A top aide to Gov. Tina Kotek (D-OR), who is opposing President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect government facilities in Portland from antifa attacks, was arrested for allegedly interfering with law enforcement during an antifa uprising at a Portland police station in 2020.

Kotek’s senior adviser Kristina Narayan, then her legislative director when Kotek was speaker of the Oregon House, was among nearly 60 rioters arrested overnight on Sept. 5, 2020, when a mob of antifa militants hurled firebombs, mortars, and other projectiles at officers outside the East Portland Community Policing Center.

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That night, for four hours, the crowd attempted to get past the police blockade and descend upon the East Precinct. Rioters lit fires in the streets, including setting dumpsters, garbage cans, and wooden pallets ablaze. One of the Molotov cocktails, thrown near a residential neighborhood, caught a community member on fire.

A sergeant suffered burns from being directly struck by a commercial-grade firework. Several officers and state troopers were hit in the head with rocks, and an Oregon State Police (OSP) vehicle sustained significant damage, its windshields shattered by a barrage of rocks.

Of the dozens arrested for offenses ranging from first-degree arson to assault of a public safety officer, one was discovered with a dagger and another in possession of a knife.

Narayan was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of interfering with a peace officer. However, she was immediately released without bail, and her charges were dropped soon after, court records show. At the time, hundreds of riot-related cases were dismissed due to the Portland district attorney’s progressive prosecution policies.

Following news of Narayan’s arrest, Kotek defended her longtime staffer in a statement to The Hill, saying she was simply practicing “freedom of expression.”

“Every person – including members of my staff – has the right to stand up for what they believe and engage in nonviolent resistance,” she said. “Kristina’s experience is similar to what other Portlanders have experienced over the last few months.”

According to her LinkedIn page, Narayan continued to advise Kotek on policy areas, such as public safety, until the latter left the legislature to focus on her 2022 gubernatorial campaign.

In 2021, Kotel introduced a bill (H.B. 3164) that would prohibit police from filing interference with an officer charges, the same Class A misdemeanor offense Narayan was accused of, if the suspect “passively resists” police orders.

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“Simply frustrating an officer by failing to adhere to or comply with their direction is not criminal behavior,” Kotek told the state’s House Subcommittee on Equitable Policing.

Kotek sought to redefine the crime with an amendment adding a clause to the charging statute about “passive resistance,” which specified that a suspect is only chargeable if he or she “knowingly” interfered with an officer’s law enforcement duties. “This change removes the opportunity for confusing an officer’s authority to give an order,” Kotek said.

The legislation was ultimately passed, with Kotek’s signature.

Once she became Oregon’s governor, Kotek went on to hire Narayan again in 2023, appointing her to take on another advisory role. Within a year, Kotek promoted Narayan to serve as senior adviser in her administration.

Kotek has a history of opposing police actions against rioters, especially when police property is under attack.

About one month before Narayan’s arrest, Kotek scolded the Portland Police Bureau in a letter for deploying tear gas, a common non-lethal crowd control tactic, to disperse rioters who were targeting PPB headquarters. “What needed to be protected last night?” Kotek wrote. “An empty office building?”

Kotek is currently fighting Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to “war-ravaged” Portland, as troops are sent in to help local law enforcement protect the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility against now-nightly attacks from antifa’s forces.

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“I have been abundantly clear that Portland and the State of Oregon believe in the rule of law and can manage our own local public safety needs,” Kotek reacted on X. “There is no insurrection.”

Over the weekend, Kotek herself joined the protest line, declaring “we don’t need military intervention here” and insisting that the protests have remained peaceful, despite documented violence.

Kotek’s office did not respond to a Washington Examiner request for comment.