WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump has directed his team to review federal aid to Portland, Oregon, that can be cut as his anger with the city’s anti-government and anti-fascism protesters mounts, the White House said on Oct 3.

“We will not fund states that allow anarchy,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

She gave no details about what funds Mr Trump, a Republican, might try to block.

Since returning to the White House in January, Mr Trump has repeatedly use threats of withholding federal funding, which is mandated by Congress, to punish those he views as his political opponents, including Democrats in state and local government and elite universities, which he views as overrun by Marxists.

The streets of downtown Portland, the largest city in Oregon, have been filled sporadically in the last few years with left-wing protesters, most recently focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out

Mr Trump’s plan to arrest and deport more migrants.

Portland city officials said the Trump administration was threatening to withhold federal funding from the city without formal notice or justification.

The move would “siphon vital funding from our economy during a government shutdown that is already hurting cities like ours across the nation,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, a Democrat, said in a statement.

“We will use every legal and constitutional tool at our disposal to protect our residents, uphold our values, and defend the rights of every Portlander,” he said.

Ms Leavitt also said she was dismayed that a conservative independent journalist was among three people arrested by Portland police at a demonstration outside ICE’s offices.

“This incident is ...