民主党市长周四挑战总统唐纳德·特朗普美国威胁要削减对这些城市的联邦资助，命令政府官员确认流向他所谓的“无政府主义管辖区”的资金，近几个月来，这些地方出现了暴力抗议，呼吁种族公正。
周三发布的一份命令进行审查的备忘录特别提到了华盛顿、DC、波特兰、西雅图和纽约州。
专家称特朗普的威胁在法律上有问题。
此举正值总统在民意调查中落后于他的民主党对手乔·拜登，并试图陷害总统选举两个月后，在“法律和秩序”方面，他也将注意力从对他处理冠状病毒大流行的审查转移开了。
格里·布鲁姆/美联社
唐纳德·特朗普总统于2020年9月2日在北卡罗来纳州威尔明顿发表演讲
总统实际执行这一威胁的权力很快遭到了反击，因为目标城市已经发誓要发起法律挑战，而民主党领导的众议院拨款委员会表示，这一命令违反了国会在分配联邦资金方面的职责。
该委员会主席、纽约州众议员妮塔·洛维(Nita Lowey)的发言人埃文·霍兰德(Evan Hollander)表示:“特朗普总统非但没有尽到自己的职责，也没有帮助拯救我们的国家，反而再次挑起分裂，寻求政治利益。”“这一命令侵犯了国会的财权，永远不会在法庭上站出来，也不过是转移了人们对美国人在特朗普政府时期不太安全这一事实的注意力。”"
联邦资金以各种方式流向城市，包括执法、交通和基础设施项目。流向城市的大部分资金是由国会直接拨款的，这让人们对特朗普转移资金的能力产生了质疑。
当被问及总统是依靠哪一个权威来潜在扣留资金时，白宫没有说。
白宫新闻秘书凯丽·麦克纳尼在周四的新闻发布会上说:“我们相信，在法律允许的范围内，我们所做的一切都是合法的。”后来，她又补充说，“我们相信我们是对的。”
特朗普周四针对的四个城市的市长发表了一份声明联合声明称此举是“非法的，违反宪法的，毫无疑问将在法庭上被击败。”
“我们的城市和我们所代表的数百万美国人不是特朗普总统的政治棋子，”市长们写道，并补充道:“特朗普总统需要清醒地认识到我们的城市——以及我们整个国家——面临的现实，并认识到他不能凌驾于法律之上。”
波特兰市长泰德·惠勒，民主党人，叫做这份备忘录“即使对这位总统来说也是一个新的低点”，指出它特别提到了民主党市长领导下的进步城市。
惠勒说:“他仍然认为，剥夺生活在这个国家的人的权利来助长他的小恩怨是一种有效的政治策略。”推特星期三。"我们其余的人都知道这是危险的、破坏性的和分裂性的。""
纽约州长安德鲁·科莫(Andrew Cuomo)对总统威胁削减对纽约的资助做出了愤怒的反应，他暗示，如果总统在受到威胁后试图在纽约街头行走，他将面临暴力。
迈克尔·布罗克斯坦/美国西帕通过美联社。文件
在这张2020年8月17日的档案照片中，州长安德鲁·科莫在纽约的新闻发布会上发言。
“他最好有一支军队，如果他认为他要走在街上在纽约。纽约人不想和他有任何瓜葛。”“他不可能有足够的保镖在纽约市内走动，人们不想和他有任何瓜葛。”
针对科莫的评论和他对暴力的暗示，麦克纳尼试图推翻这一评论，称这相当于科莫承认他未能保护好纽约的街道。
“你很少听到一个州长生动地描述他失去了对他的州的控制，但是你有州长科莫说你不能没有军队来纽约。”麦克纳尼在福克斯新闻上说:“嗯，我想在劳动节之前发生了1000多起枪击事件，而在一个月的时间里，枪击事件比前一年增加了277%。”“你很少听到民主党州长赤裸裸地承认失败。这就是库莫州长刚刚为我们所做的。”
特朗普发表这份备忘录的同一天，他的民主党总统竞选对手、前副总统乔·拜登在特拉华州就冠状病毒大流行发表讲话，指责总统处理危机不当。在几个月的民意调查中，大多数美国人都说他们不赞成世贸组织。在最近的民意调查中，世贸组织面临着对他处理危机的不赞成。
拜登本周还指责特朗普对枪击事件的反应雅各布·布莱克上个月，一名黑人警察在威斯康辛州的克诺沙开枪打了他的背部七次，并且没有谴责他自己的支持者所犯下的暴力行为。
肖恩·米格尔/俄勒冈人通过美联社
波特兰市长泰德·惠勒在2020年8月30日的新闻发布会上呼吁结束城市暴力。
最近几周，特朗普试图转移人们对疫情的注意力，并在执法和犯罪问题上表现得更加强硬。周三的备忘录符合这一重点。
山姆·伯杰在奥巴马政府期间担任管理和预算办公室的高级官员，他说这份备忘录相当于“一份竞选文件。”
伯杰说:“如果特朗普政府试图在这个基础上限制资金，他们将立即被起诉，几乎肯定会在法庭上败诉。”推特
总统最近试图削减对民主党城市的联邦资助，这与总统长期以来威胁要切断对所谓避难所城市的联邦资助相类似，这些避难所城市因不与联邦移民当局合作而激怒了总统。
由于悬而未决的法律纠纷，政府至今未能在庇护城市按照总统的指示行事，这些纠纷阻碍了联邦政府应对总统威胁的能力。
Trump quickly challenged on threat to cut funding to Democratic-led cities
Democratic mayors on Thursday challenged PresidentDonald Trump's threat to cut federal funding to their cities by ordering administration officials to identify money that flows to what he called “anarchist jurisdictions” that have seen violent protests in recent months amid calls for racial justice.
