The IG‘s conclusion could not be clearer: the media narrative was false from start to finish. Namely, he said, “the evidence did not support a finding that the [U.S. Park Police] cleared the park on June 1, 2020, so that then President Trump could enter the park.” Instead — exactly as Hemingway‘s widely-mocked-by-liberal-outlets article reported — “the evidence we reviewed showed that the USPP cleared the park to allow a contractor to safely install anti-scale fencing in response to destruction of Federal property and injury to officers that occurred on May 30 and May 31.” Crucially, “the evidence established that relevant USPP officials had made those decisions and had begun implementing the operational plan several hours before they knew of a potential Presidential visit to the park, which occurred later that day.“
Archiv: St. John’s Episcopal Church / Lafayette Square / White House area / Washington DC
Live from outside the White House as US media declares Biden winner of presidential
Ruptly is live from the front of the White House in Washington DC on Saturday, November 7 as media outlets called the state of Pennsylvania for Democrat candidate Joe Biden, giving him the 270 college electoral votes needed to win the race.
Black Lives Matter, protesters add DC police to lawsuit over clearing of Lafayette Square
The ACLU and other civil rights groups filed a motion adding Police Chief Peter Newsham and other officers to the suit, alleging D.C. officers joined federal law enforcement agents in forcibly clearing the square ahead of President Trump’s photo-op outside of St. John’s Church.
The scene along a block’s worth of H Street where protesters are literally pitching tents and not leaving this area near Lafayette Park #dcprotest #dcprotests
Secret Service tells press to leave White House
The Secret Service abruptly called for reporters to leave the White House grounds Monday night, CNN reported.
Broadcasting from Lafayette Square in front of the White House, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins called the move “incredibly unusual,” telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper “I don’t think we’ve ever been asked to actually physically leave the White House at a time like that.”
Protesters try to bring down statue of Andrew Jackson near White House
Protests in Washington, D.C., have remained peaceful for the past couple of weeks, and Monday night marked the first significant clashes between protesters and police since authorities used pepper spray to clear demonstrators from Lafayette Square earlier this month.
Trump heads to West Point amid fresh military tensions
Former military officials have increasingly spoken out to rebuke Trump over his response to recent protests against the police-involved death of George Floyd and the president‘s threat to dispatch active-duty troops to cities to quell violence and looting that accompanied some of the demonstrations.
In an extraordinary statement Thursday, the top U.S. general expressed regret for his involvement in Trump’s photo opportunity at St. John’s Episcopal Church earlier this month that followed an aggressive clearing of protesters.
Pence says he didn‘t accompany Trump to St. John‘s ‚out of an abundance of caution‘
Vice presidents and presidents are sometimes encouraged to not be in the same location at the same time.
Joint Chiefs chairman says he regrets participating in Trump photo-op
(11.06.2020)
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley says he regrets his participation in President Trump’s photo opportunity outside St. John’s Church last week.
“I should not have been there,” Milley said during a recorded message aired at the graduation of the National Defense University on Thursday morning. “My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”
ACLU Sues Trump Over ‚Shameless, Unconstitutional, Unprovoked, and Frankly Criminal‘ Assault on Peaceful Protesters
A coalition of civil rights groups including the ACLU of the District of Columbia is suing President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and other federal officials over the brutal police assault on peaceful demonstrators near the White House Monday that cleared the way for the president‘s photo-op at St. John‘s Episcopal Church.
Civil liberties groups sue Trump, Barr for forcefully removing Lafayette Square protesters
n a federal lawsuit, the groups asserted that U.S. and military police officers’ use of horses, batons, shields and riot control agents — including pepper spray, smoke canisters and rubber or plastic projectiles — violated largely peaceful protesters’ constitutional rights of free speech and assembly 30 minutes before a citywide curfew took effect Monday.
The suit — which also names Attorney General William P. Barr as a defendant — was brought by the ACLU of the District of Columbia, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
I Cannot Remain Silent
(02.06.2020)
I remain confident in the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. They will serve with skill and with compassion. They will obey lawful orders. But I am less confident in the soundness of the orders they will be given by this commander in chief, and I am not convinced that the conditions on our streets, as bad as they are, have risen to the level that justifies a heavy reliance on military troops. Certainly, we have not crossed the threshold that would make it appropriate to invoke the provisions of the Insurrection Act.
Furthermore, I am deeply worried that as they execute their orders, the members of our military will be co-opted for political purposes.
America’s military, our sons and daughters, will place themselves at risk to protect their fellow citizens. Their job is unimaginably hard overseas; harder at home. Respect them, for they respect you. America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy. #BeBetter
Live updates: Trump poses for photos at church after police gas, force out peaceful protesters
President Trump on Monday threatened to deploy federal troops if state and city leaders don’t act to quell acts of violence and looting amid the protests over the killing of George Floyd. Moments earlier, just outside the White House, federal authorities used rubber bullets, flash bangs and gas to clear peaceful protesters from the area. Then Trump, who walked across Lafayette Square to St. John’s Church, where a fire was set Sunday evening, held up a Bible and nodded to media cameras and posed for photos.
STORY on St. John‘s fire. „A person sprayed graffiti: “The Devil is across [the] street.”
NEW: Fire was in basement of St. Johns, and is out, my @washingtonpost colleague @phscoop reports from DC fire department. Firefighters got there w/ a police escort and quickly put out the blaze. Did NOT appear to cause any significant damage, and it is unclear how it started.
NBC news has confirmed on Friday – the president was taken by secret service to the underground bunker at the WH. This is the same bunker that was used for former VP Cheney during the 9-11 attacks.
He was there for a “very short period” out of an abundance of caution.