President Trump on Wednesday slammed the mayors who boycotted a White House event.
Media: GeoBeatsSeattle Mayor Jenny Durkan did not go to the White House during this week's trip to the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, but did not get the chance to spurn an invite and raise a ruckus like New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
"I was never invited, which is just fine," Durkan said in a phone interview. "It's my first trip back and I have been able to spend my time meeting with mayors whose cities face challenges similar to Seattle."
President Trump received less than 10 percent of the Emerald City's vote in the 2016 presidential election.
The U.S. Justice Department ramped up its confrontation with 23 self-described sanctuary cities and state (California and Oregon) on Wednesday, firing off a letter threatening to withhold money from those who refuse to knuckle under to Trump administration immigration enforcement.
Justice asked for proof that the cities' police departments and sheriff's deputies are sharing information with federal ICE agents. The department threatened subpoenas ordering cities to comply.
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"I will NOT be attending today's meeting at the White House after @realDonald Trump's Department of Justice decided to renew their racist assault on our immigrant communities," deBlasio wrote.
Landrieu told a meeting with reporters: "An attack on one of our cities' mayors who is following the Constitution is an attack on all of us. I will not be attending that meeting."
Trump, before his departure to Davos, fired back at cities offering sanctuary and welcome to undocumented immigrants.
"The mayors who chose to boycott this event have put needs of criminal illegal immigrants over law-abiding Americans, but let me tell you, the vast majority of people showed up," Trump said.
Trump singled out New Haven, Connecticut, Mayor Toni Harp. "Toni Harp. Where's Toni? Toni? Toni?" exclaimed the president. "Uh, oh, can't be a sanctuary city person, I know. That's not possible, is it?"
Durkan surveyed the controversy with a cool eye. She is a veteran trial lawyer, did a stint as the governor's legal counsel, and served as U.S. Attorney for Western Washington during the Obama administration.
"It would be wrong for them (the Justice Department) to use the tools available to them, but beyond that I don't think they can do so," said the Seattle Mayor.
"They are in no way making our cities safer. If they wanted to, they would commit resources to the opioid crisis. They would assist us in dealing with homelessness . . . They would be rolling up their sleeves and working with us. And that is not happening right now. After all, our taxes go to them, too."
Seattle, and Washington, enjoyed direct contact with Cabinet secretaries during the Obama administration.
The mayors' conference has demonstrated cooling under Washington, D.C.'s new order. "No, they have not been around," Durkan said of top Trump brass. "I have not seen them on panels I have participated in or witnessed. Which is too bad."
Instead, Durkan was huddling with mayors, meeting with such sympathetic senators as Maria Cantwell, Oregon's Jeff Merkley, and Elizabeth Warren. It has been, she said, a "very productive" trip.
As to threats coming from the Justice Department, said Durkan, "I think it's the banging of an empty drum."