Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered a full investigation into the Portland Police Bureau after officers arrested conservative journalist Nick Sotor outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon Thursday night for no apparent reason.
The investigation is being led by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon.
The Department of Homeland Security is also reportedly surging federal resources to Portland following the incident and the Department of War is sending “all necessary troops” to to end “the radical left’s reign of terror” in the city.
Sotor had been on the ground peacefully covering the far left occupation in front of the building and had just rescued an American flag that had been set aflame, when he was arrested.
Fox News journalist Bill Melugin, who was also on the ground, described what he witnessed.
“Last night at the Portland ICE building, we witnessed anti-ICE protesters burning an American flag,” Melugin posted on X. “Nick Sortor then grabbed it from them, put the flames out, and took away what was left of the flag.”
Melugin said antifa agitators later were seen surrounding and verbally threatening Sotor shortly before he was arrested.
” It’s unclear what exactly happened, we are working on getting in touch with him once he is released from custody,” Melugin posted on X, Thursday night.
After being released from custody, Sotor told Melugin by phone that he was charged with disorderly conduct.
He says he was getting video of protesters getting maced by federal agents, which was embarrassing video for them as they were “crying” etc. He says they then swarmed/surrounded him, pushed him down into a flower bed, and someone threw a punch. Nick says he swung back and missed, then disengaged and walked over to a group of Portland PD.
He says he was then shocked to be arrested by them, and he sat in the back of a police cruiser while officers figured out what to charge him with.
Sotor later told Melugin in an in-person interview that he believed the arrest was going to “backfire on them tremendously.”
“People knew that something out here stunk and that it was corrupt,” he said.
Sortor said the agitators had thrown “multiple punches” at him and broke his camera. He said he punched back from the ground and missed before moving over toward the Portland Police, thinking they would help him. “But no, instead, they put me in handcuffs,” he told Melugin.
“This is going to BACKFIRE on them, tremendously.”
“They threw multiple punches at me. They broke my camera by hitting that. I was on the ground at that point and tried to swing. I missed, and saw the opportunity to get up and get away.” –
On Tuesday, the Post Millennial’s Katie Daviscourt was assaulted by an Antifa agitator outside the ICE facility, and the Portland Police failed to make an arrest.
“The suspect walked up to me and hit me in the face with her flag pole, swinging it like a baseball bat,” she later recounted on X.
Daviscourt, a petite blond, suffered a black eye and concussion from the assault. The Portland police watched Tuesday night as anti-ICE agitators scuttled the female suspect to an “antifa safehouse.”
“They [Portland PD] take the side of the violent criminals that are here every single day assaulting ICE officers, assaulting journalists,” Sotor told Melugin. “They just proved the point that all of us have been saying.”
Sotor said the attorney general personally called him following his “wrongful arrest” to “deliver the news” that his arrest was being investigated.
“The Trump DOJ WILL NOT allow Portland Police to continue to do the bidding of Antifa,” Sotor posted on X.
Dhillon on Friday fired off a letter to the City of Portland, demanding documents related to Sotor’s arrest and their refusal to arrest the suspect who attacked Daviscourt.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday that President Trump is determined to end “the radical left’s reign of terror” in Portland and has
ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to send “all necessary troops” to the deep-blue city to protect “ICE facilities under siege from attack by antifa and other left-wing domestic terrorists.”
The press secretary also said Trump was looking to revoke federal aid to Portland following Sotor’s arrest.
“We will NOT fund states that allow anarchy,” Leavitt said.
“This is not peaceful protest, this is left-wing anarchy that has been destroying this great American city for years, leaving police officers battered, citizens terrorized, and business properties damaged,” she continued.
Leavitt described some of the offenses the agitators have gotten away with since they began their siege in front of the ICE Field Office in South Portland in June.
“These radical left lunatics have violently breeched the facility using a stop sign as a battering ram, hurled explosives and other projectiles at law enforcement, repeatedly assault and dox officers, berate their law abiding neighbors, and have even rolled out a guillotine,” she said. “More people should be reporting on that,” she added.
“Hey @Portland Police: you made a big freaking mistake,” Sotor wrote on X “You PROVED what we’ve all been saying for years: you’re CORRUPT and CONTROLLED by vioIent Antifa thugs who terrorize the streets. You thought arresting me would make me shut up and go away. You couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Assistant AG Dhillon also had a message for Portland PD.
“Portland: it’s FO time. Buckle up,” she posted on X.
“Nick and I have spoken, as have @AGPamBondi and I. This is a high priority for @CivilRights. About damn time Portland took the law seriously,” Dhillon added.