A memorandum ordering the review, issued Wednesday, specifically singled out Washington, DC, Portland, Seattle, and New York.
Experts called Trump's threat legally questionable.
The move comes as the president is trailing in the polls to his Democratic opponent Joe Biden and is looking to frame theelection, now two months away, in terms of “law and order,” while also shifting attention away from scrutiny over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump speaks on Sept. 2, 2020, in Wilmington, N.C.
The president’s authority to actually carry through on the threat was quickly countered, as the targeted cities have already vowed to mount a legal challenge and the Democrat-led House Appropriations Committee said the order violated Congress' role in allocating federal dollars.
"Instead of doing his job and helping heal our nation, President Trump is once again stoking division in search of political gain," Evan Hollander, a spokesperson for the committee's chair, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said. "This order intrudes on Congress’ power of the purse, would never stand up in court, and is nothing more than a distraction from the fact that Americans are less safe under the Trump administration."
Federal funding flows to cities in a variety of ways, including law enforcement and transportation and infrastructure projects. Much of the funding that goes to cities is directly appropriated by Congress, raising questions about Trump's ability to redirect the funds.
Asked which authority the president was relying on to potentially withhold funds, the White House did not say.
"We believe that what we will do will be lawful within the bounds of the law," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said during a press conference Thursday, without citing any specifics. Later, she added, "We believe that we are in the right here."
The mayors of the four cities targeted by Trump on Thursday issued ajoint statementsaying the move was "unlawful, unconstitutional and will be undoubtedly defeated in court."
“Our cities, and the millions of Americans who we represent, are not President Trump’s political pawns," the mayors wrote, adding: "President Trump needs to wake up to the reality facing our cities—and our entire country—and realize he is not above the law.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat,calledthe memo "a new low, even for this president," noting it singled out progressive cities with Democratic mayors.
"He continues to believe that disenfranchising people living in this country to advance his petty grudges is an effective political strategy," WheelertweetedWednesday. "The rest of us know it is dangerous, destructive, and divisive.""
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reacted angrily to the president’s threat to cut funding to New York, suggesting that the president would face violence if he attempted to walk down the streets of New York City following his threat.
In this Aug. 17, 2020, file photo, Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks at a press conference in New York.
“He better have an army if he thinks he’s gonna walk down the street in New York. New Yorkers don’t want to have anything to do with him,” Cuomo said in a press briefing called in reaction to the president’s order. “He can’t have enough bodyguards to walk through New York City, people don’t want to have anything to do with him.”
Responding to Cuomo’s comments and his allusion to violence, McEnany sought to turn the comment on its head by saying it amounted to an admission by Cuomo of his failure to secure New York’s streets.
“It’s not often you hear a governor describe in vivid control who he’s lost control of his state, but there you have Governor Cuomo say you can't come to New York without an Army. Well, I guess that's the case when you have more than 1,000 shootings before Labor Day and a 277% increase in shootings in a one-month period over the year prior," McEnany said on Fox News. "It is very rare you hear a Democrat governor nakedly admit to failure. And that is what Governor Cuomo has just done for us.”
Trump issued the memo on the same day that his Democratic opponent for the presidency, former Vice President Joe Biden, spoke in Delaware about the coronavirus pandemic, accusing the president of mishandling the crisis. In months of polling, most Americans have said they disapprove of the wTrump has for months faced disapproval for his handling of the crisis in recent polls.
Biden this week also took Trump to task for his response to the shooting ofJacob Blake, a Black man police shot in the back seven times in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last month, and failure to condemn violence committed by his own supporters.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler calls for an end to violence in the city during a news conference Aug. 30, 2020.
In recent weeks, Trump has attempted to distract from the pandemic and present himself as tougher on issues of law enforcement and crime. Wednesday's memo fit into that focus.
Sam Berger, who served as a senior official at the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration, said the memo amounted to "a campaign document."
"If the Trump admin[istration] tries to restrict funding on this basis, they will immediately be sued and almost certainly lose in court," Bergertweeted
The president’s latest attempt to cut federal funding to the Democratic cities drew parallels to the president’s longstanding threat to cut off federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities that have angered the president by not cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
The administration has so far not been able to act on the president’s direction at sanctuary cities because of pending legal battles that have so far hampered the federal government’s ability to make good on the president’s threat.
