. But the unusual threats that I'm talking about --
BERMAN: Based on what you see -- based on what you see -- based on what you see in that --
CUCCINELLI: Can I finish please?
BERMAN: Just based on what you see, is that unusually --
CUCCINELLI: No, no, no, I don't base things on one -- the reason we came there wasn't because of some future video. The reason we advanced other DHS law enforcement officers was because there was intelligence locally generated that there were going to be threats to federal facilities. Maintaining an appropriate response is an ongoing obligation -- I grant you that -- and that's for all of us. But, at the same time, the threat to those federal facilities and officers did materialize during the July 4th weekend and has maintained since that time. ...
BERMAN: The questions about the appropriateness and the proportionality of the response and also the people carrying it out -- you say they are CBP -- Customs and Border Protection agents assigned to do the Federal Protective Services. They are in camouflage. They have patches on -- based on my study of the video, it's hard to see. It's hard to make out the patches to find out where they're from. But I'm going to read to you from a Homeland Security internal memo obtained by the New York Times on the training of these officers. It says, quote: "The highly skilled tactical teams assigned to support the civil unrest and riots specifically do not have training in riot control or mass demonstrations."
CUCCINELLI: That is incorrect.
BERMAN: "If this type of response is going to be the norm, specialized training and standardized equipment should be deployed to responding agents." Your response to that?
[Cuccinelli says the memo is incorrect.]
BERMAN: Why was this DHS memo written? I didn't write this memo? This is your own department that wrote this memo.
CUCCINELLI: Neither did I -- neither did I. It's a big department -- 240,000 people -- and that is not correct. ...
BERMAN: One of the videos that has caused concern -- and Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon disseminated as well -- was of a man being put in an unmarked van on the streets. I wonder if we can show this video so people can see. These are the CBP agents that you were talking about approaching the man, taking him, and then putting him in an unmarked van. Now, locals there were asking for the officers there to identify themselves. There are people who have described this -- this is not me -- as "Orwellian" -- being put into an unmarked vehicle being driven away by officers who don't identify themselves. What's your view of this act?
CUCCINELLI: So, first of all, unmarked police vehicles are so common it's barely worth discussion. I mean, literally every police department in America has them and uses them. We are no exception. That's one. Two, the video you see is after a three-block foot chase in which the individual had been identified as matching the description of someone assaulting a federal officer about one hour prior to that video that you see.
And the person was put in the van -- whom you obviously saw the surrounding crowd a little bit there which was a bit of a dangerous situation -- which is why the individual is moved away -- and from the time they detained him till the time they released him was under 10 minutes. And in that time, they also identified themselves. By the way, they identified to the subject they picked up -- they did not identify themselves to the crowd, and nor do they feel any obligation to do that, nor will you see that commence. We interact with the subjects we're dealing with, and that's it. … And they determined that that was not the person who did the assault, and released him.
BERMAN: I do have to let you go, but there is a U.S. attorney -- a federal U.S. attorney -- launching an investigation into the practices out there, and now members of Congress are calling for the same, and inspectors general -- you're nodding your head. Do you intend to cooperate with these investigations?
CUCCINELLI: With the inspector general investigation which is perfectly normal. We run our own investigation of every single use of force -- ever single one -- by the Office of Professional Responsibility -- so this is matter of course for us, and you bet we will.
BERMAN: Ken Cuccinelli, great to have you on. Thanks for being with us.
(…)
8:19 a.m.
JOHN BERMAN: New this morning, congressional Democrats demanding an investigation into the federal law enforcement actions against protesters in Portland, Oregon. They say the Trump administration's actions abused emergency authorities and violates constitutional rights. … The Democrats calling for an investigation into what's happening in Portland. What do you want to know?
REP. JIM CLYBURN, HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: I really would like to know who ordered those people to be there. The way I understand things, it seems that somebody had to be deputized by the Attorney General or some order from him to do what they were doing. And so I believe that law enforcement should be left up to local communities, and these communities, if they want help, they will then summon the federal government to intercede. That's the way it has been done for as long as I have been following this sort of thing.
And for all of a sudden, for these people to go in there -- nothing from the governor, nothing from local law enforcement -- to show up with their faces covered in unmarked cars. This commercial that we are now hearing in this ad from the Lincoln Project is exactly what we're about to experience in this country. That is the beginning of the ending of this democracy. That kind of activity is the activity of a police state, and this President, and this Attorney General seem to be doing everything they possibly can to impose Gestapo activities in local communities, and that is what I have been warning about for a long time. I do believe that this election is all about the preservation of the greatest democracy that this country has ever known.
BERMAN: Hmm. Congressman John Lewis passed away over the weekend. You have known him -- I've lost track for how many years, but since 1960 or '61, a long time, he's been a friend of yours. I'm very sorry for your personal loss here. I want to play some of Congressman Lewis so our viewers can hear his voice again.
