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National Guard soldiers protect a park from protesters near the White House on June 1, 2020. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images Hide caption
Caption swapping Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
National Guard soldiers protect a park from protesters near the White House, June 1, 2020.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Home Office Inspector General reports found that US Park Police did not clear protesters from a park outside the White House until then-President Donald Trump could pose for a photo at a nearby church.
“[T]Evidence has established that relevant USPP officials made these decisions and began implementing the operational plan several hours before they learned of a potential presidential visit to the park, which occurred later that day, Home Office IG Mark Greenblatt wrote with the report released Wednesday. “As such, we have determined that the evidence does not support the finding that the USPP cleared the park on June 1, 2020, so that then-President Trump could enter the park.”
Trump walked to St. John’s Church, which had been damaged the day before during protests against racial injustice. As he did, law enforcement violently exonerated the mostly peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park.
As those scenes unfolded, Trump posed for photos carrying a Bible outside the church.
Then-President Donald Trump holds a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church after walking across Lafayette Park from the White House on June 1, 2020. Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images Hide caption
Toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Then-President Donald Trump holds a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church after walking through Lafayette Park from the White House on June 1, 2020.
Brendan Smilofsky/AFP via Getty Images
The report notes that the park police made the decision to “allow the contractor to safely install anti-curvature fences in response to the destruction of federal property and injury to officers.”
However, the report “does not clarify law enforcement authorities’ use of force and acknowledges that there is a problem with their response. … This report does not address allegations of individual use of force incidents, as these are the subject of separate investigations as well. As ongoing cases.”
Two of the specific problems she mentioned:
“The US Secret Service published its dispersal warnings before the USPP began,” and the USPP “failed to deliver dispersal warnings that were loud enough for everyone to hear that told protesters where to exit before the purge began.” ”
Read the full report here.
“Are you kidding me?”
Trump reacted triumphantly to the report, thanking the inspector general in a statement for “absolutely and completely exonerating me in evacuating Lafayette Park!”
Park police officials said a plan to clear the area was in place ahead of a 2 p.m. meeting that included then-Attorney General William Barr.
“The attorney general did not mention a possible presidential visit to the park,” the park’s police operations chief said, according to the report.
According to the report:
“The Secret Service notified the commander by mid-afternoon, sometime between 3 PM ET and 5 PM ET, of Trump’s planned visit. It was due to take place ‘after the protesters were removed from the area.'”
According to the report, the operations chief saw Barr exit the White House. He went to Barr and told him that the area was not safe. Barr responded by asking why people on H Street were staying outside the White House, and that he thought it would now be cleared.
The USPP operations chief said the attorney general asked him, ‘Are these people still here when POTUS? [President of the United States] Out?’ The USPP operations chief told us he didn’t know until then that the president was going out of the White House to Lafayette Park.
He said he replied to the attorney general Are you kidding me? Then he hung his head and went away.”
Then-President Donald Trump stands outside St. John’s Chapel on June 1, 2020, with (from left): Attorney General William Barr, White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images Hide caption
Toggle caption Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The Park Police Incident Commander said the park police wanted to clear the area in order to “erect the fence and calm the situation.” He added that the attorney general “was not in his chain of command” and that clearing the park had nothing to do with it. [him] Or the president wants to get out.
“This plan is not developed in two minutes,” he said. [The Attorney General] He may be a very important man in the government, he is not my boss. “
The IG notes in his report that he did not seek to interview Barr because his report focused on the behavior of the Park Police.
In June last year, Barr said at a press conference that the decision to vacate the park was made before he was aware of Trump’s plans. But he also noted that Trump had the right to leave and denied it was a political move.
messy scene
The timeline of events that day shows the emergence of chaotic parallel paths – on the one hand, the park police’s plan to clear protesters to build the fence, and on the other, Trump’s desire to address what he described as violent protests in his Rose Garden speech, walk and walk. to the church.
“The Secret Service lieutenant later apologized for the early entry into H Street during the operation, but did not explain why it happened,” the report notes, adding that “some speculated that this had happened due to miscommunication between the Secret Service supervisor and his officers near the Gate area. That this could happen because the USPP and the Secret Service did not have a common radio channel and had no means to intercept and resolve conflicting radio communications.”
Whatever the reason, the fencing company told the Secret Service at 6:30 p.m. ET that they were concerned about crowds getting bigger. Then Trump gave his speech in the Rose Garden 13 minutes later and then 18 minutes later left the White House for church.
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