Texas Senator Ted Cruz has called on both the FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
“To law enforcement: find & prosecute these violent felons,” Cruz tweeted after the violent left-wing Antifa attacks on Saturday. “To federal law enforcement,” he wrote. “Investigate & bring legal action against a Mayor who has, for political reasons, ordered his police officers to let citizens be attacked by domestic terrorists.”
Wheeler is under fire for his response — or lack thereof — to the violent Antifa protesters in the city under his care. During the demonstrations, journalist Andy Ngo was beaten in the head and hit with a milkshake allegedly filled with quick-dry cement. Cruz also went after Vox writer Carlos Maza for encouraging the actions.
“Troubling, if true,” Cruz said of a screenshot of a Maza tweet posted on Sunday. “Should ‘journalists’ be inciting physical violence against those with whom they disagree?” Maza had encouraged his 132,000 folowers to “milkshake them all,” and “humiliate them at every turn” so they would “dread public organizing.”
Journalists and law enforcement were harassed and assaulted at the scene of the Antifa protests. The demonstrators threw furniture and trash cans, allegedly used pepper spray, and threw various items at officers.
Other have, like Cruz, called Wheeler to account for his non-intervention. UFC athlete Tim Kennedy went so far as to publicly call for Wheeler’s resignation.
“What happened to [Ngo] is horrible and inexcusable,” he said. “[Wheeler] should be resign for what he has done to #portland.” Kennedy also sympathized with the Portland police officers. “The socialists with #antifa are dangerous and un-American.”