Demand changes to petition their grievances is in the very best tradition of america. No history of the United States, o recounting of the unending struggle to live up to our ounding promises would be complete without recognition of the peaceful movements that have nation forward. To the beabolitionists suffragettes, to the countless and heroic souls who marched in support of the civil peaceable ment, assemblies have moved mountains n this country and they still can. When america saw the horrifying a Police Officer illing george floyd, a brutal killing that invoked for many he nations long history of acial discrimination and injustice, americans rightly and assembled to demand justice, justice for every of skin regardless color. Ut what began as legitimate protests against a vial act of sadly, were soon hijacked and tunityists opportunist and violent radicals. Rioters had , injured more than 700 law officers across the ountry and had murdered david dorn, a retired officer who erved st. Louis with honor for many years. They also damaged or destroyed ountless buildings and businesses. In minneapolis alone, rioters housing and able damaged over 400 businesses. Owned by em africanamericans. Well over 500 million in damages. In philadelphia, police cars were set ablaze. In seattle, rioters who damaged were ds of buildings, granted and allowed to set up a socalled autonomous zone by officials who all too redictably resulted in more crime, including four shootings two young people their lives. The fact is the people who took he streets, because their hearts cried out for justice, overshadowed by rioters and looters and those cynically exploit the rotests for their own evil ends. Those rioters arent concerned justice. Ial indeed, they are willing to make the mockery of the peaceful their s to advance violent object fshs. Objectives. Are profoundly racist, the rioters, as they minority communities, minority businesses, and inority lives across this country. This shouldnt be complicated. Peaceful protests must be protected. Riots must be stopped. No one has the right to assault firebomb a on, to building, to throw a molotov cocktail into a police car. Exercising a constitutional right. Hat is terrorizing your fellow citizens. More and more were seeing signs of a significant portion this violence, of this rioting is not random, its not spontaneous. It is coordinated and anarchist leftist, groups, groups like antifa, that ill, without shame, exploit a National Tragedy to attack american uildings, homes, and american lives. Home s happening in my state in austin and in dallas, nd its happening across the country. Whether in minneapolis, nevada city, pittsburgh, or toledo, to few. A but tragically, nowhere more so oregon. Portland, n portland, antifa and other radicals have thrown pipes at and use ficers commercialgrade lasers to try o blind them, perhaps permanently. They launched mortgagerstyle attacks mortarstyle attacks, hey firebombed a federal courthouse. Protest. Ot peaceful this violence speaks for itself. Good measure and graffiti on the county wrote, until the police and i. C. E. Are this hed, we will burn city down piece by piece. They are telling us what their are, to shut down and abolish the police. Should be ce universally condemned. Ought to come s together and say, dont murder your fellow citizens, dont Police Officers. Each others rights. Instead, were seen leaders united. Local eeing too many officials, mayors, and governors who made a cynical decision that partisan interest to turned a blind eye to this violence. The law blind eye to enforcement officers being basis and a nightly even worse than that, to officers, topolice hrow out terms like storm troopers and gestapo to describe federal Law Enforcement officers doing theirgestapo t describe federal Law Enforcement jobs. Rs doing their its for that reason i introduced legislation called act. Eclaim the reclaim act provides that if you, as an american, if you are if your property is damaged, if your home is burned to the ground, if your business looted and destroyed during a iot, as a result of a decision of policecal leaders to political leaders to deny you that you haveion, a federal cause of action to sue the municipality or the city denied you Police Protection. Willfully looked the ther way while your life was endangered, while your home or business was burned to the ground. Protection of Law Enforcement is a civil rights who tion for any american denied. Just days after george floyd was killed, representative john passing the nation said, quote, he and burning isg, way. He organize, demonstrate, sitin, up, vote. Epresentative lewis is exactly right. We all have a right to free speech, and we should protect vigorously, but we should also be united in Political Violence and condemning domestic and understand just the ground,ening on what the heroic men and women of rightforcement are facing now. Its helpful to see directly occurring, and theres a video that should display this now. Please, show me where it says to be ers are supposed peaceful . Mr. King we will be able to see the jangling discourse of this into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. For freedom together. So let freedom ring. A Passionate Movement for finding itself swept under the feet of rampaging and mobs. Ctive lets see what they do. Fire. The myth is being spread only d. C. Shington, 77yearold david dorn was death at the pawnshop he was protected was being looted. Killed. Wood was it was a targeted attack on Law Enforcement. This is ridiculous. Tearing up our livelihoods senator cruz senator hirono. Hirono thank you, mr. Chairman. Nobody is condoning violence anyone, by anyone. This hearing is titled, kwoit, the people peaceably to assemble, protect speech by stopping anarchist quote. E, end but the hearing we should be having is one called the right to he people peaceably assemble without being beaten up y unidentifiable federal agents. That would address an actual problem lawful protesters are rest of us are seeing in this country. The murder of george floyd has across the sts country and indeed around the world. Federal se, the government has used violence and Xcessive Force to break up these protests. E saw this in two wellknown examples in Lafayette Square in d. C. And in portland, oregon. Were peaceably protesting around Lafayette Square around the white house, an end to Racial Injustice and police brutality. Agents, under al the direction of attorney gas,al barr, used chemical atons, rubber bullets, riot and dispersed the protesters and to clear the area. So President Trump could get a photo op in front of st. Johns church. Was no anarchist violence in Lafayette Square. Using force was Law Enforcement agents. Portland, federal agents used excessive and indiscriminate force to break up people to peaceably protest. On july 4, unidentified federal in portland, outfitted as if for war, wearing heavy gear. Nd to justify this unnecessary eployment of federal officers, President Trump and his dministration have repeatedly portrayed portland protesters as iolent anarchists and members of antifa. But in the past four weeks, what we have actually seen are beating up on nonviolent protesters, tear assing them, and shooting them with rubber bullets and other socalled less lethal munitions. Federal agents shoot a 26yearold nonviolent protester the face. Ith one of these less lethal munitions. Nd as you can see in the photo here, donovan suffered skull fractures. He was in i. C. U. Surgery. Ed we saw federal officers beat a veteran who avy approached them to ask why they were not honoring their oath to constitution. And when Christopher Davis refused to react when federal broke his him and bones, they pepper sprayed him in the face. Saw federal officers tear gas oms, dads, and veterans who stood as a wall to protect peaceful young protesters. Also saw unidentified federal protesters peaceful off the street and force them into unmarked advance. Protester described having his hat pulled over his face so he could not see. Not alone in my deep concern over the federal agents se of force and violence against protesters in portland. The attorney general of oregon the federal government to stop federal agents from secrethe kind of, quote, Police Tactics, where they take people off the street and force advance. Unmarked state and local officials in oregon have demanded that leave portland because they have brought violence, not peace. The inspectors general of the department of homeland and department of justice have decided that the federal officers use of force protesters in portland were concerning enough to open investigation. The justice departments Inspector General has also oncluded that the federal officers use of force against Peaceful Protesters near concerning uare was enough to include in this investigation. Facts, we are having a hearing on protecting from ul protesters anarchist violence, but what weve seen in portland are need of protesters in protection from federal officers. Lets be clear, once again. Condoning any violence by Law Enforcement or by the protesters. Focusing only on anarchist violence, this subcommittee is furthering trumps efforts to distract us from the underlying ssues that millions, millions of protesters have been calling on us to address the systemic our country. Ice in President Trump is deliberately rying to undermine the massive protests for Racial Justice by dismissing them as anarchists antifa. To perpetuate this flair tiff, President Trump has arrative, President Trump has gnored White Supremacists have high jacketed peaceful protests o invoke conflict, such as in minneapolis. He ignored studies showing that White Supremacists have killed 329 victims in the past 26 years. Killed tifascists have no one in politically motivated attacks. Nd he has ignored what some have called the Largest Movement in American History, the have ns of people who marched peacefully in the streets, following the murder of demanding change. Is this subcommittee if this protect tee wants to americans right to peacefully assemble, we should be focused officers ing federal from beating up protesters, tear gassing them, and shooting them face. Thats the hearing we should be having today. This time, i at would like to show a video that of lights the excessive use force by federal agents in portland. You. [video clip] hundreds of videos reviewed although es showed us antagonistic, Police Responded with force. Whoa they blocked the streets with tear gas. Are you ok . They hit protesters with batons. And use flash bangs. And other less lethal munitions to clear the streets. Peaceful protests their actions often appeared to escalate rather than deescalate matters. Some they attacked. Protester jonathan was at the federal white house when the to have fired at his head in retaliation for dispensed tear gas canister. [beep] local media told he suffered skull fractures and needed surgery. [yelling] later that night when field medics came for wounded they were taken away. Navy veteran was batoned and pepper sprayed in attack. Unprovoked his right hand was broken and he needed surgery. Sometimes members of the press were here. Ow got shot in the back, obviously. This photographer, matthew ewis roland, told the times that 10 project aisles were projectiles is were fired into his back. Ow this, he middle of all protesters were detained in ways that alarmed civil rights ctivists and Homeland Security officials. Can you eidentify as Law Enforcement . Unmarked re driving vehicles in the area surrounded the courthouse. To know e we supposed who you are . How do you know you are not kidnappi us, you are a civilian kidnapping us . One was detained at this nearby. What are you doing . Federal officers wouldnt identify themselves. Use your words. Patches on the right and left sides of their uniforms matched the used by members of Tactical Unit from customs and border protection. They drove the protester away in unmarked car. D. H. S. Says federal officers 43 arrests since july 4. Thank you, senator hirono. I will note at the end of that wro video that is airiated says describes Law Enforcement as unidentified in white show Police Yellow caps across their chest so thats a curious way to Law Enforcement as une unidentified. I would also note that the said nobody is condoning the violence and rioting. Opening owhere in the remarks was even one word it. Emning condemning the assaults. The 277 injuries that federal Law Enforcement officers have suffered at the hands of those rioters. About the was said murder of federal Law Enforcement officer Patrick Underwood. Was said about the st. Louis etired Police Officer david dorn, both of whom are africanamerican, murdered. F whom were were told, we dont condone this. Negative wont say a terrorism. This the senators from oregon have oth asked to come before this committee and given whats ranspiring in portland, that seems appropriate courtesy to extend them so we will now senators from oregon, senator wyden and both who have , asked to address the subcommittee. Senator wyden thank you, mr. Chairman. Me, mr. Chairman . Senator cruz yes. Yes, we can. Senator wyden mr. Chairman, short so i will get right to the question of protecting free speech. First, as the senator from portlander, i want o begin by asking this afternoon who americans believe is the real threat to Constitutional Rights . Is it the oregonians who my hometown, in overwhelmingly peaceful protests Racial Justice since the murder of george floyd . The heavily armed secret police who snatched off the streets in unmarked advance and them without justification or charges . Moms, the all of courageous women, like my myron, an ron Emergency Room Physician and a county commissioner who put harms way to protect their neighbors . Is it the unidentifiable federal Paramilitary Forces who, provocation, batoned and ear gassed both moms and their fellow protesters . S it the peacefully gathered portlanders who raised their hands in the air and sang the please dont p, a lullaby . He tune of duplicitous president who called portlanders professional anarchists, agitators, people who hate our country, and called a beeof beehive terrorists . Hese people are anarchists, terrorists, agitators is bad nonsense. Before conflict was down President Trump got involved. People are standing up for justice. ve seen black lives matter activists in portland and other cities trying mightily to vandalism s of because, as they point out loquently, it certainly distracts from their calls for justice and equality. Mr. Chairman, the associated did an analysis of 200 portland arrests, and they found were charged for onviolent acts did not fit the depiction of an anarchist. They did their analysis, mr. Chairman, on the basis of public records, court documents. I would ask unanimous consent that we could put of the press analysis into the record. Senator cruz wowed. Enator wyden senator cruz withoutobjection. Senator wyden donald trump sent in the secret police to create chaos for political gain. To air in campaign ads fortunately in the days federal forces backed off, the chaos has largely stopped in portland, but the president is getting the scenes of violence or the ads that he wanted and threatened further escalation in portland and elsewhere. This nonsense of leftist anarchy is from far right domestic terrorists. Far right criminals have been aught committing acts of vandalism at the black lives matters protests. This erases the work done by all those who stood up in peaceful protests to declare black lives matter in the wake of murder of backgrounds and all protested calling the end for inequality of violence against black americans. This is a big deflection in a nationwide call for justice. I would like to say that the people of portland did not feel protected by Donald Trumps secret police forces. I agree there is a serious danger to americans Constitutional Rights at this unique moment in history and the president and his enablers are. Alling peaceful protest or and i think perhaps senator erkley is ready now as well. Senator merkley we have heard conflicting stories of portland. And protestors in a very angry state and there were some substantial destruction. Weeks later, that had disappeared, down to a small number of latenight folks and thats when this conversation starts to make the transition to what the federal forces have done. Heres what the scene looked like in portland when the federal proops were arriving. Thousands of people, peacefully protesting holding flowers, dancing, chanting, arguing that we need to have a reform in america so there is equal Public Safety for all, equal justice for all. Wall of moms to protect peaceful protestors. Then at about 11 00 p. M. , the