Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner challenged Marie Harf to name one Republican-led city where widespread violence was as bad as in a number of Democrat-led cities.
Continued violence — particularly in Democrat-led cities like Portland, Chicago and Seattle — was the topic of heated debate through several segments of Thursday’s “Outnumbered.” (RELATED: Marie Harf Says Biden’s Comments Weren’t Racist — Harris Faulkner Says ‘It Doesn’t Need A Label, It’s Just Hurtful’)
WATCH:
Faulkner turned the question to Harf after Dagen McDowell suggested that the situation boiled down to a binary choice between “incompetence or disdain.”
Harf responded by saying that it was “unfair” to say that those mayors did not care about their citizens and claiming that President Donald Trump was targeting Democrat-led cities for political reasons rather than because they were the only ones who warranted intervention.
“For many people, that he keeps saying he’s going after Democratic cities and Democrats feels like he is making a law enforcement issue a political one, which we should not be doing in this country,” Harf continued.
Faulkner pushed back then, challenging Harf to name a Republican-led city that was facing similar levels of unrest and violence. “Marie, is there another Republican-led city that is having the kinds of problems that we are seeing in a Democratic-led city? Let me let you answer that. Is there?”
“Well, look, Democrats have been in charge of the big cities in our country for a long time,” Harf replied.
“It’s a yes or no question,” Faulkner pressed again.
“It’s more complicated. It’s not binary, Harris,” Harf attempted to clarify her point. “The issue is the Democrats are in charge of —”
Faulkner laid the challenge out again, asking once more directly, “Is there a Republican-led city that is having the same type of violence and unrest on it streets the way a Democratic-led trail of cities is right now that we continue to talk about?”
Harf argued that there were “many parts of this country led by Republicans that have a very high level of violence.”
“Do they look like the streets of Portland in Chicago right now, with the current unrest?” Faulkner pushed back once more.
Harf responded by attempting to turn the blame to President Trump, arguing that the presence of federal troops in places like Portland had led to the uptick in violence.
“The streets of Portland didn’t look like this. The streets of Portland didn’t look like this until President Trump sent in federal troops who were anonymous. They don’t have their names on, that’s what anonymous means. He has them arresting them with no Due Process in rented vans,” Harf insisted.
“When you have other markings, you are not technically anonymous, but we won’t go there,” Faulkner replied.
Earlier in the show, Faulkner had jumped in to correct Harf when she claimed that “anonymous” federal officers had been “abducting” protesters off the streets in Portland.
“I have a responsibility to step in on that end, because I have been talking with leadership at DHS. We know that DHS and the Department of Justice, for the president, are looking to handle this situation in a way that protects all Americans. So, I do want to press back a little bit on terming them as ‘anonymous federal officers.’ The markings on them are clear,” Faulkner explained.
WATCH:
