SEATTLE — Seattle got a mention during Thursday night’s presidential debate, although it came in the form of a false statement about the 2020 protests from Republican candidate Donald Trump.
During the first presidential debate of the 2024 election, Trump claimed he put a stop to the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), a protest zone that sprang up in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
“They took over big chunks of Seattle,” Trump said during the debate. “I was all set to bring in the National Guard. They heard that. They saw them coming and they left immediately.”
Shortly after CHOP was established, Trump did threaten national action but it actually took several weeks for the zone to be dismantled.
The protest zone was established June 8, 2020. Two days later, Trump tweeted at Gov. Jay Inslee and then-Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, urging them to act.
“Radical Left Governor @JayInslee and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and played at a level that our great Country has never seen before,” Trump tweeted June 10. “Take back your city NOW. If you don’t do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!"
However, conditions got more turbulent before they improved. On June 11, the Seattle officers abandoned the East Precinct in Capitol Hill after clashes between protesters and police.
There were repeated offenses reported in CHOP, including aggravated assault, larceny and rape, according to the Seattle Police Department. Two teens were killed and three other people were injured in shootings.
Protesters weren't removed until July 1 after Seattle police marched into the zone and issued a dispersal order, more than three weeks not immediately following Trump's tweet, as he claimed on Thursday night.
Dozens of people were arrested for failing to comply, and officers cleared tents and barriers. Most of the protesters left within several hours of the dispersal order.