federal forces stormed out of the Federal Building and attacked them. They were armed with military grade tear gas, pepper sprays, batons and they used them all. Picture this, three officers attack 53yearold navy veteran, two hit him with his bat ons. He just wanted to talk about officers arresting protestors. Picture this, a young man stands facing the troops holding a radio over his head and officer standing across the street shoots him in the center of his forehead sending him to the hospital in Critical Condition with a fractured skull. Thousands of portlanders from every corner, every walk of life are assaulted. Disturbing number of them end up with injuries from federal troops and thousands are dealing with militarygrade tear gas. They grabbed protestors and threw them in unmarked vans. The forces have no agency marking. If they do, its hidden. No unique identifier and no way to hold accountable. These features, officers with no identity attacking protestors, sweeping some into unmarked vans are secret Police Tactics from around the world. I never thought an american president would bring such tactics to america but trump. We should pass no secret police in america act if we want to protect peaceful assembly. These tactics were not about arresting anarchists. They are citizens who love their constitution and believe in we the people republic we have the responsibility to call for justice and call they have. Day after day, week after week, these americans inspire me and they should inspire you. Have there been incidents of violence and destruction by a few . Yes. I condemn threatening harm to anyone else. Trumps forces did not arrest violent few, they attacked the peaceful many. There is a world of difference in that. I encourage you to listen to firsthand witnesses. I read a lot of them on the floor. Ellen, a former peace corps volunteer, im standing there the whole time and trying to Pay Attention and thinking i havent heard anything and havent told us we have to clear the street. There was no riot. We were gassed and no one gave warnings. Then came pepper bullets and you could hear it. And i thought i had a helmet on. T hurt so badly even threw the head. They shot and broke my foot. My toes, they split the bone in my big toe and then came more tear gas and the girl on my left, the tear gas and is ter was shot directly into her head. All of us here sworn to defend the constitution should condemn the paramilitary attacks on american citizens. It is unbelievable offense against civil rights here on the streets of our democratic republic. President trump first tried this strategy out in d. C. And deployed unmarked forces while attacking peaceful protestors. In ragged it about it portland and baltimore, philadelphia, new york city, detroit, chicago and oakland and launched an ad saying he is a strong law and order president. He is confused. Using secret Police Tactics against black lives matter protestors doesnt make him but a violent suppressor. President trump retreated, withdrawing his federal agents from portland. The protests have been peaceful celebrations focused on the message of the b. L. M. Movement. I spoke at a chapter of the naacp. These men and women want our nation to reckon with the systemic racism that remains at the heart of so many of our institutions and shaped life in our country. Closing with this quote. Thurgood marshall once said, i wish i could say that racism and prejudice were only distant memories. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy and the fear, hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent because america can do better. Colleagues, america can do better. Merica must do better. Senator cruz well call forward our first panel. Our first panel consists of two government witnesses. Erin nealy cox and mr. Ken cuccinelli. Of the is the cohead department of justices task force on violence antigovernment extremists. Prior to her appointment, she was a Senior Adviser at mackenzie and company and the cybersecurity risk practice. She was an assistant u. S. Attorney in the office she now leads and served as the chief of staff and senior counsel in the office of legal policy in the u. S. Department of justice. She began her legal career with clerkships for a judge from the u. S. Court of appeals for the 5th district and judge sanders for the Northern District of texas. He earned j. D. At the Southern Methodist university and university of texas at austin. Mr. Ken cuccinelli, who is the senior official performing the duties of the deputy secretary of Homeland Security. He oversees the functions of safeguarding the American People and our homeland. Before assuming his current position, he served in the Virginia State senate from 2002 2010 and from 2010 to 2014 he served as the attorney general of virginia. Before serving the public in these positions, he worked in private legal practice. Mr. Cuccinelli earned a j. D. From George Mason University and bachelor of science from the university of virginia. I would ask each of the witnesses to please stand. Nd raise your right hands. Cox and im erin nealy chair of the attorney germs advisory committee. Thank you for inviting me to discuss the justice departments effort to counter violent antigovernment extremism. It hits close to home. A little over a year ago, a gunman carrying an ar15 rifle opened fire on the Federal Court House in dallas which houses the federal judiciary and my office and many other offices. It ripped through the morning as we were arriving for work that day. Several prosecutors were caught in the midst of the attack and resorted to hiding behind cars and one was pushed into a doorway by an officer just as the bullets went past them both. Our office will be grateful to the officers who engaged the shooter ending the attack before innocent lives were lost. To this day, we remain raddled by the gunmans antigovernment motives. A courthouse is one of the essential nodes within the body politic and laws are upheld and justice is metted out to target a courthouse is to target the core of our lawful society. And dallas is no stranger to assault on the rule of law. Three years prior, a gunman targeting Law Enforcement ambushed police during the black lives matter protest. Five officers were killed, 11 other officers were injured including nine officers. This was the deadliest single incident for Law Enforcement in the United States since 9 11. That day in july of 2016 is something etched in our memory. Just as the bullet holes still etched in the federal court ouse remind us daily antigovernment fan atism did not emerge from the 2020 protests. As there are peaceful protests following the tragic events in minneapolis, anarchist exploit this activity as a shield for violent behavior. Somehow the notion of committing violence in the name be it antifa or any of the other ideologies has been imagining traction. Unlike the lawful protestors through demonstrations they undermine, these antigovernment extremists aim to tear down the rule of law and not improve. They are drowning out the voices of the protestors that this country want to hear. We have seen antigovernment violence making headlines. A few examples, in seattle during an anarchist occupation of the capital hill area an individual set fire to a police precinct. Protestors helped to extinguish the blaze. In portland, an anarchist attacked a u. S. Marshal and shouting as other deputies. And all cops are bastards. In oakland, a violent extremism used a peaceful protest to murder an officer. Firing directly at the officer and his partner before taking off. In response to this type of violence, attorney general bar directed a u. S. Attorney for the district of new jersey and me to lead a task force to combat violence, antigovernment extremism. Working in close alcohol bration we aim to prosecute. We will follow the evidence and investigating any person or group who plans to commit or commits violence in the name of anarchist eyed obligation. We focus on cases where they commit federal crimes and prevent these acts before they harm americans. Let me be clear with this final point. Adhering to renugnant eyedology is not a crime. The right to freedom of speech is enshrined in our First Amendment. But committing violence or to further that dogma is a criminal act and one we should take seriously. Extremist violence endanger our communities, our Law Enforcement, but as importantly, it interferes with Citizens Rights to speak freely and assemble freely. Mr. Cuccinelli members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today in the department of Homeland Security in protecting against the continued assaults in the city of portland and more specifically the Federal Court House and the federal Law Enforcement officers there. For more than two months now, federal property and federal Law Enforcement officers in portland have been under assault. In july, it occurred every single night until the end of the month. Violent extremists in portland have perverted the peaceful protests in the aftermath of George Floyds tragic death. As we begin, its important to be Crystal Clear about this. Rioters are not protestors and otestors are not riot i. R. S. Rioters. Let me be clear. The department fully supports the rights of peaceful protestors and never abandon our mission to safeguard those precious and hardfought freedoms. But d. H. S. Did not have to expand its presence in portland because of peaceful protestors and thats why im here today. For more than 60 days, the situation in portland has been continuous nightly riots and lifethreatening violence and targeting Law Enforcement and the institutions they defend under the mandate given to them by congress. They have assaulted federal property, federal officers, local Law Enforcement personnel and facilities with hammers, lasers, baseball bats, fireworks, molotov cocktails, chemicals and other weapons. Mr. Chairman, as you well know, congress in 40 u. S. C. 1315 directs the secretary to use d. H. S. Personnel in order to protect federal property and persons on that property. The federal protective service protects over 9,000 facilities every day pursuant to that law. And its a role that we have performed at the courthouse since it opened in 1997 and around the country since the beginning of 1971. 40 u. S. C. 115 is pursuant to article 1, section 8, clauses 9, 1 and 18 of the constitution,. You should be pleased to know we do not have the option nor do we intend to abandon the mission that congress assigned to us. Some people are more interested in telling the story than in truth have made up a number of lies related to federal officers in portland. Here are some facts. All d. H. S. Law enforcement personnel in portland are trained inappropriate tactics and procedures to conduct our missions while protecting Civil Liberties and promoting Public Safety and the safety of our officers. D. H. S. Law enforcement officers who interact with crowds are all identifiable by Law Enforcement agency and individually. The use of unmarked vehicles by Law Enforcement is common to avoid potential attacks by criminals on a nightly basis. Violent compleemists across the country have intentionally attacked marked Police Vehicles and attempted to set them on fire including with officers in them. In closing, mr. Chairman, let me affirm to the committee and the American People that d. H. S. Will not back away from our responsibilities to protect federal property, the people using those properties and our brave Law Enforcement officers. We remain disappointed that select federal, state and local leaders prefer to demonize law nforcement while could you towing extremists that target Law Enforcement officers for harm or even death. I remind this committee it was a d. H. S. Law enforcement officer who was first killed in the violence following George Floyds tragic death. Patrick underwood was gunned down while protecting a federal ties. Ng in a peaceful pro his wife was also a Law Enforcement officer. Im unaware of the politicians who have demonized Law Enforcement around the country expressing regret of the death of officer underwood. That speaks volumes. D. H. S. Knows the difference between peaceful protesting and violence and terrorism. This country cannot survive allowing mob rule to replace the rule of law. Those hurling molotov cocktails and explosive in portland are not just attacking a Federal Court House but the foundation that make the enjoyment of the ule of law itself. Cox 300 dresk terrorist investigations may 28. Senator cruz mr. Cuccinelli, Speaker Pelosi and another senior House Democrat have referred to federal Law Enforcement officers working for the department of Homeland Security as storm troopers and gestapo. Are there any storm troopers or gestapo working for d. H. S. . Mr. Cuccinelli no, they are not. And it is hyperbolic liable on people who are doing their duty as professionally as they can, not just in portland, but around the country protecting, including those of us in this building. Its very sad to see. Im a former attorney general. I know there are a number of them on this committee and worked with Law Enforcement on an intimate basis and see that characterization of people who get up, only people in america that get up and go to work and ask them to put a gun on and stand between us and evil every day and they do it and do it professionally and that includes in portland. Senator cruz what does it do for officer morale when elected democrats are calling them nazis . Mr. Cuccinelli i dont know these folks get away with it. But when theyre facing an unusual threat and in the 49 years since 1971, they have dealt with approximately 900 protests a year on average recently and yet in all of those years and all of those cities, they have never dealt with a situation like portland. I will say they keep one anothers morale up, but many of them are aghast at the notion that people are using every form of weapon, this is a water bottle frozen and getting thrown at our officers, simplest things in the world, pipes, fireworks, molotov cocktails and yet you continually hear people who know what they are saying is not true. Even in the introductory video, ese are unidentified and you can see who they were working for and each Agency Within the department of Homeland Security and thats true with all the officers. They understand that its politics but a lot of them its gone way, way too far how they go out every day and do their duty. Senator cruz all three Democratic Senators who have spoken this far and use the dentical phrase secret police. Do you deploy secret police . Does d. H. S. Send secret police out into the world and is that what is happening . Mr. Cuccinelli we have no troops and no secret police. And senator merkley, i like the flower picture, but he said since the arrangement was made and didnt characterize it with Governor Brown to bring in state Law Enforcement and police the streets of portland, that things have been rosey. Last night, the local Police Declared a riot. Not the federal but the local police. Senator cruz i see in bright yellow in all caps, the word police. And we are pretty spread out. How exactly is someone with giant all caps with Police Across their chest, what am i missing . Mr. Cuccinelli nothing secret about it. It is the internationally recognized identification of Law Enforcement. Senator cruz they are focusing on unmarked cars. Every Law Enforcement agency of any size or scope uses unmarked vehicles. Any reason why Law Enforcement might want to use unmarked vehicles in an active riot . Mr. Cuccinelli in active riots we have seen those marked vehicles targeted with officers in them. Senator cruz lit on fire . Mr. Cuccinelli thats exactly right. Senator cruz senator merkley also said that President Trump withdrew the Law Enforcement officers and that afterwards the protests have been peaceful. Now as i understand it, both of those statements are false. Is it true the president has withdrawn federal officers from portland . And number two, is it true the protests have been peaceful . Mr. Cuccinelli the local Police Last Night declared a riot. Last monday discussions finally gan with Governor Brown to have the state police come in and engage and do the two things that we have been asking them to do for two months and that is engage in cooperative policing, which is always our goal and it exists everywhere else but portland and to clear the parks across the street that have staging ground. Senator cruz last question, mr. Cuccinelli. In the last six months, how many officer injuries have occurred in portland . Mr. Cuccinelli latest count is 277 injuries. Senator cruz 277 injuries to 140 officers. That is not indicative of a peaceful protest, is it . Mr. Cuccinelli