This is the clearest account I've seen of conduct by federal agents that, if accurate, seems plainly beyond the bounds of any plausible statutory authority. Deeply, deeply concerning. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/25/us/portland-federal-legal-jurisdiction-courts.html?smid=tw-share

Here's the description: "[Federal agents" continued to fire flash grenades and welt-inducing marble-size balls filled with caustic chemicals. They moved down Main St. and continued up the hill, where one of the agents announced over a loudspeaker: 'This is an unlawful assembly.'”

The laws the feds have been relying on give them power to protect federal property & officers, and to investigate such crimes. No indication in this story of any such federal offenses "down Main St. & up the hill."

"Unlawful assembly" is, to my knowledge, not a federal crime. Happy if someone can point me to anything that indicates it is. Plenty of state laws address it - and it's controversially vague as is - but there's no indication here feds are doing anything at state or city's behest.

Throwing objects at fed agents protecting fed buildings, defacing federal buildings - these are offenses federal agents could address. General riot control measures against a largely peaceful assembly of Americans protesting while literally on Main Street. That cannot be ok.

Neither is it plausible to describe flooding the streets w/tear gas as involving any kind of "investigation." As Trump's own former DHS spokesman puts it here: "That’s not an investigation. That’s just a show of force.” /end