US Attorney
General William Barr has defended the deployment of federal agents to cities,
saying they are needed to counter violent rioters.
In heated
testimony to Congress, Mr Barr said protesters in Portland, Oregon, are
committing "an assault on the government of the United States".
The
Democrat-led hearing covered a wide range of controversial actions from Mr
Barr's Department of Justice (DOJ).
This was Mr
Barr's first committee testimony in his 17 months on the job.
Portland
has been the scene of 61 consecutive nights of protests, sometimes violent,
triggered by the killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, by police in
May.
House
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler was among the Democrats to accuse
the DOJ of sending agents to an ongoing protest at a federal courthouse in
Portland - as well other cities in an action dubbed "Operation
Legend" by the White House - to aid Mr Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.
Several
mayors of major US cities have told the federal government to immediately
withdraw from the targeted cities.
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