peaceful rotestors arent rioters and rioters arent peaceful protestors. Senator hirono you mentioned in your testimony several times to antigovernment extremeists and mentioned extremists of all persuasions that would include White Supremacists and other rightwing groups. Ms. Cox the task force that im helping to read is aimed squarely at antigovernment violence, so yes, it could be racially motivated with white supremacy. Senator hirono i noted in my opening there have been zero killings by facists but in contrast 329 victims were killed by White Supremacists and other white wing extremists. How much of your resources and time is spent looking at looking at white spremmists . Any group regardless of their name, if they are violent and antigovernment, we will be looking at them. If it is a white supremacist that is gadging in gang or drug activity, that would not fall under the purview of our task force. Senator hirono what would not fall within your task force . White supreme asy groups that are engaging in antigovernment violence. Senator hirono excuse me. They may not be engaging in antigovernment violence but engaging in other violence such as running over people. Does that not concern you . Ms. Cox i have no objection to your identification. We prosecuted those in my district. The only point im making, we are limiting the purview of the task force to violent antigovernment groups whether hey are motivated. Senator hirono antigovernment extremists could be protestors. During the vietnam war, thousands and thousands if not millions were deemed antigovernment protestors. I think that is a dangerous way to think about it. Mr. Cuccinelli, you seem not seem to, you described what your organization did in portland was following standard Law Enforcement procedures. I take it you would not be concerned when the i. G. Looks at the appropriateness of what happened to Christopher Davis who was beaten by a baton and pepper sprayed in his face while he was standing there and nor would you be concerned what happened to donovan who was shot in the head and had to have surgery. I would think that the i. G. Would look into those kinds of force by people at d. H. S. Or you would not be concerned because this is all standard Law Enforcement practice . Mr. Cuccinelli we are concerned with anyone at any of these events. Both of the two that you identified are being addressed by the d. O. J. Inspector general and do not involve d. H. S. Officers. Senator hirono you would have concern if d. H. S. Officers were doing those things against peaceful protestors. Thats good to know. Last week, aclu had court i declarations from multiple journalists that federal agents in portland specifically attacked them even though they were marked as the press. E journalist described a officer shot him at the chest. And he had conflict zones around he world and isis. Have you instructed d. H. S. They must not target or use force ainst press activities snr mr. Cuccinelli in portland specifically that was a subject of further discussion with just those officers there. All our officers that get training that addresses that subject. But in portland, it was addressed in must terse as well. Senator hirono if something happens as a result of your investigation by targeting journalists . Mr. Cuccinelli we havent targeted jourmists. But we investigate every single use of force. Every single one of them will be reviewed. Senator cruz rioters, terrorists or murderers. On thics change on the press. It is my understanding that some of them are identifying themselves as press. And if someone has an identification of press and they engage in violent conduct and physically assault an officer, they are not immune from the criminal laws if they engage in a violent assault, is that right . Mr. Cuccinelli thats correct. In portland, there was an incident between local Law Enforcement and press that led to a federal court order that was later extended without a similar type of incident in our view to all Law Enforcement meaning all Law Enforcement as well and we respected that order. But upon the implementation of that order, suddenly people sprouted wearing all black lock and press. Senator cruz you mean the uniforms of these rioters . Mr. Cuccinelli makes it hard to distinguish one from the other. And make up for quick changes so they can change their appearance as well. More of them are doing that with the addition of press across their front or back and you can watch seattle video where they will literally stand in the middle of a gap between police and rioters and right in the middle of the line of the rioters so they are performing a shield function. Im not saying the majority of them do this. Once the court singled them out, there is no question that a number of the violent participants in these activities tried to take advantage of it. Senator hirono before we get to the next may i introduce a law. This is from the Oregon Attorney germ who submitted a statement and she explained that in portland, the federal agents quote use of force becomes even more chilling when taken in the context of the aparent federal mission. Based on federal comment starting with the president itself and the eXcessive Force was point of this exercise and the language that federal authorities used dominate the acks of federal officers on the grounds and took that and no evidence they were doing to single the anarchists. I do skk ask unanimous consent to enter the statement into the record. Senator cruz the letter will be entered into the record. Graham senator graham to those who accuse the United States of being a totalitarian. And call the gestapo in and who you are beating up and why. I dont remember open press of whats going on and these things have been covered. I want to live in america that cops are held accountable. You wear a gun and badge you have a lot of power and your actions need to be judged and monitored, correct . Yes. Graham senator graham you want to live in a country where they have got your back . How many people have been prosecuted any prosecutions in the making for the 200 something injuries . Mr. Cuccinelli there are. I dont know the exact number of cases. Ms. Cox out of the district of oregon, we have 97 areases. Senator graham im going to be watching really hard whether or not the people who attacked our officers are prosecuted. And i will join my democratic colleagues to make sure the i. G. Looks really hard at any excessive use of force. I think most americans, if a cop is going overboard, we want to know about it and take corrective action. Most americans wants to make sure that someone who throws a brick or bolt of water at a Police Officer that they have their day in court, too. I put you on notice that we will hold you accountable for prosecuting those who hurt our cops. Now if we have done nothing, what would have happened to the courthouse in portland . Mr. Cuccinelli wouldnt be there. Senator graham i challenge anybody to say it different. Seattle, were you in seattle, either one of you in seattle when they took over part of the town . Did we send anybody in there to help . Mr. Cuccinelli we were not requested. Senator graham they worked it out in seattle after they took over part of the town. What happened to mr. Floyd, trying to occupy a society and turn it into a socialist enclave. We have a lot going on in this country. Chicago. I dont know whats happening in chicago, but this is not about mr. Floyd. Young kids are getting killed just outside their house. Somebody needs to do something about it. My point is that this committee and i appreciate senator cruise is going to senator cruz, is going to look at all of it. Should the federal government help. How many kids have to die every weekend before enough is enough . As to the state police in portland, im glad you are there. I hope it works out. If you cant take care of it, we will. That is not being totalitarian. That is applying the law that exists in the United States. Federal responsibility to take care of the United States. Mr. Cuccinelli yes. Senator graham there are people out there who would kill you because of your race, White Supremacists groups are alive. Ms. Cox yes. They have existed for some time. Ms. Graham director wray said they are on the rise and i want you to bust their as smp. We are not going to live in an america like this. If you are a white supremacist if you are engaging in violence. I dont want any american, black, white, anything in between to be afraid to live in their own country and let their kids go outside and play at flight and cant go downtown to one of the major cities. To both of you, thank you for your service. Pass on to those under your charge that we appreciate them. At least i dont consider them gestapo but if they get out of line, they will be dealt with. That is what the rule is all about. Thank you for having this hearing. Nator cruz thank you, chairman. Senator durbin violence or violence are not acceptable in the exercise of ones Constitutional Rights. Peaceful demonstrators and Police Officers are entitled to do so without threat or harm. Ford, i express my condolences for any law officer who loses his life in the line of duty and i regret any peaceful demonstrator who has been killed in the lawful exercise of their Constitutional Rights. Patrick underwood, i regret his passing and his death. The chairman started this meeting saying we are talking about the leftists. Patrick underwood was not killed by a leftist but an organization the rightwing extremist organize. A person has been charged with this crime. It aint just leftist. There are supremacists who are engaged in many places. Tomorrow is the affers, mr. Chairman, oneyear anniversary of the mass shooting at the walmart in el paso, texas. 21yearold white supremacist and i wont repeat his name with anticipate immigrant views killed 23 people and injured 23 others. It is the worst racial extremism in American History against hispanicamericans. F. B. I. And d. H. S. Joined a bulletin and found that white supremacist poses a threat of legal violence. White supremacists were responsible for more homicides from 2016 than any other domestic extremist group, white or left. F. B. I. Director wray told me the majority of domestic terrorism involves White Supremacists. And yet the Trump Administration has made the inex politicable and irresponsible decision to stop tracking White Supremacists incidents as a separate category. Since may, 2019, i have sent three letters to the attorney germ and f. B. I. Director asking why they are doing this at a time when we should be combatting the growth of white supremacist violence that targets minorities and communities of color. The f. B. I. And d. O. J. Are not taking adequate measures to combat white supremacist violence and minimizing the threat. Instead of focusing on the real threat motivated by white supreme asy, terrorists who have killed americans, the trum administration has tried to villify protestors and conflate protesting. Cox, in your statement you say proactive focus on violent extremists is not on membership or particular groups or ideologies or belief but on criminal activity or vial especially. You say that twice. Do you believe that White Supremacists pose our most significant threat . Ms. Cox we have a number of investigations that involve white supremacist groups. The majority of domestic terrorist investigations were white supreme asy involved. Senator durbin can you explain why your department has stopped tracking White Supremacists as a separate category . Ms. Cox i do not know about that. Senator durbin department of Homeland Security has recognized the particular threat by extremists that target racial and religious minorities. A strategic framework report on violence while President Trump was the president , it said White Supremacists violence and is one of the most potent forces driving domestic terrorism. Do you agree that white supremacist violence extremism is one of the most potent forces driving domestic terrorism . Mr. Cuccinelli i do. And it is not correct to say we have ignored it. Senator durbin what have you done . Mr. Cuccinelli you cite one element, which is d. H. S. Has the primary responsibility for and communicating the information to satan local authorities that we get sometimes from others and increased that effort. Senator durbin the ordinary and customary relationship between the federal government and state and local Law Enforcement is not what happened in portland. Can i ask one last question. D. H. S. That any personnel to support operation legend will be under the control of the department of justice and report to d. O. J. Officials . Ms. Cox there are d. O. J. Law enforcement to help reduce Violent Crime in certain cities and chicago is one of them. They will be collaborating and be our partner. Senator durbin there is a genuine concern about some wide arranging Immigration Enforcement as part of this. Were you aware of any plans to use these d. H. S. Officials that have been assigned to operation legend for Immigration Enforcement . Ms. Cox im not. Hat initiative is meant to reduce Violent Crime. Senator durbin started in kansas city for that very reason. Senator cruz thank you, senator durbin. Mr. Cuccinelli would you like me to address the federal officials . Senator durbin if the chairman will allow. Mr. Cuccinelli the investigators who have Extraordinary International gang experience are among the cooperating agents in operation legend including in chicago where they have made a number of arrests. But thats the engagement. It is not to perform immigration functions inso far as they gathered experience. Latin kings span our National Borders which brings the expertise in the picture. That is their role and we are working with our partners to help make cities safer. Senator cruz senator durbin referenced el paso and the horrific mass murder there. I was in el paso in the aftermath of that. At racist targeted hispanicamericans. I am a hispanicamerican. I consoled the victims. And i would say one of the odd things, our democratic colleagues repeatedly refer to what they call rightwing and cite whilet supremacist and could certainly cite the klan. I will say what senator graham. They are big on thed, violent monsters and should be thrown in jail. I condemn anyone who engages in violence whether they are right on the left. Sadly what is missing, too many in the Democratic Party refuse senator antifa, hirono has said no one was killed from that side of the aisle. I was in 2016 in dallas when Police Officers were murdered by a black lives matter protest. Nd this shouldnt be a political game. Dont kill people. Dont set police cars on fire. Mr. Cuccinelli, those who are engaged in rioting in portland, the 277 officer injuries that have occurred, whos doing it . Mr. Cuccinelli well, as i said rioters are not protestors and protestors are not rioters. The violent behind behind the people and use them for proper text using lasers. We have had more eye injuries. This is commercialally available laser that you see and you are seeing them used in portland to a degree that we have never seen before. If i hold my hand in front of that laser, its hot. This is a pointer you buy off of amazon and we are seeing some of the oldfashioned, a rock, oldest weapon known to man along with new items like this that we have never seen used in an organized fashion against our officers, their eyes. And we have had more eye injuries than i can ever remember in another incident. Of all of our injuries, eyes are number one. 113 out of 277. Hearing is next and what we call contact with an object, which is senator cruz you showed me that commercial grade laser and it is like a laser pointer you might see at home. What mr. Cuccinelli shined it in your hand, it will burn and as i understand it, it is not a pointer but a serious weapon that they are using to cause permanent blindness in Law Enforcement officers, is that right . Mr. Cuccinelli thats the attempt. The closer you get. This is a shield, what i want to draw your attention to is the hole in the shield. A tactic that quickly developed among the violent participants in these activities was to cut the holes in the shields and instead of standing in the back of the crowd and aiming at the eyes of officers, they will also now bring the shield up close and bring right up into you. The intensity of the strike to the eyes of the officers is much more significant. For those of you who are engineers like me, its a square function. He twice far away, it is quarter of the energy. These are tools they are using nd regular item you buy on amazon that is causing permanent damage. 