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A Navy Vet Describes Being Beaten and Pepper-Sprayed by Trump's Secret Police in Portland

“I'm here doing this interview because a bunch of federal agents beat me up because I wanted to talk to them about not honoring their oath to the Constitution,” he said.

When federal agents attacked Navy veteran Chris David in Portland, they inadvertently turned him into an icon of the anti-racism protests that have rocked the city for more than two months.

In a video that immediately went viral on social media, David — wearing a white Navy sweatshirt — is beaten with a baton and pepper-sprayed by federal law enforcement officers, absorbing the blows before walking off and flashing the cops the middle finger. He suffered a broken bone on the side of his hand and a fractured ring finger, which will require surgery.

We talked to David, 53, about why he confronted armed federal police and what happened next.

“I'm here doing this interview because a bunch of federal agents beat me up because I wanted to talk to them about them not honoring their oath to the Constitution,” said David, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1988 and served 8 years on active duty.

“This isn’t being done as a way of protecting the community,” he told VICE News. “This is a provocation. They’re here to make things worse.”