Oregon governor calls Trump’s actions ‘an abuse of power and threat to our democracy’

Amna Nawaz:

President Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to Democratic led cities is facing significant pushback and setting up a new showdown in federal courts over the limits of his authority.

Geoff Bennett:

Illinois officials sued the Trump administration today to stop plans to send 400 troops from Texas to aid an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago. The lawsuit called the plan unlawful and dangerous, but a federal judge disagreed, declining to block the deployment for now.

It comes just a day after a separate judge blocked the Trump administration from sending California's Guard to Oregon in response to a series of clashes outside an immigration detention facility in Portland. The president said today he wants to get the city under control and would consider invoking the Insurrection Act.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: If you look at what's happened with Portland over the years, It's a burning hellhole. And then you have a judge that lost her way that tries to pretend that — like there's no problem. Actually, she's not even saying that. There's a huge problem important. I will tell you what the problem is, crime.

Geoff Bennett:

For more on how the state is responding, we spoke earlier today with Oregon's Democratic Governor Tina Kotek.

Welcome to the "News Hour."

Gov. Tina Kotek (D-OR):

Hey, Geoff.

Geoff Bennett:

So I understand you spoke with President Trump about a week ago. How did that conversation go?

Gov. Tina Kotek:

Well, it was cordial. I was very direct with him.

I don't understand why you think it's necessary just to have military intervention in the city of Portland. We are a beautiful, vibrant, safe city. Portland is doing well. And I believe he had at the time and continues to have misinformation, a very old, outdated viewpoint about what is happening in Portland.

The protests that are happening outside of the ICE facility are confined to about a one-block radius of the city of Portland. I will say, when I spoke with him, I was like, look, I believe local law enforcement has this situation managed, always open to conversation, but we do not need military intervention.

And, of course, that has continued to escalate since that initial conversation. And it's been a very long week or so of trying to manage a situation that I think is unnecessary.

Geoff Bennett:

And, just today, the White House made the point that the current demonstrations, in their view, mirror the unrest and violence that we saw back in 2020. Here's what the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, White House Press Secretary:

For more than 100 days, night after night after night, the ICE facility has been really under siege by these anarchists outside. They have been disrespecting law enforcement. They have been inciting violence. We saw, again, a guillotine rolled out in front of this federal building.

And so the president wants to ensure that our federal buildings and our assets are protected. And that's exactly what he's trying to do.

Geoff Bennett:

So respond to that claim, if you will.

Gov. Tina Kotek:

Well, it's just a ludicrous characterization of the situation here.

I will just say, on Sunday yesterday, we had hundreds of people, thousands of folks in downtown Portland running the Portland Marathon. This is not a war zone. We don't have a challenge here in terms of managing lawful demonstrations outside the ICE building.

And I believe that they are looking back at information from 2020 and assuming this is the same. Look, lawful demonstrations happen in the city of Portland outside of this facility. It is being managed. What I'm seeing and what we're seeing and what the mayor is seeing on the ground is an escalation from the agents who are protecting the building, trying to antagonize those protesters who are there.

And I would like to de-escalate the situation. We don't need a military intervention. And let's remember the federal judge agreed with that argument, not once, but twice. The federal government has not made a compelling case, based on the evidence on the ground, that there is an actual problem as it relates to being an insurrection or a rebellion or whatever they think this is.

Look, there are lawful demonstrations. If somebody crosses the line and there's criminal activity, local law enforcement is holding people accountable. That's important. The rest of the city doing fine. We have our challenges, like every major city across the country. But the real problems are not the ones the president thinks they are. The real problems are other things that we should be dealing with.

Geoff Bennett:

Let's talk more about the judge's ruling, because, as you mentioned, yesterday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland.

What's your assessment of her ruling? And how does it shape your legal strategy moving forward?

Gov. Tina Kotek:

Well, I want to appreciate everyone who's come forward quickly from the attorney general's office to put a good case in front of the federal judge.

What we saw is that the information that she has says there is no basis of fact that military intervention is necessary. And her first ruling was about the Oregon National Guard. When President Trump took the Oregon National Guard out of my command to deal with a situation that I believe is not based on facts, the court said, it's not the case. You need to give the control back to the governor.

And then, a day later, they start calling up the California National Guard to come to Oregon, calling up the Texas National Guard to come to Oregon. And the judge ruled again and said, look, I'm being very clear here. This is not lawful. Under Title X, this is not a lawful deployment. And the president doesn't have a basis for doing this.

Geoff Bennett:

Well, in a separate but related case today, the government said that the Texas National Guard is on its way to Illinois.

How should governors be prepared to respond when confronted by this type of action by the federal government?

Gov. Tina Kotek:

Well, as I think we all know, the Trump administration has been an unprecedented roller coaster of decisions coming out of the White House that make no sense for states.

Governors have been prepared across this country to try to react. And I have spoken directly with Governor Pritzker and Governor Newsom. In the case of Illinois, I hope — my understanding is, they have also filed with the federal court for a temporary restraining order to stop that deployment of the Texas National Guard.

We have to go to the courts to seek protection. We are a country based on the rule of law. Whether you are right, left, center, we as Americans believe in the Constitution and the rule of law. And that is what should prevail here. And this isn't about Oregon or Illinois anymore. This is about every state in our country.

And what President Trump is trying to do is an abuse of power. And it is a threat to our democracy. Governors should be in command of their National Guards, our citizens soldiers who sign up to stand up in an emergency to deal with real problems.

What I would say to governors — and I particularly want to talk to Republican governors. This isn't a Democrat or Republican governor issue. This is an issue for every governor. Don't volunteer your folks. This is a misuse of the authority of the president to intervene in a situation.

We do not want to take our troops onto the streets of American cities to go after our own citizens. Local law enforcement across the country knows how to manage for these types of demonstrations. Let them do their job and leave our troops at home.

Geoff Bennett:

On another matter, it's been reported that the Trump administration, through the OMB director, Russ Vought, has canceled or frozen clean energy funding, including as much as $400 million in federal grants that Oregon stands to lose.

How do you assess the impact of that decision and what might you be able to do to mitigate the impact of those losses?

Gov. Tina Kotek:

Well, this has been happening since the start of the administration, grants that have been obligated of being pulled back, money that had been promised to states, our taxpayer dollars going to D.C. coming back to our states being canceled.

These are bullying tactics. It's unacceptable. We will continue to look at whether or not we have any options to fight these decisions by the president and the court. When it comes to the $400 million of clean energy grants, it is delaying our ability as a state and, frankly, as a country to move to clean energy, to move to more renewable clean energy for our future.

One of those grants here in the state of Oregon was a $250 million grant going to the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs who were going to be behind a major upgrade in our electricity grid to move power from one side of the state to the other. That is now completely in limbo.

That's jobs. That's economic development. And, frankly, the president is trying to punish states that didn't vote for them. I want to back up and say, look, I took an oath when I became governor to be a governor for the entire state of Oregon, regardless if people voted for me. I wish the president would uphold his oath as well to take care of every American.

Geoff Bennett:

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, thanks again for your time. We appreciate it.

Gov. Tina Kotek:

Thank you.