Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today about the army of federal officers that continue to occupy Portland, Oregon. Despite popular belief that those officers have left Portland, that is not the case. Just because the officers have not been out in plain sight outside the federal courthouse like they were every day before the Oregon State Police (OSP) took over security duties outside that building does not mean that they have left town. They continue to occupy suites at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront Hotel and other Marriott properties in Portland (https://copblaster.com/blast/25862/are-federal-agents-staying-at-the-marriott-hotel-in-downtown-portland). They are still there just in case Secretary Wolf is not satisfied with the job OSP is doing. Don't believe us? Listen to Chad Wolf in his own words under oath:
"As of today the full augmented DHS law enforcement posture remains in Portland. They will continue to remain until we are sure that the Hatfield federal courthouse as well as other federal facilities in Portland will no longer be violently attacked. " - Chad Wolf (see video below at about 29:00)
Now, we know what you are thinking, Chad Wolf is a pathological liar so why should you believe anything he says under oath when he violates his oath to America on a daily basis? That is a hard question to answer, but we believe that had they actually left that people would have felt safe to hold large peaceful demonstrations downtown without fearing that doing so would just be used as an excuse by Wolf to justify the continued presence of federal forces in Portland. We believe that protest organizers are afraid of getting attacked by OSP and those attacks being misrepresented by the Trump Administration to justify re-deploying their storm troopers downtown again. We think they are afraid of Wolf saying that OSP did not do their jobs, so now federal officers will be deployed with them and the police presence would then be much higher than it was before Kate Brown agreed to send OSP.
As long as federal forces remain in Portland, we will continue to advocate against their presence. Part of that advocacy includes a petition on Change.org called "Ask Marriott to Stop Renting Rooms to Federal Officers" (https://www.change.org/p/marriott-ask-marriott-to-stop-renting-rooms-to-federal-officers-a105b3fc-816b-42e5-b546-9ded0c98b9fa). As of today we have gathered over 3,600 signatures. We hope that if threatened with a boycott that Marriott will kick out these unruly guests. If any other guests were to beat, tear gas, and kidnap people near the hotel, and inspire a massive protest against their presence (https://copblaster.com/blast/25875/black-lives-matter-march-on-marriott-in-downtown-portland) they would be evicted. Be careful if you try to gather any on the ground footage of these goons at the Marriott. One man that lawfully posted the locations of their lodgings and filmed them across the street from the downtown Marriott was arrested and falsely accused of violating a statute that prohibits making publicly available "restricted personal information" even though hotel addresses do not qualify as "restricted personal information" and when one just re-posts information that is already publicly available they cannot be legally considered as having made publicly available what was already publicly available (https://copblaster.com/blast/25875/black-lives-matter-march-on-marriott-in-downtown-portland).
We also support further protests outside the private residence of Secretary Wolf himself. On July 26th, a peaceful crowd picketed the residence of Chad Frederick Wolf located at 1509 Crestwood Drive in Alexandria, Virginia demanding that federal officers under his command leave Portland (https://copblaster.com/blast/25877/protesters-picket-outside-the-home-of-acting-dhs-secretary-chad-wolf). Protests like that one legitimize the doxing of law enforcement officers because people have a First Amendment right to protest peacefully outside the homes of government officials and people have a First Amendment right to publish the locations where those protests have, will, or should take place.
NOTE: We also said at about 25:00 that officers targeted with lasers "may have permanent eye damage" which is important because he did not say that they "do" have permanent damage. People like Wolf use phrases like "may have" to make things look worse without being caught in a flat out lie. Then later if it is shown that the damage was temporary he can say that he only stated that the damage "may have" been permanent. Despite this indication that officers were not permanently damaged by lasers, we still recommend that people not use lasers because some lasers are strong enough to cause permanent eye damage (https://copblaster.com/blast/25832/ausa-christopher-cardani-pursues-laser-based-assault-charges). Wolf explained the issue with the lasers in greater depth at about 33:00.