Nadler Seems To Think Antifa Violence in Portland Is Fake News
In a new video clip, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York rejected the concept of antifa activity in Portland, Oregon, where rioting hit its 60th day Sunday night.
Nadler was approached by writer Austen Fletcher, who asked Nadler about violence rocking the country and specifically devastating Portland.
“Do you disavow the violence from antifa that’s happening in Portland right now?” Fletcher asked Nadler in the clip.
“That’s a myth that’s being spread only in Washington, D.C.,” Nadler responded. He did not offer another word of comment as he was being escorted into his car.
I ran into Jerry Nadler in DC and asked him to disavow the Antifa violence/rioting in Portland.
His response?
“THATS A MYTH” pic.twitter.com/veImyE2rju
— Essential Fleccas ?? (@fleccas) July 27, 2020
Nadler has previously claimed antifa does not really exist, according to Fox News. In June, he said House Republicans had ventured into the realm of fake news when debating a police reform bill.
“They couldn’t utter the phrase ‘black lives matter’ and could barely [broach] the subject of police reform,” Nadler said. “Instead, their amendments … were errant nonsense, off-topic, dealing with imaginary things like antifa and completely negating the entire purpose of the bill.”
Antifa is not imaginary to E.D. Mondaine, who is the president of the NAACP in Portland and can hardly be ranked as a GOP conservative. He recently mentioned the group in an Op-Ed in The Washington Post.
“Unfortunately, ‘spectacle’ is now the best way to describe Portland’s protests,” he wrote. “Vandalizing government buildings and hurling projectiles at law enforcement draw attention — but how do these actions stop police from killing black people? What are antifa and other leftist agitators achieving for the cause of black equality?”
Nadler’s recent comments on antifa earned him scorn on Twitter.
Portland is at war every night, but Rep Jerry Nadler says my video coverage of Antifa violence & vandalism is a “myth”@fleccas: “Meanwhile…they’re trying to burn down the courthouse”
100% correct
Antifa is very real, & they are incredibly dangerous pic.twitter.com/NbSnoq9cZl
— ELIJAH RIOT (@ElijahSchaffer) July 27, 2020
This is the Democratic Party in 2020 https://t.co/5qQfI4BHU6
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) July 27, 2020
Had a friend with the same response. He said antifa was just an idea, not an organization.
He looked a little sheepish when I showed him videos of “ideas” trying to burn down the fed courthouse in Portland.
— Dirk Fetherstonhaugh (@Dumbkido) July 27, 2020
Jerry Nadler actually thinks ANTIFA violence is a myth.
This is why our country is in the place it’s in right now.
Democrats can’t reckon with reality.
— Errol Webber For Congress (CA-37) (@ErrolWebber) July 27, 2020
What’s happening in Portland is NOT “a peaceful protest” as the mainstream media claims. Antifa is trying to destroy what America stands for.
And elected Democrats like Jerry Nadler are fine with letting it happen. https://t.co/fs4TBXAH6T
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 27, 2020
Portland businesswoman Susan Landa, who said she would support shifting funds from the police and backs peaceful protests, said many rioters taking the streets in Portland appeared to her to be “vandals” and young adults “taking out rage because of the pandemic,” according to The New York Times.
“Most of downtown is boarded up. We don’t feel safe enough to open up. It’s killing our businesses,” said Landa, who has operated a business in Portland for 31 years.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has said his Senate committee will hold a hearing on the activities of antifa in Portland.
“Americans have a constitutional right to gather, protest, and otherwise have their voices heard, but they must do so peacefully. Antifa is fundamentally against free-speech and is using peaceful protests as a cover and an excuse to engage in violence and other criminal actions,” Cruz said in a statement on his website.
“We are seeing this most clearly in Portland right now, as criminals are trying to burn down the federal courthouse. The hearing will highlight how antifa and other anarchists are hijacking peaceful protests and engaging in political violence that is not only criminal, but antithetical to the First Amendment.”
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