49 years with the federal protective service they have never seen anything like portland. Senator cruz senator lee. Senator lee what happens when you take a laser and point it into the eyes of a human being . Mr. Cuccinelli there is a twosecond look away reaction. One of the challenges is if you are not looking at the person assaulting you with the laser, you cant figure out who is performing the assault. You think of it, you are trying to shield your eye and do your job. We have had a number of officers who had days long blindness. They have all kind of come back, if you will. But you get flash blindness. Ink of it as the old kodak cameras and you cant see that. Senator lee in addition to longterm or shortterm damage, it make it more dangerous for the officer and the officer recoils. Mr. Cuccinelli that is a clearly planned exercise. Senator lee device like this one can be bought by anyone doesnt run out of its supply, at least not in a single protest and shine that all night long and still do its harm. I find it so intriguing about all this, even in 2020, as crazy as this year is, seems doubly crazy we are using terms like this and coonflating terms like peaceful protests and anarchists. Enforcing laws bens one group of people and not another, based on whether we agree. Tell me about this picture right here. Mr. Cuccinelli what youve got is the most common laser is the green and the things you learn doing these jobs. Your eye, the human eye sees the green part of the spectrum than red, Something Like 10 times brighter. And also, all of this is happening at night. There is peaceful this is the portland formula. There is peaceful protesting until 10 00 or 11 00. And then go away. The group that comes back is much bigger and they come back for violence. Senator lee my mom told me nothing good happens after midnight. Mr. Cuccinelli absolutely night. We had accelerants powered into the courthouse while commercial grade mortarstyle fireworks were being shot into the doors in an attempt to light it and the side doors were being blocked and barricaded closed. And the last picture you see here, little dark to see, they are holding a fire hose that they hooked up to the courthouse. These are our c. B. P. Officers because the rioters would continuously set fires and throw a ton of trash over the fence and light it on fire and what amounted to homemade grenades. There is a snap out of that video where you see two of those explosives coming in. They both explode early and dont get so close that they impact the officers. But you can see the potential for harm with many of these devices. And this gun was pulled off one of the protestors. Senator lee wide wildly available, equipment is used in a novel way. This is the thing you dont xpect to arrive spontaneously. Mr. Cuccinelli there has been evolution of the negative tactics over the course of time. F you look back out of minneapolis, go back to where george floyd was killed by that officer and the fight that ensued in the streets of minneapolis beyond just protesting, many of those violent participants got together and wrote up their lessons learned, an afteraction report for criminals. And they publish this and you see the same thing going on in other parts of the country and can send you that long and extensive. And if you werent evil, you would read the quality of the material and you would say, this is a high quality analysis. And thats on the other side. Thats what we are facing and evolving all the mr. Lee does the federal government have General Police powers . Mr. Cuccinelli no. Mr. Lee how does this differ from that . Tell me why i shouldnt have that concern here. Mr. Cuccinelli all of the d. H. S. Officers are crossdesignated as federal protective service officers. The marshals have the inside of the courthouse and protect it dutifully. F. B. S. Protects the outside. Theres also two doors down, if you will, another Federal Building, and in between is the biggest local target for violence, the mulnona mulnoma justice center. Theres three buildings. Courthouse. Local justice center. Federal building. And across the street from all three are parks. Which have performed the function of staging areas for rioters. For criminals. The powers being exercised by the federal authorities are to protect the federal facilities. That is it. Even when we go off those properties, which the statute from Congress Says we can do, it is for the purpose of performing that function. So if someone assaults a Law Enforcement officer at the courthouse, we can go arrest that person anywhere in pursuit of that particular authority. But that doesnt mean we can police the streets of portland and hand out tickets for speeding or doing other things and thats for portland ability state police. Mr. Lee for these apparently orchestrated violent repeated attacks on federal courthouses and other federal personnel and facilities, would you have ever sent federal personnel into that zone . Mr. Cuccinelli of course the f. B. S. Officers are always there. But i assume you mean added more . Through june, f. P. S. Continued to add their own officers as the violence escalated. And if you look in may and june, we have a graphic compilation i can send to each of you that shows the number of days of attacks on federal facilities. And in may and june, that total was 12 for both months. Total. In july, as of july 29, it was 29. So every single day. The escalation of the targeting of federal facilities led the commander on the scene of the federal protective service to request supplemental department of Homeland Security officers because they didnt have enough in the region and given their other duties any longer, after they had already added their own. Thats why, pure circumstances on the ground, at the request of the local commander, who has always been the regional commander there, and that region is a lively one with portland and seattle in the same region. They have some experience here. This has happened not to this degree, but assaults on federal facilities happened two years ago and the mayor of portland publicly disclaimed Police Protection for that facility. So we have mr. Lee thank you. Ill ask that that document be submitted to the committee and, without objection, it will be entered into the record. Senator whitehouse. White white thank you, mr. Chairman mr. Whitehouse thank you, chairman. You indicated that there is no sort of afteraction report for criminals to engage in violence who engage in violence. I think actually there is and its what ms. Cox does. And i wish both of you well in bringing to justice people who have done harm to Law Enforcement officers. With respect to lasers, i actually am the person who wrote and passed a law to dangers ilots from the of laser attacks from the ground, which had begun to pop up as a strange thing to want to do. But there it is. I think you both agree that we do hold our Law Enforcement personnel to a far higher standard than we expect the general public to adhere to. Is that correct . Mr. Cuccinelli certainly is a professional matter, yes. Ms. Cox yes, it is. Mr. Whitehouse and very often Law Enforcement personnel are engaging with people during what they would probably look back on and see as one of the worst times of their lives, when they are upset when they are emotional, when they are perhaps intoxicated. And so the conduct Law Enforcement officers customarily must face is often inappropriate conduct, is it not . Ms. Cox it is. Mr. Cuccinelli thats correct. Mr. Whitehouse and being prepared and trained to deal with that is part of what a good Law Enforcement officer does. Is that also correct . Ms. Cox certainly. Mr. Cuccinelli yes. Mr. Whitehouse ok. So walk me through, in the light of your testimony that there are protesters and there are rioters. There is peaceful protesting and there is violence and terrorism. And that the federal officers you supervised were trained in the conduct of appropriate tactics and procedures. You and i have both seen the footage, i assume youve seen it a good deal more than i have, given your professional responsibilities, of a tall individual wearing a gray navy or maybe Naval Academy sweat shirt who is in the clip that ive seen standing relatively immobile. His hands are down by his sides. Hes not in an aggressive or combative stance. And he is one. And around him are perhaps half a dozen, maybe more, off the screen more off the screen, officers in essentially combat gear. And one of them engages in a strike with his baton and if my recollection of the film is correct, a second strike and then a third. And the individual who is being struck does not react and yet the strikes keep coming. Walk me through why that standing individual was a rioter engaged in violence and terrorism and why that conduct by that officer was appropriate. Mr. Cuccinelli im not prepared to characterize chris david that way. That is obviously under investigation. But i would not characterize mr. Whitehouse whats under investigation . Mr. Cuccinelli that interaction that you thats a subject of that interaction, use of force. Thats the subject of an i. G. Investigation. Mr. Whitehouse an i. G. Investigation . Mr. Cuccinelli yes, sir. Mr. Whitehouse but not any other investigation . Mr. Cuccinelli i have to defer. This is a u. S. Marshall. So we i dont have i have not interviewed those folks. Mr. Whitehouse i cant tell very well who is who from these films because theyre wearing similar garb and its very often hard to find out, without being very close, who they report to or what the uniform is. So forgive pe if i dont know the difference. Ms. Cocks, could you explain how thakse ms. Cox, could you explain how that is conduct . Youll concede that mr. Davids conduct in that clip at least was not that of a rioter and was not violent terrorist conduct. Ms. Cox senator, i know that that incident in particular is under investigation by the i. G. As well as an internal investigation with the u. S. Marshall stfer. Service. Mr. Whitehouse ok. Ms. Cox i dont have any more facts about what was happening before or during that. Those facts will be developed in the investigation and i dont want my comments to affect that at all. Mr. Whitehouse yeah. It looks very much like a person who was standing very still and being as harmless as he can be and who was alone, surrounded by officers, whose garb is a sweat shirt compared to tactical gear, who has no weapon compared to pepper spray, mace, whatever they have, as well as the batons. And who takes a pretty damned hard beating. All things considered. And i think its episodes like that that cause legitimate concern. Particularly in light of the allimportant standard that we know as people who have spent time in Law Enforcement, members of Law Enforcement have to adhere to. Thank you. Thank you, senator whitehouse. I recognize yall are constrained in terms of commenting on an active investigation. But ill ask a simple hypothetical. If the only facts were as senator whitehouse suggested, if an individual were standing in a sweat shirt, engaged in no violence, standing there doing nothing, and any federal officer walked up and hit him three times in with a bataan for no reason whatsoever, if thats what occurred, you would be quite comfortable saying that is an abuse of power, to beat someone with a baton for no reason. Mr. Cruz and to be clear, thats very different from if before the clip in question the individual engaged in an act of violence. I mean, the context in these investigations always matters. But if the only facts are as senator whitehouse said, that someone was standing there and beaten for no reason, youd be comfortable saying that is not federal Law Enforcement officers are not allowed to beat people for no reason. Mr. Cuccinelli we train them exactly the opposite. Ms. Cox i would agree. Federal Law Enforcement officers are not allowed to beat people. Mr. Cruz thats why you have investigations, because you dont know if those are the only facts or if there is other conduct, perhaps not captured on a snippet on the internet. Mr. Cuccinelli mr. Chairman, if i may. Look, i know, as i said earlier, a good half of this committee or so have been former attorneys general, have served in one relationship or another with Law Enforcement. And so i understand there to be a great deal of respect for Law Enforcement. I, nor i assume anyone on this committee, expects them to be perfect. While at the same time holding them to the kind of higher standard that senator whitehouse just referenced. That is all true, all at the same time. And we have to continue to enforce the law while correcting whatever mistakes do arise without stopping the enforcement of the law. Stopping the enforcement of the law here would end up without a courthouse in portland. Mr. Cruz senator blackburn by video. Mrs. Black thank you, mr. Airman, and thank you mrs. Blackburn thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you all for being here and i appreciate us having this hearing and i know that our constituents i hear from tennesseans every single day about how very concerned they are. So, let me just kind of follow on with where we are right now. Mr. Seuss nellie. While your teams are out there stopping rioters, how do they make that turn and protect Peaceful Protesters . Because they have to do each at the same time. So how do they work, how to do do they handle this, how do they segment the crowd so people who are peaceful are protected and rioters who are there for the purpose of violence and injury and harm and destruction so, that they are properly dealt with . Mr. Cuccinelli senator, that balance is so critical to their work. I appreciate the question. And it goes also to senator whitehouses question twor of them actually or two of them actually. Professional Law Enforcement officers encounter people in tense situations and theyre the ones we look to to deescalate. All of our officers are trained in deescalation techniques. I would also note for you, just by way of one anecdote, in the middle of these in riots, so, i believe it was marshalls had detained an individual who had assaulted a Law Enforcement officer and that person immediately had a seizure. And was in immediate medical need. Arby present were the c. B. P. Borstar, the medical team, immediately moved in. And the bore tack team cleared the crowd bortac team cleared the crowd. They had to move the crowd away to be able to help the person who had just been assaulting their colleagues moments before. They obviously did that in partnership with the marshals. Went through a series of attempts to treat this individual, had 180 heart rate. Respiration was way up. Finally administered identified a drug to be administered to stop the seizure and save that persons life. Within seconds of that same person having been attacking their fellow Law Enforcement officers. So, yes, what senator whitehouse referred to happened. And that investigation will go through. And it should. But understand you dont see reported all of the protective steps that your professional Law Enforcement officers take every day, not just as youd suggested, senator blackburn, to protect Peaceful Protesters, which they are absolutely seeking to do. But to actually care for the very people who are harming them. And that kind of ability, that nimbleness, that flexibility and strength is really a hallmark by and large of 99 plus of our officers. And while we have to fix the mistakes, as they arise, we cannot sacrifice the rule of law to do that. And we do do it in tandem with the protection of First Amendment rights. Thats a huge part of why the larger number of officers is needed. So that you can maintain peace, not simply arrest people. So those protests can continue. Mrs. Blackburn i think thats very important point to make. They are protecting people who have come to express their opinion, and at the same time theyre having to deal with these rioters who are there to destroy property, to harm people. I think that speaks to the training and the professionalism. When they put that uniform on, they dont know if it is going to be all peaceful protests, or if theyre going there are going to be the disrupters and destroyers that show up that theyre going to have to deal with. So we thank these men and women for their commitment. Ms. Cox, i wanted to ask you. The d. O. J. Task force that is looking at these extremist groups, and i want to cell down specifically to these that drill down specifically to these that are on the streets carrying out the destruction. We keep hearing that these attacks are very organized. They come with the lasers and the bats and the pallets of bricks and then they carry out their destruction. The work that you all are doing, are you figuring out who is organizing this, who is in charge, who is funding it, who is putting money behind these disruptive parties . Ms. Cox yes, senator, that is part of the task force and we will be looking into that. Its obvious to anyone that looks at it, theres some level of organization. Weve seen also some coordination, some Radio Communication on the ground and some jamming of Law Enforcement communication. I will tell you, though, that one thing that makes it incredibly hard is that were finding evidence that some of these some of these rioters are using encrypted apps. And i know senator blackburn has offered some legislation to deal with encryption when Law Enforcement has probable cause and goes to a neutral magistrate to get access to those communications, thats very important and child ex employ in Child Exploitation cases and drug cases and its going to be very important here. I would mention that these cases are challenging already. But we have several people that are looking into it. Mrs. Blackburn thank you so much. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the hearing. And i yield back. Mr. Cruz thank you, senator blackburn. Senator coons. Mr. Coons thank you, chairman, thank you to our witnesses. Ill likely miss the second panel given how long this has gone. I join many might have colleagues in expressing concerns about the intersection between important Widespread National protests against the brutal killing of george floyd, expressing concern about Racial Injustice and the ways in which the injection of federal Law Enforcement into portland may have exacerbated rather than reduced incidents of violence. Let me just be clear about something that seems to have been repeatedly covered but is worth covering again. There is no one here condoning or encouraging or supporting violence by either protesters or Law Enforcement, if unlawful and unnecessary. And i hope that Ranking Member hironos comments to that effect were heard loud and clear. I think my colleague, the senator from illinois, senator durbin, expressed clearly, and ill join him in that, that we need to hold accountable perpetrators of violence. Those who have caused any injury or harm to Law Enforcement, our Law Enforcement officers have a difficult and demanding job and youre right, virtually all of us have worked with or alongside Law Enforcement. But we also have to have policing resources deployed in a transparent, professional and appropriate way. Theres a lot of concerns expressed pointedly by both u. S. Senators from the state of oregon at the outset of this hearing about the conduct of federal Law Enforcement in portland and the relationship and connection with state and local elected officials. So, let me just briefly ask a few questions about that, if i can. Mr. Cuccinelli, an internal d. H. S. Memo reportedly warned that c. B. P. Agents and othered deployed to portland were not specifically trained for responding to mass demonstrations. Something that requires specific training. And that internal memo called for additional training for deployments. Have all deployed federal agents received appropriate training on responding to democrat strailingses . Mr. Cuccinelli yes demonstrations . Mr. Cuccinelli yes. There are differents between how f. P. S. Is trained versus i. C. E. , s. R. T. , both s. H. I. And c. P c. B. P. But they have all had mr. Cruz for clarity, can you detail what those acronyms are for . Mr. Cuccinelli sorry. Ive settled into d. H. S. Very thoroughly. So i. C. E. Of course you know. And they have the removal officer side of the house and then they have the Homeland Security investigation side of the house. They each have their own swat teams. E. R. O. Handles prisons. We have prisons there. So they train theyll have similar training to bureau of prisons mr. Cruz can i suggest that a mass demonstration of Peaceful Protesters is different from mr. Cuccinelli absolutely. Mr. Coons a riot in a prison . Mr. Cuccinelli absolutely. The training they get, however, is how to contend with on a dynamic basis crowd dynamics in a violent environment. How to move the crowd for a short duration. Whereas f. P. S. Has training about defending with, again, dealing with a crowd, a facility. Which is what theyre used to doing. Mr. Coons could you tell me how many hours of crowd control training these different federal forces receive before being deployed into portland . Mr. Cuccinelli so that i dont know, senator. Off the top of my head. But im happy to get you that. Including by department. Mr. Coons let me move on. Thank you. The pentagon raised concerns about d. H. S. s use of military camouflage in portland. Saying, quote, we want a system where people can tell the difference. Between Law Enforcement and the armed forces. What purpose did it serve for d. H. S. To use military camouflage in a crowd control setting . Mr. Cuccinelli that wasnt chosen because there was a crowd control setting. That was c. B. P. Officers whose normal duty stations are along the border. And they came with what they had. Now, we have moved as quickly as we could to procure for them what you think of as the solid green c. B. P. Uniform, much like you see the solid blue for f. P. S. Mr. Coons is it partly to help with providing some visual indication that this is Law Enforcement . Not militia . Mr. Cuccinelli that is already done. They have police on front and back. The universal declaration of Law Enforcement. And the specific agencies are identified on each of their shoulders. Along with an individual identifier. But not their name. Ecause theyve been being fouad mr. Coons is every officer identified that they can be tied to a specific federal Law Enforcement agency . Mr. Cuccinelli not only Law Enforcement agency but that particular individual can be identified by what amounts to a badge number on their person that is displayed for the public to see. Mr. Coons one of the things highlighted by both senators was reports of agents using aggressive tactics to respond to protesters in portland. I think my colleague from rhode island was focusing on a specific such incident. There was one where a film maker was shot knit face with pepper balls. A woman was shot in the head with a plastic bullet and maced at close range. Should federal officers aim impact munitions at the head or use mace or pepper spray or bullets, excuse me, rubber bullets when its clear protesters are attempting to comply with their orders . Mr. Cuccinelli well, youve listed a wide array of devices mr. Coons when protesters are attempting to comply with police orders, should they nonetheless be the subject of tear gas or mr. Cuccinelli when an entire group that is being contended with is in compliance, then i would agree with you. One of the challenges that we face is when one, two, more people are or not complying. Where you have differences if close proximity to one another. But Something Like mace, for instance, or pepper spray is a very short range tool and is for those sorts of circumstances. Mr. Coons could you make the rules of engagement that d. H. S. Is using or will continue to use available to the committee . And youve both mentioned there is an ongoing Inspector General investigation into the tactics that were used in portland. Will you commit to sitting for an interview and producing relevant documents if the Inspector Generals office requests of it you . Mr. Cuccinelli yes. And we frankly look forward to cooperating with that investigation. We want that cleared up and concluded as quickly as im sure you do, senator. Mr. Coons thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Cruz thank you, senator coons. Senator blumenthal. Mr. Blumenthal thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you both for being here today. And for your service. Mr. Cuccinelli, id like to ask you a few questions about the office of intelligence and analysis. Specifically im sure youre aware that last month it was reported that the office of intelligence and analysis compiled and distributed intelligence reports about two american journalists who published documents about d. H. S. Operations in portland. There have also been reports, as youre aware, that o. I. A. Collected information from the Electronic Communications of protesters in portland. Would you agree with me that these kinds of activities are inappropriate, maybe illegal, under the first and Fourth Amendment . Mr. Cuccinelli we certainly do not collect on journalists and the publication of journalists raw material with their identifiers was quickly addressed by the acting secretary wolf and so mr. Blumenthal he removed murphy from his position. Started an investigation. I just want to make clear. Would you agree that these kinds of activities are inappropriate. Mr. Cuccinelli its the second part of your question that im not so readily agreeable to, senator. We do look at open source material to see what people themselves declare they intend to do. So to the extent the second part of your question would cover that, then i might disagree with you. However, as it relates to journalists, i most certainly do. As does the secretary, as he stated very emphatically last week. Mr. Blumenthal let me ask you about a report that appeared in politico on sunday. That earlier this year you signed off on a change had d. H. S. On d. H. S. Procedures that in effect limited the role of the office of civil rights and Civil Liberties which in effect reviewed any distribution of material by the o. I. A. Before it occurred. You evidently eliminated that review procedure. So its no longer required. Is that correct . Mr. Cuccinelli no. Thats not a correct characterization. I did south korea sign a memo address i did seen a memo addressing interaction you, but its not respect to all of their products. There are two types of products. Raw intelligence, which is what you were referring to in your earlier question, and what we call finished intelligence products where a variety of different sources are gathered, analysis think of it like a formal report. Those crcl does review. And what my memo did was change the when there is a difference of opinion between e crcl person and the i. N. A. Undersecretary about whether a particular final product is appropriate to continue forward and be published to the intelligence community, prior to my memo, that would have been appealed to me, the deputy secretary. I took myself out of that loop and left the undersecretary for intelligence and analysis as the final Decision Maker on those instances. I will tell you in the four months in my office before signing that memo, i never had one come up to me. Mr. Blumenthal was the purpose of removing or changing the procedure . Mr. Cuccinelli the purpose was to contain it all within the i. N. A. Undersecretary at. And the belief at that time is that is an ordinarily senateconfirmed position. At that time dave glaway was there, senate confirmed. He only recently left. So he would have to weigh those considerations in making that decision. Mr. Blumenthal well, the House Intelligence Committee evidently has begun an investigation into a number of these issues, specifically the collection and surveillance issues that weve discussed. Will you commit to cooperating with that investigation . Mr. Cuccinelli yes, absolutely, senator. Mr. Blumenthal thank you much i want to ask a question about, if i may, its a little bit off topic. Uscis funding. Mr. Cuccinelli sure. Mr. Blumenthal and thank you for answering these questions. I understand furloughs have been announced. But for this fiscal year, uscis has a surplus. Is there a reason why these furloughs have to go ahead as of the end of august . And i just want to state how strongly and passionately i feel about the great work that the men and women of the uscis do, i hope you agree, in enabling people to become citizens lawfully. I go to these ceremonies all the time. I urge my colleagues to do so as well. If you are ever feeling down or depressed about america, go to a naturalization ceremony. If theres a surplus, can you commit that these employees will be kept on the job . Mr. Cuccinelli so, senator, we dont have what i would call a surplus. Theres money in the bank. But its running out. And because uscis is 97 fee as a , it has to have matter of Business Planning about three months worth of operating capital at the start to be iscal year carried over, to be able to essentially survive and pay everyone until the end of the calendar year. The end of the First Quarter of the fiscal year. And we are to be carried not on a path to be able to do that, which is why uscis has come to you all and asked for Borrowing Authority or to cover that gap thats resulted because of the covid rop in fees. Mr. Blumenthal thank you for answering my question. My time has expired. Id like to get some of the answers in writing and ill repeat them to you. Im going to be sending out a letter later in the week. Thank you. Mr. Cuccinelli and i couldnt urge your colleagues more about the naturalization ceremonies. They never cease to stir your patriotic soul and its just an amazing experience to go through, especially those of us born here, blessed to be americans our whole lives. Its a reminder of what we shouldnt take for granted. The fact that were even talking here today about a subject like this, as senator graham referred to, is historical. So thank you. Mr. Blumenthal thank you. Mr. Cruz thank you. Let me thank both of our witnesses, ms. Cox, mr. Cuccinelli, for your testimony. I think this has been helpful and productive. With that, well excuse the first panel and call fourth the second panel and move into the second panel of the hearing. Ms. Cox thank you. Mr. Cuccinelli thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Cruz im told the witnesses are on their way so well proceed as soon as they get here. Mr. Cruz all right. The hearing will recon vone now that our witnesses have arrived reconvene now that our witnesses have arrived. We have five witnesses on our panel. Two witness and the rest testifying remotely. An independent journalist and photographer has provided americans a window into the protests that have racked portland and seement and the Pacific Northwest more broadly. In the past several years. Hes the editor at large at the post millennial and his written work has been published in the wall street journal, the New York Post , real clear politics and fox news. Millions online have viewed his videos, covering antifa and relate prod tests. Mr. No is a graduate of the university of californialos angeles. And Portland State university. E second witness is mr. Kyle shiddler. Hes the Senior Analyst for Homeland Security and counterterrorism at the center for Security Policy. In that role, he researches and analyzes domestic threats with an emphasis on doctrines that fuel terrorism. Hes writing his writing has appeared in the federalist, the hill, foxnews. Com, and the clairemont review of books. Hes a graduate of Boston University and was a lincoln fellow at the collar month institute. Our next witness is professor turley. Professor turley is an attorney, columnist and schapiro chair for Public Interest law at the George WashingtonUniversity Law school. Professor turley is a nationally is nationally recognized for his scholarship in a diverse range of legal areas and has published dozens of academic articles in the nations leading law journals. As a practicing attorney, professor turley has litigated several high profile disputes throughout his legal career. He earned his j. D. From the Northwestern Pritzker School of law and his b. A. From the university of chicago. Our next witness is mr. Michael german, mr. German is a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice Liberty and National Security program. A former special agent with the federal bureau of investigation, his work focuses on Law Enforcement and intelligence oversight and reform. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, he served as the policy Council Counsel for National Security and privacy for the american civil liberty unions washington legislative action office. Harman l witness is ms. Johnson. Ms. Harman johnson currently worksed a the president and c. E. O. Of the urban league of portland. Immediately prior to her current position, she served in the office of the governor of oregon and the office of the United States trade representatives. Ms. Harman johnson is also a former staff member for u. S. Representative Sheila Jackson lee from the great state of texas, and for u. S. Senator debbie stabenow. I would ask each of the witnesses here in person to please stand and be sworn in, raise your right hand, please. