Fmr DHS Sec. Jeh Johnson: Trump Sending Federal Agents to Cities ‘Unnecessarily Provocative… Smells Like Politics’

Several former Secretaries of Homeland Security have spoken out to express their concerns about the president sending federal agents into cities like Portland and Chicago in response to violent crime.

Tom Ridge, the nation’s first DHS chief who served under George W. Bush, said in comments to Michael Smerconish, “The department was established to protect America from the ever-present threat of global terrorism. It was not established to be the president’s personal militia… It would be a cold day in hell before I would consent to an uninvited, unilateral intervention into one of my cities.”

Michael Chertoff, Bush’s second DHS chief, said on ABC News’ Powerhouse Politics podcast that it’s concerned him too:

“You can protect federal property, but that doesn’t mean it’s an unlimited license to roam around the streets and pick up people based on some suspicion that maybe they’re involved or gonna be involved in something… The reports that I read about roving around on the street and stopping people and taking them down, strike me as going beyond that authority.”

Chertoff also told The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, “In my view, this is damaging to the department.”

And on MSNBC Wednesday night, Jeh Johnson — Barack Obama’s second DHS chief — told Joy Reid it looks “unnecessarily provocative” and recalled how Ferguson six years ago showed “a militaristic presence on the streets of the United States in our cities during moments of high tension can actually make matters worse and be provocative.”

“Frankly, the whole thing does smell like politics,” he said. “This smells like to play the law and order Richard Nixon card from 1968, but the national mood is very different now, and Donald Trump is not the challenger. Donald Trump is the incumbent. This is happening on his watch. He owns this.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.