House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., called the ongoing violence in Portland wasn’t real when asked about it over the weekend.
Nadler was approached by Austen Fletcher, a conservative producer who asked the Democratic congressman to disavow the rioting in Portland.
“I ran into Jerry Nadler in DC and asked him to disavow the Antifa violence/rioting in Portland,” Fletcher tweeted on Monday, according to the NOQ Report.
“His response? ‘THATS A MYTH,'” Fletcher added.
Before getting into his car, Nadler told Fletcher that the riots occurring are part of a false narrative that was “being spread only in Washington, D.C.”
However, the Portland Police Department declared protests in the city a riot early Sunday as thousands tore down the barricades surrounding a federal courthouse where federal agents have been stationed.
Rioters launched fireworks into the building, and even tried to set it on fire at one point while federal officers were still inside.
“Throughout the night some people in this crowd spent their time shaking the fence around the building, throwing rocks, bottles, and assorted debris over the fence, shining lasers through the fence, firing explosive fireworks into the area blocked by the fence, and using power tools to try to cut through the fence,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement.
At least 26 people were arrested over the weekend, according to police.
After dumping all the @RiotRibs trash at the Portland federal courthouse, they set it on fire. Video by @ShelbyTalcott. #antifa pic.twitter.com/lrM6LPZklu
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 27, 2020
Officers also said “Molotov cocktails,” or homemade explosives, were thrown directly at them.