President Donald Trump had announced he would soon be addressing the nation from the White House Rose Garden, as a 7 p.m. curfew in the city loomed and a mass of law enforcement, including U.S. Secret Service agents, Park Police and National Guardsmen, stood sentry, many dressed in riot gear, a night after the president’s residence was under siege from resistant thugs.
Moments before 6:30 p.m., just when Trump said he would begin his address, the officers suddenly marched forward, directly confronting the demonstrators as many held up their hands, saying, “Don’t shoot.”
Soon, law enforcement officers forced the protesters back, firing tear gas and deploying flash bangs into the crowd to disperse them from the park. It was a jarring scene as police in the nation’s capital forcefully cleared young men and women gathered legally in a public park on a sunny evening, all of it on live television.
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| President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John’s Church across Lafayette Park from the White House/AP Photo |
“I am your president of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters,” he declared, before demanding that governors across the nation deploy the National Guard “in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets.” And he warned that, if they refused, he would deploy the United States military “and quickly solve the problem for them.”
As an additional show of force, Trump announced he would deploy even more of the military to Washington, D.C., giving it the feel of an armed, locked-down city after days of violent clashes, arson and looting.
“As we speak I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers,” he said, as explosions rang out in the background. “We are putting everybody on warning.”
Then, before departing, Trump announced he wasn’t done for the evening, and would be “going to pay my respects to a very very special place.”
Moments later, the White House press pool was quickly summoned for a surprise movement. And soon after, Trump strolled out of the White House gates — something he had never done before — and walked across the park that had just been cleared.
Trump walked slowly, followed by an entourage of his most senior aides, security and reporters. The faint residue of pepper spray hung in the air, stinging eyes and prompting coughing.
Sections of the park and surrounding sidewalks were strewn with garbage, including plastic water bottles and other debris. Some sections had been scrawled with graffiti.
Trump crossed H Street and walked toward St. John’s Church, the landmark pale yellow building where every president, including Trump, has prayed. It had been damaged Sunday night in a fire set by criminal rioters.
Trump, standing alone in front of cameras, then raised a black-covered Bible for reporters to see.
“We have a great country,” Trump said. “Greatest country in the world.”
He invited his attorney general, national security adviser, chief of staff, press secretary and defense secretary to join him for another round of photos before he walked back across the park to the White House.
At one point, he stopped and pumped his fist in the air at National Guard members in the distance.
“We’re going to keep it nice and safe,” he said.
Rabbi Jack Moline, the president of Interfaith Alliance, slammed the fact that peaceful protesters near the White House were tear-gassed and shot with rubber bullets so Trump could hold his photo op.
“Seeing President Trump stand in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church while holding a Bible in response to calls for racial justice — right after using military force to clear peaceful protesters out of the area — is one of the most flagrant misuses of religion I have ever seen,” Moline said in a statement.
And the Right Rev. Mariann Budde, bishop of the liberal Episcopal Diocese of Washington, to which St. John’s belongs, said she was “outraged” by the moment and noted that Trump didn’t pray during his visit.
“He took the symbols sacred to our tradition and stood in front of a house of prayer in full expectation that would be a celebratory moment,” Budde told The Associated Press. “There was nothing I could do but speak out against that.”
But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican, defended Trump’s activities last night.
“They knew the street needed to be cleared before 7 pm curfew,” Rubio tweeted, according to Fox News. “But they deliberately stayed to trigger police action & get the story they wanted, that ‘police attacked peaceful protesters.'”
And Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, also supported the president’s response.
“President Trump is correct when he abjures the lack of leadership in many cities and states around the nation,” Biggs said in a statement. “The mobs of anarchists and criminals who have lost sight of the reason for what were once peaceful protests, have sensed the lack of will in the political leaders in so many places. The images and videos from around the country over the past week have exposed many mayors and governors as weak and unwilling to enforce laws to protect their citizens.
“As President Trump stated, Americans must hold their local officials to account for these unacceptable and unnecessary lapses of the rule of law.”
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