24th July, 2020
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will not be sending federal law enforcement to New York City.
“The President and I had a good conversation”, Cuomo told a press briefing.
“He said he would not be sending troops into New York City – he did not say, period, ad infinitum, but he said that we would talk before he did anything,” Cuomo added.
Trump had threatened earlier this week to send federal agents to several U.S. cities.
On Tuesday, the president said he would send federal law enforcement to Chicago to reinforce the prosecution of criminals in the city.
Cuomo said that if the president were to send federal agents to New York City the state would sue.
“I believe it is blatantly unconstitutional,” he said.
The deployment of federal agents in Portland on July 4 is a flashpoint in a national debate over civil liberties that has roiled the United States since the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
Demonstrators and local officials see the move as a political ploy by U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, to drum up a “law and order” campaign as he faces an uphill re-election battle.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, has called the intervention an abuse of federal power and said it was escalating the violence.
The past week has seen bigger and bigger crowds of supporters joining the demonstrations.
“They’re not wanted here. They’re not properly trained to be here. And we’re asking them right this minute – we’re demanding that they leave,” he said.
“We’re demanding that the federal government stop occupying our city.”