Attorney General William Barr told House Judiciary Committee Members Tuesday that rioters in Portland, Oregon, brought “knives, rifles, and explosives” as they gathered outside federal property every night during the last two months.
He made clear they are bringing other more rudimentary weapons as well.
Barr said, “Every night for the past two months a mob of hundreds of rioters have laid siege to the federal courthouse and other nearby federal property. The rioters have come equipped for fighting. Armed with powerful slingshots, tasers, sledge hammers, saws, knives, rifles, and explosives devices.”
He noted that a “relatively small number of federal personnel” are stationed inside the courthouse in order to defend it and observed, “What unfolds nightly around the courthouse cannot reasonably be called ‘protest.’”
Barr added, “It is by any objective measure an assault on the government of the United States.”
AG Barr on Portland: “Every night for the past two months, a mob of hundreds of rioters have laid siege to the federal courthouse … armed with rifles and explosive devices.” pic.twitter.com/UWZdnU4YKS
— Chris Martin (@chrisjdmartin) July 28, 2020
Portland police discovered a bag with loaded rifles magazines and Molotov cocktails during the Sunday night protest, Breitbart News reported.
Portland police tweeted a photo of the contraband:
Tonight Portland Police were near Lownsdale Square Park. A person pointed out a bag to them. Inside the bag Police found loaded rifle magazines and Molotov cocktails pic.twitter.com/ytpu9pZjqG
— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) July 27, 2020
Also on Monday, the Department of Justice tweeted photos containing a broader array of weapons seized during riots outside Portland’s federal courthouse:
Contraband such as gasoline, hockey sticks, defense shields, leaf blowers, paint sprayers, paint cans with paint, and a jar prepped for a Molotov cocktail confiscated by federal law enforcement from violent agitators outside federal Portland courthouse pic.twitter.com/DFHKV5k8Ov
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) July 28, 2020
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
