Justice Department investigates protest leaders, funding in Portland and other cities

The Justice Department has launched a criminal inquiry into the leadership and financing of protests against police abuse that have roiled American cities as the protest movement has become a political flashpoint in the contentious presidential campaign.

Federal authorities asserted Tuesday that they are not targeting free speech rights, but rather "coordinated, criminal activity ... and violence related to riots, destruction of federal property and violence against law enforcement officers."

Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec declined to elaborate on the specific targets of the inquiry. 

The acknowledgement by the Justice Department followed remarks by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who late Monday first disclosed the inquiry as "targeting" leaders of organizations and those who may be funding their movement "across the country."

"What we know ... is that we have seen groups and individuals move from Portland to other parts of the country," Wolf said in an interview on Fox News.

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Asked why leaders of Antifa, a loosely organized extreme far-left ideology, and Black Lives Matter, formed in part to call attention to violence against Black communities, had not been arrested, Wolf said: "This is something I talk to the AG (Barr) personally about. And I know that they are working on it."

Portland has has seen almost daily demonstrations since George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer May 25.

President Donald Trump has since seized on the unrest to promote a "law and order" campaign theme in the homestretch of the 2020 campaign. Trump is taking that campaign to Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday,  where the community has been reeling from separate demonstrations related to the last month's shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot seven times in the back in an encounter with local police. Blake is now paralyzed, family members said.

Ahead of his Wisconsin trip, the president has stoked controversy by refusing to condemn the actions of a 17-year-old accused in the fatal shootings of two Kenosha protesters in the days after Blake was wounded.

Trump on Monday appeared to publicly embrace a defense attorney's account that the suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse, acted in self-defense. 

Referring to cellphone video of the incident, Trump told reporters that Rittenhouse, armed with a rifle, was "trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like" and said that protesters "violently attacked him." Trump repeatedly noted the shooting remained under investigation but also appeared to lean into Rittenhouse's self-defense argument.

Rittenhouse has been charged with five felonies and a misdemeanor after shooting three people Tuesday, two of them fatally. Rittenhouse was acting as security against rioting and considered himself a militia member, his attorney said.

"The cause of all this," Wolf said, "is local officials and state officials not taking this seriously enough from Day One."

In a scathing letter Monday to Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler, Wolf said the city's "inaction has fostered an environment that has fueled senseless violence and destruction night after night."

"For more than three months, Portland has become the epicenter of crime and chaos, with rioters attacking government buildings with the intention of burning them to the ground," Wolf said.

Wolf's comments were prompted by Wheeler's Aug. 28 letter to Trump rejecting federal assistance.

"On behalf of the city of Portland: No thanks," Wheeler wrote.

"We don’t need your politics of division and demagoguery. Portlanders are onto you. We have already seen your reckless disregard for human life in your bumbling response to the COVID pandemic," the mayor said. "And we know you’ve reached the conclusion that images of violence or vandalism are your only ticket to reelection."

Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian had urged Trump on Monday to pick another time to allow the city to heal.

"The timing on this was not good," the mayor said.