On June 1, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C., law enforcement officers used

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

and other

riot control Riot control is a form of public order policing used by law enforcement, military, paramilitary or security forces to social control, control, disperse, and arrest people who are involved in a riot, unlawful Demonstration (people), demonstration ...

tactics to forcefully clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square, creating a path for President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and senior administration officials to walk from the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

to St. John's Episcopal Church. Trump held a Bible and posed for a

photo op A photo op (sometimes written as photo opp), short for photograph opportunity (or photo opportunity), is an arranged opportunity to take a photograph of a politician, a celebrity, or an event.Ashburton House Ashburton House, also known as St. John's Church Parish House or the British Legation, is a historic house at 1525 H Street NW, on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. Built in 1836, it is notable as the residence of Lord Ashburton in 1842, d ...

(the church's

parish house A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, par ...

), which had been defaced by

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

and damaged by a fire set during protests the night before. The clearing of demonstrators from Lafayette Square was widely condemned as

excessive force Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

and an affront to the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

right to

freedom of assembly Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of individuals to peaceably assemble and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their ideas. The right to free ...

. Just before visiting the church, Trump delivered a speech in which he urged the

governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

s to quell violent protests by using the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

to "dominate the streets," or he would otherwise "deploy the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

and quickly solve the problem." Former military leaders, current religious leaders, and elected officials from both major political parties condemned Trump for the event, though some of Trump's fellow

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

defended the actions. The event was described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "a burst of violence unlike any seen in the shadow of the White House in generations" and possibly one of the defining moments of the Trump presidency.

Civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...

groups filed a federal lawsuit against Trump,

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

William Barr William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney who served as United States Attorney General, United States attorney general in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993 and again in the first adminis ...

, and other federal officials, alleging they violated protesters'

constitutional rights A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...

. General Mark A. Milley,

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; gra ...

, later apologized for his role in the photo op. A June 2021 Interior Department Inspector General review of U.S. Park Police actions found that Park Police did not clear protesters from Lafayette Park for Trump's visit to St. John's Church but as part of a plan to erect fencing. The Park Police incident commander was reportedly stunned when Barr informed him of Trump's impending visit. That report also confirmed the use of tear gas by D.C. Metropolitan Police, revealed Park Police did not request deployment of

Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all federal prisons in the country and provides for the care, custody, and control of federal prisoners ...

to the park, and reported that it was not known why U.S. Secret Service had deployed ahead of schedule, advancing on protesters before the Park Police had a chance to warn protesters to disperse. The report also indicated that Park Police commanders could not identify who gave the order to deploy.

Background

On May 25, 2020,

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...

, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered by white

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

police officer

Derek Chauvin Derek Michael Chauvin ( ; born 1976) is an American former police officer who Murder of George Floyd, murdered George Floyd, a 46-year-old African Americans, African American man, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. On May 25, 2020, Floyd was arrest ...

, who kept his knee on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes during an arrest. Video of the killing triggered widespread protests and riots across the United States, including protests in Washington D.C., where more than sixty Secret Service agents were injured, and eleven were transported to the hospital from May 29 to 31, 2020.

"Law and order"

During his presidential campaign, Trump declared himself "the law and order candidate", alluding to a political theme popularized in the late 1960s by

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who was the 45th and longest-serving governor of Alabama (1963–1967; 1971–1979; 1983–1987), and the List of longest-serving governors of U.S. s ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

and then-

Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. He reiterated the theme in his

inaugural address In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

: "This American carnage stops right here and stops right now". Following days of domestic unrest in May, Trump returned to the law-and-order message. On the night of May 28, Trump posted to

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to innesotaGovernor

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz (; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, vice pre ...

and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!" The tweet was flagged by Twitter for "glorifying violence". Trump later said he was not advocating violence, noting that the tweet could be read as either a threat or a statement of fact and that the tweet was "spoken as a fact, not as a statement". In a later interview, he stated that he intended for the tweet to be read as "a combination of both". On May 31, Trump tweeted: "LAW & ORDER". On June 1, invocation of the

Insurrection Act The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the U.S. federal law that empowers the president of the United States to nationally deploy the U.S. military and to federalize the National Guard units of the individual states in specific circumstances, such a ...

to deploy active-duty military forces was discussed in a 10:30 a.m. meeting in the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval room has three lar ...

and favored by Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

but opposed by Attorney General

, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and Defense Secretary

Mark Esper Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing/high-tech executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as ...

. Trump stated that the violence made him look "weak" and requested ten-thousand active duty troops be brought to Washington. A senior

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

official recalled that Trump said, "We need to get control of the streets. We need 10,000 troops up here n Washington I want it right now." Trump shouted, "None of you have any backbone to stand up to the violence," and asked Milley why soldiers could not shoot protesters. "Can't you just shoot them. Just shoot them in the legs or something." Barr stated that the Insurrection Act was a "break-the-glass-in-case-of-emergency" option and "really not necessary in this situation". Rather, local law enforcement and the National Guard could be used to make a show of force and dominate the streets. Barr indicated he would bring in more federal officers. Esper promised additional National Guardsmen: "We will deploy additional Guard units—five thousand personnel if necessary—into D.C." Feeling that the local police response had been inadequate, Trump expressed interest in applying the 1973 Home Rule Act to assert temporary federal control of the D.C. Police force. Barr discussed the issue just before 2 p.m. with MPD's chief of police Peter Newsham at the FBI's Strategic Information and Operations Center. Barr recalled telling the chief of police that as long as he could "count on ewshambeing responsive to federal needs," Barr would not recommend that the government take control of MPD. On an 11:00a.m. conference call with U.S. state governors from the White House Situation Room, Trump said, "You have to dominate, if you don't dominate you're wasting your time. They're going to run over you. You're going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate." Attorney General Barr added that "law enforcement response is not going to work unless we dominate the streets." Defense Secretary

said on the call, "we need to dominate the battlespace. You have deep resources in the guard." Secretary Esper was later criticized for using military terms in relation to civil unrest. Later on June 1, White House aides drafted a proclamation to invoke the act. The

had last been invoked in 1992 at California's request in response to the

Rodney King riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...