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . And now the rules provide that each of the Long Distance witnesses must be separately sworn in. So, ms. Harman johnson, do you swear, affirm that the testimony youre about to give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Senator cruz, i do. Mr. Cruz mr. German, do you swear or affirm that the testimony youre about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Senator cruz, i do. Mr. Cruz very good. E will start with the prepared testimony, mr. No, youre recognized. [indiscernible] mr. Cruz please make sure youve turned your microphone on which is the switch right in the center of the microphone. On the base. Chau, chairman cruz, Ranking Member hirono, and members of the committee. Antifa is not a myth. I have been reporting on its activities since 2016. Its threats to my family and me have proved all too real. Mr. Ngo as any good journalist knows, the most important stories are often those not eing told. Told. Ory is not being americans know very little about this. I made antifa my beat and that makes me a target. They use violence and intimidation to try to frighten me into silence. First, they tried to discredit me, falsely branding me as a white supremacist. I happen to be gay and the son of vietnamese refugees, to so that was surprising. Next, they threatened to kill me and hurt my family. They almost succeeded last year when they surrounded me in the middle of downtown portland. I was beat so badly that i was hospitalized for a hemorrhage. I still suffer from the effects of that injury. To this day, no one has been arrested. Im apprehensive about speaking to congress today, given that im a target. But im more afraid of the consequences of remaining silent. Unless we take action, what is happening in portland today will soon be happening in cities across the country. What weve witnessed for more than two months in portland are almost daily violent protests and riots led by antifa. Even when they arent starting fires, using explosives and trying to maim officers, they leave threatening messages, such as decapitated pig heads out the courthouse. Even after federal agencies agreed to pull back the visible presence starting july 30, antifa militants have attacked the Portland Police building in a residential neighborhood on multiple occasions. Unfortunately too many in the media have chosen to ignore or down play this extremism massacre aiding as Racial Justice. In portland, the violence has been organized and led by the local chapter of the youth liberation front. A shadowy Antifa Organization with secret membership. The youth liberation front has cells across the u. S. , organized on social media sites like twitter. They openly advocate for violence violent uprisings in portland and elsewhere. To give one example, on july 25, they called for national calls to action. Their followers ablodged obliged. We witnessed weekend street violence in seattle, oakland, austin, atlanta, richmond, among other cities. There are multiple shootings, dozens of officer injuries and even a homicide. I have worked undercover for months in portland and other cities and ive seen with my own eyes how hundreds of socalled protesters worked together to carry out acts of organized criminality against government and civilians. Both violent and nonviolent participants play a role. For example, antifa, by their own admission, depend on mass numbers of Peaceful Protesters to act as human shields. Those privy to the organizational workings are divided into units. One to monitor police movement, one for street medics, one for vanledles and arsonists and so on. They coordinate on encrypted chat applications like signal because they are extremely difficult for Law Enforcement to monitor. Antifa has mastered the art of making its violence appear innocuous. For example, project aisles that look like water balloons can be filled with chemicals, smallling shots can be used to project rocks, glass and ball bearings into police lines. Umbrella tips can be fastened with discrete pocket knives. Powerful handheld lasers can cause serious damage to the yes. Antifa and its allies have made rioting an art form in portland. They have access to rich flowing from platforms like gofundme, venmo and others. Any conspirator arrested in portland is instantly flowing f out and ready for the next night of violent protests. I come to you today with the message for senators of both parties. Antifas goal is not only to abolish the criminal justice system, it is to bring down the republic itself. Burn it down, they say. But dont take my word for it. Read their literature and look at their graffiti messages. Portland is the canary in the coal mine for america. Look to my city to see what happens when a group like antifa is left unchecked. Thank you. Mr. Cruz thank you, mr. Ngo. Professor turley. Mr. Turley thank you, chairman cruz. Ranking member hirono. Its an honor to appear before you today to discuss the growing threat of free speech in the United States from an array of extremist groups. The protests in the aftermath of the killing of george floyd ve served to focus attention on the transcendent issue of racial discrimination. I think we all agree we cannot let this moment pass for a National Dialogue on Racial Justice. That dialogue, however, is increasingly turning into a diatribe. On our campuses, on our streets, even in our media. Were losing the opportunity to reach consensus because of rising violence and intolerance for opposing views. If we are to come together as a nation, we have to be able to speak to one another freely and without fear. I welcome this hearing because i fear that we are at a crossroads in this country. On free speech. Were witnessing unprecedented erosion of this defining right in our democracy. The protests around this country involve a wide array of groups on the political spectrum, from both the far right and the far left. I discussed that in my written testimony. However, antifa is arguably the most successful antiSpeech Movement of this generation. Using physical threats and intimidation to silence those with dissenting views. It is all part of achieving what antifa calls no platforming. Or denying people with opposing views the ability to be heard. Recently the alleged antifa ring leader, who led efforts to topple statues in washington, d. C. , proclaimed the movement is winning. Hes right. They are winning. Theyre winning because universities are now effectively blocking conservative and opposing speakers. Theyre winning because the media and politicians down play such violence. Theyre winning because local authorities are ordering police to stand down or prosecutors to drop charges. And theyre winning because free speech is being treated as a destabilizing or threatening factor in our schools and society. In my written testimony, i explore ways for congress to reinforce free speech through a mix of measures from federal enforcement to federal funding. It is by no means an easy tax. Because government enforcement it task. Because government enforce itself can chill free speech. However, threats against free speech have now reached a Critical Mass in our schools and on our streets. We can either act or we can remain passive pedestrians to what inevitably comes next. House judiciary chairman jerry nadler recently said that accounts of antifa violence in places like portland are a myth. Antifa is no myth. The decentralized organization and fluid communications used by antifa groups gives superphysical support to such denials superphysical support to such denials. They train members to remain unanimous. Its all here in the antifa hand book. Which explains the strategy of anonymity by mass to allow the offensive side of block tactics to flourish. Antifa was expressly founded as a movement at war with free speech. Defining the right itself as a tool of oppression. That is also clearly stated in this handbook. The signature of the group is a selfrighteous, ragefueled violence that parallels groups they claim to oppose. Telling leading antifa handbook begins with the quote, fascism is not to be debated, it is to be destroyed. And fascism is a term that morphs into a wide variety of targets deemed unacceptable by antifa. From capitalism to patriarchy to police. Antifa bears strong resemblance to groups that emerged in earlier periods of attacks on free speech. Like the red scare. Simply replacing anticommunism with antifascism does not materially change the same antifree speech purpose of these movements. The greatest threat to free speech in this country remains the original threat. Silence. Silence kills free speech. It is the silence of professors who watch as their colleagues are threatened, harassed or fired for voicing dissenting views. Its the silence of students who watch their fellow students as they are attacked for voicing their own beliefs. It is the silence of reporters who watch as their colleagues are fired or forced to retire for writing opposing views. Most importantly, it is the silence of politicians who refuse to protect the exercise of free speech. Let me end by saying during the red scare, attorney general Charles Gregory said about in the centers. May god have mercy on them. Or dy centers dissenters. May god have mercy on them. The avenging elements in our society are now found in groups like antifa. And a agree grohing number of rioters, academics and whorse are embracing orthodoxy over diversity of thought. Antifa and related groups thrive through intimidation and they prevail through inaction. All that is required for free speech to die in america is for america to be silent. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak today. Mr. Cruz thank you. Our next witness will be via video, mr. German. Chairman cruz, Ranking Member hirono, members of the subcommittee, thank you fo inviting know testify. Were all concerned about protest violence but framing shoot as a problem of anarchist violence only spreads misinformation that puts Law Enforcement officers and the communities they serve at greater risk it. Also distracts from the Police Accountability and antidiscrimination issues that millions of black lives matter protesters continue to come into the streets to support. Mr. German protests are disrupted by disruptive by nature. As their purpose is to draw attention to overlooked issues. The late representative john lewis called this getting into good trouble. Recognizing that civil disobedience, refusing to comply with unjust laws or police orders, is an honorable and often necessary method to rive positive social change. For officials responsible for defending law and order, however, such discorruption presents a challenge. The First Amendment rights to speech, assembly, belief, petition and oppressed are essential to a vibrant democracy. But because Law Enforcement officers are defenders of established powers, they have a natural tendency to view protests against Government Policies and particularly against Police Practices as security threats. They often mistake civil disobedience for anarchy and bring indiscriminate levels of force to restore their idea of order. Studies of civil disturbances in the 1960s and 1970s showed aggressive Law Enforcement tactics were often a determine nating factor in instigating, esca lathe and spreading violence. When Law Enforcement officials become confrontational at protests, it starts a cycle of escalating violence. So if the goal is to make the protests less violent, scapegoat scapegoating enemies, whether we call them outside agitators, antifa, violent anarchists, isnt the solution. Policymakers should instead embrace subjective research regarding protest policing tactic, and reject the escalating models. Over 800 incidents of police view lens against protesters caught on video show police using tear gas, pepper spray, batons, and less lethal munitions indiscriminately. Often targeting nonviolent protesters as well as journalists, legal observers, bystanders and elected officials. More than 60 have suffered serious head injuries from Law Enforcements improper use of socalled less lethal munitions. Including fractured discuss, brain damage and loss of vision. The vast majority of people who participated in the black lives matter protests have not engaged in acts posing threat or serious bodily injury. People of varyying ideologists ideologies have attended these protests, including those supporting black lives matter and those opposing it. Armed White Supremacists and far right militants have made dozens of appearances, some claiming to support Law Enforcement, and others to defend protesters from police. There are also people with no political agenda, mostly peaceful, but some not, who come to the protests. A relatively small number have engaged in Serious Violence and it is important that Law Enforcement identify these assailants and dress their crimes. But attributing violent acts to a particular group or Movement Without evidence is dangerous, as it misleads Law Enforcement about actual threats and spreads unwarranted fear. Disinformation about antifa spread by white supremacist trolls has diverted Law Enforcement resources and encouraged armed vigilanty groups to patrol streets in search of phantom enemies. Media analysis of protests arrests do not support the allegation that be aity antifascist or violent anarchists are playing a significant role in the protest violence. The Trump Administration has amplified this misinformation, however, blaming antifa and threatening to designate it as a domestic terrorism organization. Antifa is not an organization, however, and there are no reported u. S. Homicides resulting from antifascist actions for at least the last 25 years. So it would not be appropriate target for such a designation. Misinformation in Law Enforcement intelligence doesnt just divert investigative resources, it potentially blinds them to real threats. Two Police Officers have been killed and several injured by far right ed in a trying to trigger a civil war. Three protesters have been killed in vehicle attacks. Law enforcement should focus on protecting against these deadly threats, not civil disobedience. The good news is that we already have an effective blueprint for reducing violence at protests. Policies requiring police to abandon the escalating force model and use force only when necessary to stop people from engaging in activities that imminently threaten serious bodily harm have worked in the past to reduce violence at protests. Thanks again for inviting me and i look forward to your questions. Mr. Cruz thank you. The next witness remotely will be ms. Harman johnson. Good afternoon, chairman cruz. Ranking member hirono. And members of the subcommittee. Can you hear me well enough . Mr. Cruz yes, thank you. Thank you, senator. I appreciate you for inviting me to testify today. I was also a former staffer for Senate Majority leader harry reid. I am an oregonian, an american and a lawyer. Ms. Harmon johnson my mother, father and their parents were born in this country, as were my greatgrandparents and going back generations. My family were kidnapped africans that enslaved africans, enslaved people forced to work for no compensation. Later my family members were steel workers, Law Enforcement officers, military veterans, home makers and artists. Regardless of our economic or social status, we all share something in common yound our beyond our family ties. None of us have yet to enjoy the full rights due to american citizens under the United States constitution. In our fight for civil rights, we have we have alternately been ignored and targeted. We have persevered in spite of the it all because we are indeed americans. Now we take to the streets to declare our lives matter and we have been met by dangerous forces sent by washington, d. C. To silence the movement for black lives. It is difficult to see this government respond so inpresently with such violent and extensive force at a time when those resources should be spent to find justice and to staunch the deadly covid19 pandemic. In recent years in portland, month after month, White Supremacists marched in our city to ven bused in thugs harass washingtonians. Black and brown people gave each other tips to avoid these. Our local Police Actually assisted them even though at times they were armed with guns and weapons as they rallied near the Federal Building in downtown portland. Cal police regularly communicated via text messages. Same any surprise those police would blame black lives atter rioters . Federal officials did not lift a fight against those. Even after a white supremacist attacked a black woman and two girls and murdered someone who stopped them trying to murder girls. I do not recall hearings being held to address the hurt they caused. Whats different . Now the federal government is involve because the Current Administration has taken a side. The side of the status quo and continued disenfranchisement of africanamericans. Following the Police Murder of george floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, people in my community dared to stand up for black lives. We gathered according to to inseist that the time is now for america to fulfill its promise to us all that. Black lives matter must be an a bold and unexpected statement for some officials in the beltway, either that, or they enjoy the opportunity to create political theater for their own purpose, thats why they sent who we now know are federal police to oregon. After weeks of demonstrations that had nothing to do with the Federal Building or federal government really but on local harled rotesters were by the rounds and gases fired into the crowds. Federal officials took an oath to defend this country, demonstrated to oregon and the world they were when theres a political or social movement they do not agree with they will dispatch troops to deal wit. Im antiracist and im an antifascist. All americans should be. Fortunately, those federal officials showed us something else. When confronted by organized had barbecues and unity, federal forces floundered. They believed protesters would leave in fear but instead more sing and arrived to ay black lives matter. He was shot 60 yards away from a Federal Building when he was shot. He was wearing a bicycle helmet. Kristen was shot by federal police, she heard a boom and felt the munitions smashed into her forehead. She said i was inspired to use my body to defend the First Amendment to protest and say. Ack lives matter she said at the time she got no help from the feds. It is time to get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. I am answer the call to do so. Until justice claims victory and the promises of the constitution are made real, all of us in this country. