Portland mayor denies ordering police to stand down at Antifa protest, Andy Ngo's attorney rips into him

Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler vehemently denied ordering police to ignore Antifa protesters, but the attorney for Andy Ngo ripped into him on social media.

Wheeler denied the allegation in a tweet fired off at Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who called for a federal investigation into the Antifa attack on a freelance reporter at the protest.

"Dear @TedCruz," Wheeler responded. At least get your facts straight. I ordered no such thing."

"Could you divert some of those investigation dollars to something that would actually benefit American cities? Infrastructure, affordable housing, mental health services come to mind," the mayor said.

The attorney for Ngo, the journalist who was brutally attacked at the Portland demonstration, responded with his own fiery tweet.

"Mayor @tedwheeler is denying that there was a stand-down order, but see the video and judge for yourself," tweeted attorney Harmeet Dhillon, referring to Ngo's appearance on Tucker Carlson's show.

"Officer told @MrAndyNgo that they didn't want to 'incite' the Antifa mob by doing their jobs to protect citizens. Whose order was that? I'll bet that any line cop who got into this job to help people, didn't like the order, but had to follow it.

"We'll find out what happened," he vowed.

Earlier Monday, Wheeler broke his silence by posting a statement decrying the violence and attempting to reassure his critics that everything was being done to bring the attackers to justice.