Portland sheriff refutes Trump debate comment: I ‘will never support him’
Portland’s sheriff denied President Donald Trump’s statement about law enforcement support during last night’s presidential debate.
“In tonight’s presidential debate the President said the ‘Portland Sheriff’ supports him. As the Multnomah County Sheriff I have never supported Donald Trump and will never support him,” Sheriff Mike Reese tweeted Tuesday night.
“Donald Trump has made my job a hell of a lot harder since he started talking about Portland, but I never thought he’d try to turn my wife against me!” Reese continued.
Trump said he had been endorsed by Reese during the debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“Almost every law enforcement group in the United States — I have Florida, I have Texas, I have Ohio, I have everyone — excuse me, Portland sheriff just came out today and said ’I support President Trump.’ I don’t think you have any law enforcement,” Trump said to Biden. “You can’t even say the word law enforcement because if you say those words, you’re going to lose all of your radical left supporters.”
Trump has clashed with Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler over protests in the city. Federal troops were deployed during protests following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody.
On Aug. 29, a Trump supporter was killed and Trump called Wheeler a “fool” for “allowing violence” in the city, The Associated Press reported. Trump sent more than 100 federal troops there in July to “safeguard federal property.”
“That’s classic Trump. Mr. President, how can you think that a comment like that, if you’re watching this, is in any way helpful?” Wheeler said, according to The AP. “It’s an aggressive stance, it is not collaborative. I certainly reached out, I believe in a collaborative manner, by saying earlier that you need to do your part and I need to do my part and then we both need to be held accountable.”
Biden was asked during the debate if he had called Oregon Gov. Kate Brown or Wheeler about quelling violence during the protests. Biden explained he doesn’t hold public office, but he said he believed they “can in fact take care of it if [Trump] just stays out of the way.”
Trump has accused Biden of being weak on crime. “It’s crazy what’s going on, and he doesn’t want to say ‘law and order,’ and he can’t, because he’ll lose his radical left supporters, and then it’s all over,” Trump said during the debate.