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Its a great honor to testify before the subcommittee on the constitution. The federal government has the fundamental responsibility to protect the civil rights of all its sit zepps and paramount among these rights are freedom of speech and assembly. I hope my testimony will correct some fundamental misunderstandings about the group antifa. Their goal is to use physical violence and intimidation to terrorize american citizens to disengage them from the political process. While they do this under the cover of antifascism, antifa defines the entire american system, regardless of political party, as fascism. They developed out of the guerrilla movements of the late 1960s and 1970s, such as Weather Underground and germanys read army faction. As a result it has experience developed over more than a half century of radical left wing organizing and Political Violence. Law enforcement has largely failed to understand the nature of this threat seeking a rigidly hierarchical organization, some analysts have concluded that antifa doesnt exist in any meaningful sense. E rereality is that antifa demonstrates in a nonhierarchical structure. The most basic structure is an Affinity Group which is defined as the essential Building Block of anarchist organization. Its a small cell of individuals known to one another who agrea to come together to participate in direct action. Those include sabotage, vandalism and premeditated assault. Afin dity groups come together and form clusters and a large cluster may utilize spokes councils. Antifa chapters form at the city level and form groups such as torch antifa, the largest antifa group in the United States, as well as national and international networks. Antifa website describe in detail how to organize groups, vet potential members and securely communicate. Such websites play a keel roe key role in spreading propaganda, spreading new tactic, techniques and procedures and raising calls to action. Ne example, the antifa website sgoingdown distributes a manual. It denotes chapters as incurring only fwations to support regional and National Antifa networks who in turn make greater support available to chapters. This extends internationally with many linked to the antifa defense fund which provided support to antifa in 22 different countries. While overall amounts are low the defense fund presents clear evidence of organizational activity across National Borders. Antifa relies heavily on other organizations such as the democratic socialists of america, and the National Lawyers guild and in coordination with other protest organizations. It is not uncommon for antifa to require outside groups to sign what are essentially memorandums of understanding to ensure that allies agree not to interfere with criminal activity in exchange for protection. In terms of financing, terrorism is a lowcost form of warfare. The entire 9 11 plot cost less than half a Million Dollars and even by al qaeda standards antifa is cost efficient. They use crowd funding technology, the interNational Antifa defense fundraised more than 53,000 via the crowd funding website fundraiser. While some of these are content neutral, others are explicitly ideological and only facilitate antifa and similar projects. Antifa also raises funds through event admission fees and selling merchandise at anarchist book fairs. Many of their needs are provided free of charge by alride organizations that provide armed and unarmed training for antifa members at low or no cost and support organizations cover most expenses such as transportation, bill, and lawyers fees. Other organizations such as riseup. Net provide free access to servers and computer applications. Far from being nonexistent it provides as elaborate a structure as any group. Claiming antifa is too disorganized to understand should not be an excuse to plot. E antifas they will continue to escalate behavior unless it is checked. There will be more attacks and rioting methods will cant to grow and therell be more autonomous zones. And more americans will be terrorized. Thank you. Mr. Cruz is antifa violent and what specific acts of violence have you personally witnessed . Yes, theyre violent. Ill start with what i witnessed, what happened to me on the 29th of june, 2019. That was an ostensibly antiracist protest organized in downtown portland. Involved a local chapter of the democratic socialists of america. I came there with my go pro and iphone to record. I was beaten by the mob. Ople who used brass knuckles that were hidden under gloves, punching me repeatedly in the front, top and back of my head. When i thought they were done that was just the half of it. Next came all the milk shakes and other unknown liquids hurled t my face. I know milk shakes sound kind of ute as a protest but when its thrown at force in your face its a viscous liquid, you cant see where to go. That was one of my first experiences with their violence directly. Since then ive seen numerous times. Mr. Cruz is it right you received significant injuries from that . Mr. Ngo yes, a brain bleed from that mr. Cruz please continue, im sorry. Mr. Ngo there were several other people hospitalized. There was only one other conviction, a person assaulted, beaten on the head with a brick and baton and other weapons. Portland is the epicenter, its been going on since 2016 really in response to the surprise election win of trump and what i see happening there is the local politicians have been nurturing and allowing this extremism to go on and thats why its in the predicament that its in now, with over two months of violent protests and i see all these headlines talking about how things are peaceful now because the federal authorities are less visible, thats inaccurate. Its a falsehood. Yesterday and the day before, you know, attacks happens instead of the federal court downtown, they tried new tactic and attacked the southeast recinct in southeast portland. This problem is not going away. Hopefully my testimony here to Congress Shows i dont come with a partisan message. If you read their literature theyre clear for calling for the abolishment of the u. S. Cruz professor turley you testified that antifa is profoundly antispeech and violent. Can you expand on that . Mr. Turle wrmbings if you go through their antifa handbook and look at the literature, they reject the premise of what they call a Classical Liberal view of free speech. Specifically they object to statements like, i may disagree with what you say but i would give my life to defend it. They reject that. They believe that free speech itself is a tool of oppression. And that has been the message on campuses. What i thought was disturbing about the statements that antifa is a myth is that many of us on campus have been dealing with antifa for years. And antifa is winning. There is a tremendous movement, an antifree Speech Movement in the United States. My testimony doesnt really go to these protests. I think that both the far right and far left are doing bad things in these protests. Antifa members have been arrested in these protests. Antifa groups like rose city antifa have been leading some of these efforts. But my greater concern and the one i would hope that members would look at is this antifre Speech Movement that antifa is part of. Ive been teaching for 30 years. I have never seen the level of fear and intimidation on campuses that we see today. Faculty are afraid to speak out about issues. We cant have a dialogue about the important issues occurring today because theres a fear that you might be accused of being reactionary or racist. Weve had law professors who have been physically attacked, have required Police Protection. Thats the environment that were developing. And for people that think that antifa and groups like it can be allies, they dont know antifa. Those of us who have been teaching on campuses can tell you about these groups. And the alarm that i have is because im watching my profession, the teaching profession, die. With free speech. Ad mrtors are not protecting Academic Freedom why should they protect free speech . Were see, many of these speakers are being prevented from speaking on campus. The message is clear, the faculty is clear to faculty and to students. Theres a new orthodoxy that you should not confront and certainly shouldnt disagree with. I go through those details in my testimony. Mr. Cruz i very much agree with you that we ought to be united n condemning violence whatever ideological stance it comes from, right wing, left wing, no wing at all. If youre committing violence you ought to be arrested and prosecuted and go to jail. I think its striking that in the entire course of this hearing, seven Democratic Senators spoke in this hearing. Not a single democratic senator condemned antifa. Not a one of them condemned antifas violence and terrorism. Do you think it is harmful that the sitting attorney general of minnesota is a democrat. Posed with the book you just held up in your testimony, the antifa handbook, gleefully modeling it. Do you think its helpful for elected democrats to be holding antispeeching orny sigse like antifa and acting as apologists for it . Is that good for our democracy . Mr. Turley i criticized mr. Ellison for that tweet. There are some democratic politicians that have not only failed to denounce antifa but in that case seemed to give it a shout out. In that case, mr. Ellison said they would put the fear in the heart of donald trump. But what he doesnt see is that antifa is putting fear in the heart of many people other than donald trump. If you go to campuses today youll find more advocates for limiting speech than protecting it. Theyre inwinning. When you see pictures like mr. Ellisons picture with antifa, its disturbing. Because antifa is not coming after him. Theyre not even coming after democrats. Theyre coming after republicans, conservatives, and those of us in the free speech community. Theyre coming after us. But dont think well be the last ones. Thats not how this works. Cruz thank you, professor tuley. I dont see how anyone can sit here with a straight face denouncingocrats are violence of every stripe is the purview of republicans only. I dont see how anyone can sit here and choose a grup of that. Ms. Hirono i would say we all should be denouncing extremists of every stripe. In my view, particularly from what i heard today, that theres more harm being done by white strem cysts against not necessarily against government against people who are who represent minority groups. Mr. Chairman, you can obviously invite whoever you want to this hearing but i would like to record my concern regarding the presence of the centers for Security Policy at this hearing. This center for Security Policy is an organization that has been spreading antimuslim conspiracy theories. For example, c. S. B. s founder, Frank Gaffney who has repeatedly demonized muslims, has falsely claimed, quote, theres mounting evidence that the president , hes talking about president obama, not only identifies with muslim bus may still be one himself, end quote. He has spread a Conspiracy Theory that Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the american political sphere. Which got him actually banned in 2011 from the annual conservative Political Action conference. C. S. Perform has been criticized by republicans and democrats alike and organizations that monitor extremist groups including the Antidefamation League has criticized c. S. B. And the Southern Poverty Law Center designated them as a hate group. I would like to register my concern that they are represented here. I have a question for mr. Ierman. The oregon governor, kate brown, the attorney general ellen rosenblum, and other local officials demanded that federal agents leave portland arguing they have escalated violence in the city. Oregon Governor Kate Brown said the federal officers here brought violence and strife to our Community End quote. Mr. German, you talked about how aggressive riot control tactics against protesters incite greater violence in response. Would you sthay the tactics federal agents used in portland are ones that deescalate protests or provoke violence . Mr. Ierman thank you for the question. Yes, its obvious that those sorts of aggressive tactics increase protest violence. And this is something that has been studied for decades. So its well known that even rioting and riot control clothing can instigate action within a crowd. Its very important to look at the research and develop our tactics for reducing Police Violence based on objective research and not adopt tactics that were discredited decades ago. Ms. Hirono i dont know if you heard mr. Cuccinelli testify that all the agents, the people from d. H. S. , for example, get adequate training regarding crowd control and deescalating the situation. Is that what you saw going on in portland . Mr. German thats not what i saw. To be clear im not in portland. But there are ubiquitous videos out there and i follow a lot of local reporters. And what we saw are these escalating by force tactic that was the model used in the 1960s. That was discredited after a number of president ial commissions looked at this issue and tried to find ways to reduce protest violence. Ms. Hirono i think what was distressing for those of us who saw many of those videos is the indiscriminate use of tear gas or other methods. They were not singling out those protesters or those people who were rioting. There was kind of a blanket, indiscriminate use of these kinds of tactics, which is why the idea of d. H. S. And department of justice are investigating what happened not only at Lafayette Square but also in portland. Mr. German, you have also talked about how White Supremacists and ar right militant groups use protes to stoke violence and conflict you said White Supremacists infiltrated recent protests to cause violence that would be blamed on black lives matter or antifa. Despite this evidence, the Trump Administration has continued to focus its blame on antifa and anarchists. Can you put in contest the Trump Administrations messaging strategy blaming antifa and anarchists and ignoring violence by White Supremacists . Mr. German i think its dangerous to politicize Law Enforcement. Law enforcement has a very important job, to protect the communities they serve. They need to be protected when theyre engaged in that work. Unfortunately, when we politicize intelligence which is what weve seen here, where many intelligence reports that have en released indicate asenationalized vision of what antifa is and the threat it poses that has distracted Law Enforcement from more serious threats that result in deadly violence. Ms. Hirono thank you. My time is up. Thank you. Mr. Cruz thank you. Rona ideler, senator hi ry moe noah attacked the group you work for. If youd care to address that. In shideler we have been exist ince since 1988. We work on missile