Portland city commissioner believes it's the police who are 'sending saboteurs and provocateurs into peaceful crowds'

Brett T. | 7:25 PM on July 22, 2020

So Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler isn’t running the city by himself, and to our surprise, there are city officials who have clashed with Wheeler over his “welcoming” federal officers into the city. Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty did, however, work together with Wheeler to slash police funding by $15 million.

And it’s no wonder that Hardesty wanted to slash funding for the police; according to her, the protesters in downtown Portland are peaceful and it’s plainclothes police officers who have embedded themselves into the crowds and started fires and such.

She also leveled an incendiary charge at Portland cops: Hardesty claimed it was they, not protesters, who had started fires around government buildings. https://t.co/q6p2G8nj39

— Willamette Week (@wweek) July 22, 2020

PDX city comm'r "Hardesty went on to say that she doesn't believe Portland protesters have caused violence or started fires. Instead, she claimed, any such action was carried out by plainclothes police officers embedded into crowds of peaceful protesters." https://t.co/4BuhCd7CTo

— Paul Diller (@dilleradollar) July 22, 2020

Tess Riski reports for Willamette Week:

She also leveled an incendiary charge at Portland cops: Hardesty claimed it was they, not protesters, who had started fires around government buildings.

“Portland police have consistently lied to the public. They’ve lied to our congressional delegation about whether or not they were coordinating activities with this federal secret police force,” Hardesty said during a webinar Wednesday hosted by Western States Center, which tracks extremism in the Pacific Northwest. “Portland was never out of control. Portland’s police overreacted, which gave 45 [President Trump] permission to send in these unarmed troops.”

…

During the webinar with Western States Center, Hardesty went on to say she doesn’t believe Portland protesters have caused violence or started fires. Instead, she claimed, any such action was carried out by plainclothes police officers embedded in crowds of peaceful protesters.

“I absolutely believe that it is police action, and they are sending saboteurs and provocateurs into peaceful crowds so that they can justify their inhumane treatment of people who are standing up for their rights,” Hardesty said. (She made a similar accusation at the City Council this morning, but specified that she believed Portland police were the saboteurs. She has not produced evidence supporting the allegations.)

We’re going to assume she’s one of those people who uses “45” to refer to the president so she doesn’t have to mention him by name.