White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany lit into reporters at Monday’s press briefing after being asked about a protest in Portland by the right-wing group “Patriot Prayer.” One reporter accused the group of shooting paintball guns during their demonstration.
“What about the video of them shooting paintballs at people?” a reporter asked the press secretary after she defended Trump retweeting a video of the initial pro-Trump caravan parading through Portland.
“I don’t think the president has seen that video, nor have I,” McEnany began.
But if you’re going to ask about paintballs, it’s incredible that for 90 days I’ve stood at this podium talking about officers who have lasers flashed in their eyes in an attempt to blind them, commercial grade fireworks being thrown at them. A church right out here burning down, the people that were harassed and yelled at, Senator Rand Paul, Dan Bongino right out here and you’re going to ask me about a paintball video when in fact, for 90 days we’ve seen horrific, horrific violence by Antifa, a radical anarchist organization, you’re going to ask me about a paintball video I have yet to see and neither has the president.
McEnany’s criticism comes on the heels of yet another violent weekend of anarchic demonstrations gripping major cities, including Portland, which has now surpassed 95 days of consecutive rioting.
On Saturday, one member of the Portland-area “Patriot Prayer” group was fatally shot. The suspect in the shooting wrote in a June Instagram post “I am 100% Antifa.”