Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek urged President Trump by phone on Saturday to back off of threats to send troops to Portland.
“Portland is doing just fine, and I made that very clear to the President this morning,” Kotek said at a press conference on the city’s waterfront, flanked by local elected leaders and businesspeople.
“Our city is a far cry from the war-ravaged community that he has posted about on social media. I conveyed that directly to him.”
Kotek’s statements added to the drumbeat of Oregon officials who have urged citizens not to “take the bait” in light of Trump’s announcement on social media that he would send troops to a city he has often described in apocalyptic terms.
But the press event didn’t offer much clarity on exactly what the federal government might have planned.
On questioning, Kotek acknowledged that she had received “written communication” from the U.S. Department of War that she said offered the state the option of utilizing National Guard troops.
Kotek said she is not responding to that letter.
“There is no mission for them right now,” she said, adding that troops may be needed to address wildfires. “I am not deploying the Oregon National Guard.”
The governor also said her office is not aware of any new federal troop presence in the state, and that she would continue to urge Trump not to send any. Kotek is coordinating with Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, a fellow Democrat, on a potential legal response if troops do arrive, she said.
Trump misled about Portland’s situation, Kotek said
Local and federal officials held a hasty press conference on Friday announcing an increase in federal law enforcement officers in the state. That is apparently in response to weeks of protest outside of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the city.
“Don’t take the bait,” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said at the impromptu Friday briefing at a Northeast Portland church, flanked by city, county and federal leaders.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said Saturday that the stepped up law enforcement presence is separate from an influx of federal troops.
Kotek, like other Oregon elected officials, said she learned via social media of the president’s announcement troops could be arriving in the state. She had not heard from the White House through other channels, she said.
Kotek spoke first with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Saturday morning, then Trump roughly an hour later.
She and other leaders suggested Saturday that Trump had been deceived about the actual state of the city by re-use of images from 2020, when the city saw protracted and sometimes violent protests over racial justice.
There has been a small but persistent protestor presence outside of the Portland ICE facility, and occasional skirmishes between protesters and federal police that have led to arrests. That activity is far smaller than the mass demonstrations the city saw after the death of George Floyd.
“My conversation with President Trump was trying to understand his rationale, and I believe it is based on information that is not accurate today,” Kotek said, noting that violence and vandalism in response to Trump’s statement would not be tolerated. “There are protests here, but it is not what we saw during the pandemic.”
When Kotek told Trump that the two disagreed on the state of the city, she said the president responded, “Let’s keep talking.”
‘The number of necessary troops is zero,’ said Portland mayor
The press conference was part of a barrage of reaction Saturday by Oregon elected officials to Trump’s announcement.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said “the number of necessary troops is zero, in Portland and any other American city.”
“Our nation has a long memory for acts of oppression, and the president will not find lawlessness or violence here unless he plans to perpetrate it,” Wilson said. “Imagine if the federal government sent hundreds of engineers, or teachers, or outreach workers to Portland, instead of a short, expensive, and fruitless show of force.”
Trump announced that he would be sending troops to “protect war-ravaged Portland,” and that he was authorizing full force if necessary.
Wilson noted Saturday that the meaning of full force is not clear.
“There are new risks today, risks that we do not yet fully understand,” Wilson said. “The administration has refused to elaborate on what they mean when they say they will deploy full force against our city and citizens.”
Lawmakers’ reaction to Trump’s announcement
Speaking at the Saturday press event, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici called Trump’s announcement “a gross abuse of power by the president.”
“He does not have the authority to send military troops to a city,” the Democrat said. Trump deployed members of the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles earlier this year in a move that one judge deemed illegal.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter on Saturday morning said Trump’s announcement was a betrayal of American values.
“Authoritarians rely on fear to divide us,” Dexter said. “Portland will not give them that. We will not be intimidated.”
But Republicans cheered Trump’s announcement.
“The governor’s assertion that there is no national security threat and the mayor’s assertion that everything is fine is tone-deaf,” said Christine Drazan, the state’s House minority leader.
“It’s shameful that state and local leaders have allowed violent mobs and domestic terrorists to assault federal law enforcement, destroy property, and interfere with those seeking immigration services from obtaining assistance and case management. We need order, we need to restore safety, and Oregon’s local leaders have failed to provide it.”
Meanwhile, former Oregon representative and current U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer echoed Trump’s characterization of Portland.
“I’ve seen firsthand how lawlessness has transformed Portland from a beautiful place to live to a crime-ridden war zone,” she said in a post on X. “Thank you, @POTUS, for taking action to keep our ICE facilities protected and Make America Safe Again!”
Earlier this month, Trump had said living in Portland was like “living in hell.” He said at the time he was considering sending in federal troops, as he has also threatened to do in other cities, including Chicago and Baltimore. Those threats have not yet materialized.
