Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee: Trump Is Trying to Set up the Framework for a Military Intervention and Occupation of American Cities

SHARPTON: “Joining me now is the Democratic Mayor of Oakland, California, the honorable Barbara Lee. Mayor Lee, we just discussed Chicago. Your city of Oakland is also on the administration’s crosshairs for an anti-crime crackdown. The president has mentioned your city by name, even though the crime rate is down around 30% from last year. Have you heard anything directly from the White House ahead of this? Any kind of operation?”
Lee: “Reverend Al, nice to be with you. I have not heard anything from the White House. And we know that Donald Trump trashed Oakland like he trashed other cities with large black and brown populations, most of which whom have black mayors. But we also know that the crime rate is coming down. We still, of course, any city, have crime. But we’re on the right trajectory. It is coming down. And we’re working very closely with our police department, Department of Violence Prevention, ceasefire, our human trafficking initiative, to continue on this trajectory. When you look at the states that actually where these cities are located, 13 out of 20 of these states are Republican-led, that have higher homicide rates. And so what in the world is he talking about? You know, this is disinformation, misinformation. And what he’s trying to do is set up the framework and set the stage for military intervention and occupation, to provoke chaos and to create havoc. We’re not going to let that happen. We’re here, we’ve got our plan in place. And should he make these decisions, we’re ready.”