defense, biodefense, and geopolitical challenge, and work on terrorism, terrorist ideologies and home lan security. Were particularly proud of our work in trying to understand the ideologies behind jihadist terrorism. Were proud of the work that we have done with american muslims including those who are senior fellows at our organization who seek to oppose jihadist elements in their communities. So we reject this this claim from organizations that are engaging in behavior which is essentially the same that antifa engages in which is to say anyone that offers an analysis that disagrees with them must inso facto be a member of an unacceptable organization or hate group or what have you. Thats divisive. It ruins the ability to engage in analysis that is useful to the country. Mr. Cruz thank you. Senator whitehouse. Mr. Whitehouse thank you. Special agent german. Mr. German former special agent, sir. Mr. Whitehouse former special agent. I wanted to ask you, to the extent you can, briefly go over your work with regard to White Supremacists and militia organizations while you were with the f. B. I. Just background, time what you spent, what sort of role you had, things that are public that you can disclose. Mr. Ierman thanks for the question. I joined the f. B. I. As a special agent in 1988 and in 1992 i was assigned in los angeles where there were disturbances resulting from the Police Beating of rodney king and white and the f. B. I. Had intelligence that white supremacist groups were engaging in illegal firearms transactions and trafficking in other weapons in order to take advantage of those protests. So the f. B. I. Asked me to go undercover in white supremacist groups that were tracking in trafficking in illegal arms. We ended up solving a number of bombings and arresting people before their more violent conspiracies could be achieved. In 1996 i went undercover again in far right antigovernment militia groups in the Pacific Northwest engaging in the same kind of trafficking in illegal weapons and conspiring to engage in actses of violence and again achieve successful results through prosecutions. Mr. Whitehouse adding those two assignments together how many months did you spend under cover within those organizations . Mr. German the first case was about 14 month, the second case was about seven or eight months. Mr. Whitehouse during which time you effectively joined the group as somebody who they thats howllow you got information. Mr. German yes, i presented myself as somebody willing to be recruited into their organizations and they brought me in and allowed me to engage in their criminal conspiracies and that was my first introduction to antifascist actions and i think thats what we have to understand. This term is much broader in many ways than what weve discussed here, that antifascism is an important part of what the u. S. Government has been involved in as well. Mr. White it is house these assignments were at some risk to your personal safety . Mr. German yes, these groups were heavily armed and very cognizant of the fact that Law Enforcement was interested in their criminal activities. Mr. Whitehouse from what you know, is it still a Law Enforcement concern and should it be a Law Enforcement concern to have these White Supremacists and militia groups running around and engaged in violent acts and conspiracies . Mr. German i know that there are f. B. I. Special agents and other Law Enforcement agents who are focused on these groups and do the best they can. Unfortunately as a matter of policy, far right violence is deprioritized by the f. B. I. And the justice department. Only more recently at the beginning of this year f. B. I. Director chris wray finally said they were raising the prioritization of white supremacist groups. But we still see Law Enforcement engaging with these groups in ways that are dangerous and from a former Law Enforcement officers perspective, my concern is for their own safety. Theres a long history of these groups targeting people in Law Enforcement. Unfortunately thats what we saw in oakland and Santa Cruz County where a member of a far right boogaloo group, or members, engaged in deadly violence against Police Officers. Mr. Whitehouse in the cases in which you were engaged, what were the primary motives and methods of these criminal groups . Mr. German the primary motives were to harm people who they thought were their enemies and whether those were people of color or political enemies and their methods were to accumulate, amass weaponry they could use to try to trig aerobroader war, either a race war or a civil war that they would they believed they would come out on top of. Mr. Whitehouse with a certain amount of collateral criminal activity to get money to pay the bills . Mr. Ierman absolutely. These groups engage in any time of a Clandestine Organization engages in criminality, the criminality that we should be looking at these groups based on criminality rather than ideology. Mr. Whitehouse my time is up. Mr. Cruz mr. German, let me thank you for your work going undercover with those wite supremacist groups. I emphatically agree that White Supremacists are ignorant, bigotted morons and those who are caught should be locked up. I should note im cuban american, White Supremacists hate me too. But at the same time its fairly striking that elected democrats want to ignore the violence of antifa. They want to ignore the violence on the left and they just scream white supremacist, white supremacist, rather than condemn violence from wherever it is coming. The 277 injuries of federal Law Enforcement officers in portland are coming from the left. And not a single democrat on this committee acknowledges that. David dorn. Africanamerican Police Officer. Murdered, retired Police Officer in st. Louis. Ho is black. Murdered. Not a single one of the seven Democratic Senators who spoke at this hearing mentioned his name. Patrick underwood. Senator durbin is the only democratic senator who pensioned mentioned his name. Another black officer murdered. You see democrats who repeat the slogan black lives matter but apparently those black lives arent worth discussing. The black lives of Police Officers murdered by terrorists. I would note as well when it comes to black lives matter as a proposition the statement black lives matter is unquestionably true. It is a truism. It is indisputable. Full stop. Black lives matter, matter enormously. Every human being is a precious gift from god. That being said, and quite rightly the overwhelming majority of americans agree with the proposition that black lives matter, it should be 100 of americans agree with the proposition that black lives matter that is different, i would note, than the specific organization that has taken up the name black lives matter. And i think it is important to draw a distinction between the statement black lives matter, which is indisputably right and the organization that denominated black lives matter that organization was founded in 2013. It was founded by three selfdescribed radical marksists. The three founders of it were andia garza, opal tennetti, patrice concullers. And some of the things behind this organization. Cullers said she and garza are, quote, trained marksists. He said, quote, i read, i study, ding mao, marks and lenin to my knowledge of books. Mao and lenin murdered millions, were among the worst tyrants humanity has ever known. The black lives matter group, their founders have explicitly praised marksist marxist angela davis. They said she was a mentor. She was communist party vicepresident ial nominee in 1980 and 1984. Shes explicitly a communist. She was affiliated with the black panther party. One of the three founders of the black lives matter said, an yes la davis is a mentor of mine. Not only that, the founders praised domestic terrorist. Asada shakur. Thats a convicted cop killer, murdered a Police Officer. She is right now today on the f. B. I. s most wanted list and is likely a fugitive in cuba. And by the way, it isnt just a passing craze. Ms. Cullers wrote a memoir, when they call you a terrorist black lives matter memoir, with a foreword by communist angela davis. Thats not me calling her a communist, shes explicitly a communist. And an opening paragraph from shakur the cop killer on the f. B. I. s most wanted list. Not only that, in terms of fund, the organization b. L. M. Is financially sponsored by the thousand currents, an Organization Vice chaired by citizen rosenberg. Who is rosenberg . A member of the leftist, violence organization, the may 19 communist organization, involved in multiple politically motivated bombings. What does the Organization Black Lives Matter support . You go to the website, they tell you. Theyre not hiding it. Their top priority is defunding the Police Across the United States of america. Its not defending equal justice for everyone. That, everyone supports. It is abolishing and Defunding Police departments in every community in this country. The group b. L. M. Has a long record of antisemitism and antiisrael attacks including arguing that israel is a, quote, apartheid state that is committing genocide, an by the way, the b. L. M. Founders who revere angela davis, angela davis record, profoundly antisemitic and antiisrael. Indeed she was asked, would she be willing to speak up on behalf of jewish prisoners of conscience in the soviet union . She was a big apologist for the soviet union. She responded when she visited moscow, shes meeting with the soviet leaders in moscow and her response was, instead of speaking up for the jew herb prisoners of conscience, she would urge that they be kept in prison because, quote, they are all zionist fascists and opponents of socialism. What else does b. L. M. The Organization Support . On its website it has called for a quote, boycott of white capitalism. In 2017 they called on people not to spend any money with white corporations. And not only that, b. L. M. Website says that one of their objectives is dismantling the, quote, patriarchal practices and disrupting the westernprescribed nuclear family. Thats what they say their objectives are. The reason that matters is right now Corporate America is desperate to desperate to demonstrate their virtue as we see racial dissension. So black lives matter, the group, raises money on act blue, the fundraising mechanism for virtually every elected democrat in congress. Among the donors to b. L. M. The organization, according to public reports, include the Company Ubisoft with which has given 50 to 100,000. Doordash which has given 500,000. Amazon which has given an unidentified portion of 10 million. Gatorade which has given an unidentified portion of 500,000. Nabisco, which has given an unidentified portion of 500,000. Deckers which has given an unidentified portion of 500,000. Microsoft which has given 250,000. Dropbox which has given 500,000. An fitbit which the amount identified is not identified. Microsoft, the largest individual Share Holders is bill gates. More than ironic that theyre funding an organization thats calling for boycotting all white organizations. Microsoft is literally funding an organization calling for microsoft to be defunded. Jeff bezos, of amazon, hes white too, and hes funding an organization that is calling for the boycotting of amazon. This is dangerous. And its worth understanding that when Corporate America loods millions of dollars into explicitly marksist terrorist organizations that glorify cop killers that glorify violence, that the violence and terrorism that flows from that should not be surprising. Without objection, im going to enter into the record an article from the Washington Examiner dated july 23, 2020, the title of which is who is black lives matter. And i would encourage anyone who wants to understand who this organization is to read this article. On the proposition, the Value Proposition do, black lives matter . Absolutely yes. And our nation was founded on the proposition that all men are created equal regardless of race or skin color. But the organization that has seized that name is very different and if they succeeded with their stated number one objective of defunding and abolishing every police department, many, many more black lives would be lost because more africanamericans would be murdered without the Police Officers that bravely risked their lives to defend those communities. Enator hirono. Ms. Hirono sometimes i dont think you listen. So how many times have i had to say that we all should be denouncing violent extimists of extremists of every stripe. By the way, you know, republican are constantly using, you brought it up yourself, the deaths of these black Police Officers, Patrick Underwood and david dorn for making political points. And the fact that it was right wing extremists who killed officer underwood, that seems to be lost in this argument. And now there are all these attacks about black lives matter and what theyre saying. How many of us even think that Defunding Police departments is should be taken literally . I certainly dont. So you know, we have a thing called freedom of speech. And i say that the people who support black lives matter and are calling for various boycotts, thats called freedom of speech. Thats what this hearings title is. Protecting speech. So all i can say is look, we should all join hands and de join hands in denouncing and whatever word you want to use about violent exdreamism of all stripes. I think we can all agree on that. To constantly accuse democrats of not caring about that is we i can only say that you arent listening. So i hope this is the end of this hear, mr. Chairman and we dont have to listen to anymore of your retorical speeches. Thank you very much. Im leaving. Mr. Cruz i appreciate the as always the kind an uplifting words of senator hirono. And i would also note that throughout her remarks she still did not say a negative word about antifa, nor has any democrat here. They instead engage in a political game where they depend youre welcome to Say Something negative about antifa right now. [inaudible] mr. Cruz she declined to speak thats the position of the Democratic Party. I would note also that of the seven Democratic Senators who spoke, not a one of them apologized for or denounced multiple democrats calling Law Enforcement officers nazis, stormtroopers and gestapo, to fair, i havent heard the word nazi. Stormtrooper was nancy pelosi and gestapo was another democratic leader. That was less than helpful. I thank each of the witnesses for your testimony. I thank you for defending free speech. And i thank you for speaking out against violence and against terrorism. The record in this hearing will be held open for one week. Senators may follow up with the witnesses of either this panel or the Previous Panel with written questions. If you receive written questions you are asked to spub mitt the answers to those by the close of business one week from today. With that, this hearing is adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] this week, two hearings before the senate. On wednesday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, sally yates, former acting attorney general at the start of the Trump Administration, testifies on the russia investigation before the judiciary committee. On thursday at 10 00 a. M. Eastern, chad wolf, acting secretary for the u. S. Department of Homeland Security will testify on the deployment of personnel to protests and unrest across the country. Watch live on cspan. Online at cspan. Org. Or listen live on the free span radio app. Acting Homeland Security secretary chad wolf testifies on thursday. Hell discuss deployment of personnel to protests across the nation. Live coverage of the Homeland Security committee begins at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on c span, online at cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. This week marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. Watch washington journal live thursday at 8 00 a. M. Eastern for a discussion about the bombings with ian toll, author of twilight of the gods, and with the grandson of harry truman. Watch live at 9 00 a. M. Eastern as we look back at how the bombings ended world war ii and their legacy in decades ahead with richard frank, author of downfall the end of the Imperial Japanese empire and peter kuznik, professor at American UniversityNuclear Studies institute. Join in with your call, teches, facebook comments. This thursday and sunday on washington journal, on cspan and American History tv on c pan 3. We take you live to the white house where President Trump is holding a News Conference to give an update on the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. This is live coverage on c span