Attorney General William Barr said Thursday that it was “entirely appropriate” to forcibly remove protesters from the area surrounding the White House ahead of President Trump’s seemingly impromptu photo opportunity in front of St. John’s Church.
“I think the president is the head of the executive branch and the chief executive of the nation and should be able to walk outside the White House and walk across the street to the church of presidents,” Barr said at a press conference when asked about regrets expressed Wednesday by Defense Secretary Mark Esper over the political implication of his appearance with the president at the church.
Reporters covering Monday’s protests said they were peaceful by comparison to previous nights. Trump and his family were rushed into a bunker beneath the White House on Friday night after protesters breached a barricade set up near the Treasury Department, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing arrest records and “people familiar with the incident.”
On Wednesday, the White House spent much of the day disputing that law enforcement officers and National Guard troops had fired tear gas at protesters on Monday to clear a path for the president to walk to the church. “As many of the protesters became more combative, continued to throw projectiles and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls,” Gregory Monahan, U.S. Park Police acting chief said in a statement. “No tear gas was used by USPP officers or other assisting law enforcement partners to clear the area of Lafayette Park.”
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