WASHINGTON -- Citing recent protests in Portland and across the country, Sen. Ted Cruz scheduled a hearing next Wednesday on political violence carried out by members of the leftist group known as antifa.

Cruz has defended President Donald Trumps deployment of federal agents to Portland, Ore., and his threats to send more officers to Democratic bastions like Chicago and New York City to curb unrest.

The protests began with demands to end police brutality and systemic racism. Trump has warned that mob rule is taking hold because local leaders have failed to crack down. Portlands mayor and other Trump critics say the show of force itself has inflamed tensions and prompted more violence and vandalism than would otherwise have taken place.

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 Thursday statement announcing the hearing. 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.

The Texas Republican chairs the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution. He titled the hearing The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble: Protecting Speech by Stopping Anarchist Violence.

Antifa is not an organized group, though Trump has threatened to ban it. The name stands for anti-fascist and its a loose network of left-wing militants that conservatives blame for inciting violence.

Cruz has engaged in a weeks-long campaign against antifa via social media and conservative talk shows, emerging as a top defender of Trumps tactics.

Since the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, protesters have taken to Portlands streets for more than 50 consecutive days demanding police reforms. Antifa supporters are often part of the crowds.

The deployments come as Trump attempts to refocus his reelection message to one of law and order. A string of recent polls shows former Vice President Joe Biden leading in almost every battleground state.

You wont be safe in Joe Bidens America, reads one recent Trump campaign ad.

Videos of unidentified federal officers whisking away protesters in unmarked vehicles have prompted accusations of authoritarianism. Cruz and other supporters have celebrated the deployments as overdue steps to protect federal property and halt rising violent crime rates.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler joined protesters Wednesday night, and ended up being tear gassed by federal officers. He called the tactic an egregious overreaction and has demanded that the federal forces exit the city.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced Thursday that he has opened an investigation into the use of force by U.S. marshals at protests in Portland and Washington, D.C. U.S. Park Police and others used pepper spray to clear the park across from the White House for Trumps photo op at a nearby historic church on June 1.

Horowitzs office will work with the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari to investigate all federal agents deployed to the protests.

Were seeing violence and police cars being firebombed, police officers being murdered, and violent mobs within our cities, Cruz said Wednesday on Fox News. But even worse, in the face of that, were also seeing Democratic politicians, Democratic mayors, Democratic governors whove somehow made the decision its in their political best interest to allow the mob to carry out their violence.

Cruz used the appearance to promote a bill allowing lawsuits against local governments for wrongfully denying police protection in the situation of a riot.

Cruz cites autonomous zones -- short-lived protest camps free of police presence that have popped up in Seattle, Richmond, Va., Philadelphia and New York in recent weeks. While the zones are generally peaceful, criminal mischief is common. Seattle police shut down that citys autonomous zone July 1 after two teens were shot dead nine days apart.

Texas Democrats have voiced outrage over the federal intervention, arguing that it has only escalated problems.

Invading American cities without the authority to do so is un-American, Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, tweeted Monday.

Last weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted that Trump and his storm troopers must be stopped, complaining that unidentified officers were kidnapping protesters and causing severe injuries in response to graffiti.

Cruz shot back.

Arrests are not kidnapping, he said Monday on the Mark Levin Show. And violent antifa protesters who are assaulting people, who are firebombing police cars, who are murdering police officers they are not simple, peaceful protesters.

View original post here:

Cruz calls hearing on antifa and political violence as Dems denounce Trumps show of force against - The Dallas Morning News