Greg Sargent writes:

Under fire for dispatching federal law enforcement into cities in defiance of local leaders, in part to create TV imagery that sends an authoritarian thrill up President Trump’s leg, top officials are offering several new defenses. All are profoundly weak — which is why senior members of previous Republican administrations are now condemning what’s happening.

One of these is Michael Chertoff, the former director of homeland security under George W. Bush, who said in an interview that the department appears to be overstepping its mission, and that Trump’s threat to send law enforcement into Democrat-run cities is “very problematic” and “very unsettling.”

“In my view, this is damaging to the department,” Chertoff told me. “It undermines the credibility of the department’s principal mission.”

With imagery mounting of militarized law enforcement battling protesters even as Trump threatens to send in more agents while running ads against Joe Biden featuring this exact imagery, Trump’s senior officials must now place a legal and substantive gloss on what’s happening. [Continue reading…]

BuzzFeed reports:

The Department of Homeland Security’s response to anti–police brutality protests in Portland, Oregon, has disturbed and angered many employees, who called the deployment of the federal force an unusual maneuver that could do long-term damage to the agency’s reputation.

In recent days, Oregon leaders, including the governor, have called on DHS officers to leave Portland as nightly protests have grown in size. Videos captured by protesters and media have shown the consistent use of tear gas and other “less than lethal” weapons from officers guarding the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in downtown Portland amid a backdrop of federal officers outfitted in camouflage snatching people off the street in unmarked vehicles. [Continue reading…]