Dem Rep. Watson Coleman: We Tried to Shield the Newark Mayor from Getting Arrested Because We Knew That Was Not Legal

EXCERPT:

WATSON COLEMAN: “Well, they were never trying to force the three members of Congress out. They had apparently invited the mayor in to talk. And when we got to where the mayor was and the other officials were, the official said to him, you are trespassing. We need you to leave the property. He promptly, quietly, without any resistance, with all the dignity of the mayor of the greatest city, the biggest city in the state of New Jersey, left the property and went behind the fence where there were protesters. And we were heading back to the receiving room, the holding room, thinking that now we’re going to begin our tour. And we overhear them on the phones, ICE officials on the phones, and then we hear, we’re arresting the mayor. To which we said, for what? He’s not on the property. And they wouldn’t respond to us. And they opened the gates and they sort of pursued the mayor with a number of officers who were masked and had guns. And so, instinctively, the three members of Congress went to shield the mayor because we knew that what was happening was not legal.”