“President Donald Trump does not intend to intervene in Seattle’s Capitol Hill Ongoing Protest (CHOP) until he is asked to do so,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday.
McEnany explained during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” that the president planned to wait “for a call from the derelict governor” before stepping in to take control. (RELATED: ‘Gotta Let Me Finish, Jim, This Isn’t A Cable News Segment’: Kayleigh McEnany Chastises CNN’s Acosta For Interrupting)
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Host Ainsley Earhardt mentioned comments made Sunday by Attorney General William Barr, who told Maria Bartiromo that CHOP could not be allowed to operate indefinitely.
“Is the president going to step in?” Earhardt asked.
“The president has said he’s waiting on a call from the derelict governor — and I’m using that word, calling him derelict — governor of Washington failing at his job to secure his state,” McEnany said as she took direct aim at Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
“Governors and mayors have the police power. It is up to them to secure their streets and what we’ve seen so far is absolutely inexcusable inaction from the governor there. An individual died in CHOP, this autonomous zone, this lawless area of the city of Seattle, and another individual was shot,” McEnany continued. “This is what happens when police are not around, when they have to withdraw from an area and when radical leftist anarchists take over. It is inexcusable and it is time for the governor to act.”
Steve Doocy claimed that Trump could easily use CHOP as an example if he intended to go forward with a campaign opposed to the growing movement to defund police.
“He can go out and say look, there are people in this country who want to defund the police department, or dismantle the police department, or you look at Seattle, and it’s like — is that really what you want or do you want what I stand for, which is what the president would say is law and order,” Doocy said.
McEnany agreed and said that Seattle was not the only example.
“It’s these Democrat-run cities, and in some cases states, so look at Minneapolis for instance, the lawlessness we’ve seen there, 11 people shot over the weekend, and one individual, a father, a young father losing his life and it’s Fathers Day weekend. This is a tragedy,” McEnany said.
Daily Caller reporter Shelby Talcott was embedded for several days at the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ), which was renamed CHOP by the organizers. (RELATED: Before And After Photos: Here’s What Seattle’s ‘CHAZ’ Has Done To The City)