DOJ anarchist cities, lose federal funding

 DOJ anarchist cities, lose federal funding.

The Justice Department on Monday singled out Portland, New York City and Seattle as "anarchist jurisdictions" – cities that the Trump administration said have allowed violence to persist during months of civil demonstrations over racial injustice and police brutality and could then lose federal funding. 

The designation of the three cities – all led by Democrats – was in response to President Donald Trump's Sept. 2 executive order, which threatened to withhold federal funding from cities where the administration said state and local officials have cut police department funding, refused offers for help from the federal government and failed to rein in violence. 

The Office of Management and Budget will send guidance on restricting the cities' eligibility for federal dollars. 

"We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance. It is my hope that the cities identified by the Department of Justice today will reverse course and become serious about performing the basic function of government and start protecting their own citizens," Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.

The mayors of Portland, Seattle and New York City criticized the move as a political stunt to punish Democratic cities beset by crisis amid a deadly pandemic and accused the Trump administration of attempting to distract from its inability to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has killed nearly 200,000 in the country. 

Trump has been campaigning on a law-and-order message, casting urban cities as places of violence, as he seeks a second term.