, and also been used during the Civil rights movement to enforce school integration and

desegregation Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...

. In his Rose Garden speech on June 1 just prior to the photo op, Trump declared, "I am your president of law and order."

Bunker visit and reactions

On May 29, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House. Shortly after 7:00p.m., multiple protesters crossed temporary barricades near the Treasury Department, about from the

East Wing The East Wing of the White House is a two-story structure that serves as office space for the First Lady of the United States, first lady and her staff, including the White House Social Secretary, White House social secretary, White House Graphics ...

. The

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

placed the White House on lockdown and recommended that Trump and his family move to the

Presidential Emergency Operations Center The Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC, ) is a bunker underneath the East Wing of the White House. It serves as a secure shelter and communications center for the president of the United States and others in case of an emergency. ...

, an

underground bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

, which they did. Trump spent almost an hour in the bunker. The specific security measure was kept secret until reported by ''

'' on May 31. Media coverage reportedly enraged Trump, who felt it gave the impression he was hiding during the protests. In a meeting with

Alyssa Farah Griffin Alyssa Farah Griffin ( Farah; ; born June 15, 1989) is an American political strategist and television personality. She was the White House director of strategic communications and Assistant to the President in 2020 during the presidency of Do ...

and Bill Barr, Trump called for the staffer who leaked the story to be executed. On social media, critics derided Trump as a "coward" with the moniker "Bunker Boy". Trump said he was in the bunker "for a tiny, little short period of time… much more for an inspection" rather than because of any imminent danger. This accounting of events was later contradicted by Attorney General William Barr, who said the May 29 protests "were so bad that the Secret Service recommended that the President go down to the bunker". Trump's displeasure over the coverage reportedly led to his decision to stage a

Ashburton House fire

Several fires were lit during protests in Washington on the night of May 31, including one in the basement of

Ashburton House Ashburton House, also known as St. John's Church Parish House or the British Legation, is a historic house at 1525 H Street NW, on Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. Built in 1836, it is notable as the residence of Lord Ashburton in 1842, d ...

, the

of St. John's Episcopal Church. The fire was isolated to the church nursery and quickly extinguished by firefighters. According to the church's rector, Reverend Rob Fisher, during the protests "a fire was lit in the nursery, in the basement of Ashburton House". Fisher wrote that the fire was small, wrecking the nursery room but leaving the rest of the church and parish house untouched, except by

which had been quickly fixed. Trump later claimed that "the church was badly hurt" and retweeted a false claim that the church "was firebombed by

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

s".

Security perimeter

Following violent protests in D.C. on May 29, planning began on an expansion of the White House security perimeter. On May 30, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

closed Lafayette Park and installed bike-rack fencing along the north side of the park. Discussions began between the U.S. Park Police and Secret Service to establish a more secure perimeter that would include anti-scale fencing. According to a

Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

spokesman, "Trump directed Barr to 'lead federal law enforcement efforts to assist in the restoration of order to the District of Columbia'." On May 31, Barr ordered the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) to deploy its Hostage Rescue Team to the streets by midnight. The federal response resulted in all

Homeland Security Investigations The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...

agents in the area being told just before noon on June1 to prepare to assist with handling protests. All the federal officers newly stationed to D.C. had volunteered for the opportunity, said the president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. During the overnight demonstrations on May 31, fires were lit in the basement of St. John's parish house, the Park Service's restroom in Lafayette Park, and at the nearby

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

building. On June 1, the decision was made to install anti-scale fencing at the park. Although the decision to extend the perimeter to allow for fence installation had been made that morning, it had not been carried out by the afternoon, surprising Barr, who had entered Lafayette Park to check on conditions. He then ordered the perimeter expanded. A member of the D.C. National Guard reported he had personally informed Barr that the crowd was peaceful.

Photo op preparations

According to ''The New York Times'', on the morning of June 1, Trump's advisors told him that allowing protesters and unrest on the streets of the capital was not symbolically acceptable. In the book '' I Alone Can Fix It'', Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker say it was the president's daughter

Ivanka Trump Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman. She is the second child of Donald Trump, the president of the United States, and his first wife, Ivana. Trump was a senior advisor in her father's first admi ...

who came up with the idea that her father should give a "law and order" speech in the Rose Garden, then walk to St. John's Church. She was joined by her husband and

Senior Advisor to the President Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. Senior advisors to the president do not have formal government decision making authority, but they can have significant infl ...

Jared Kushner Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He is a son-in-law of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, through his marriage to Ivanka Trump and served as a senior advisor in his father-in- ...

White House Chief of Staff The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a position in the federal government of the United States. The chief of staff is a Political appointments in the United States, politi ...

Mark Meadows Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representat ...

, and

Counselor to the President Counselor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States and senior members of the White House Office. The current officeholders are Alina Habba and Peter Navarro. The position should no ...

Hope Hicks in promoting the idea. Ivanka suggested that he "walk to the church, go inside, say a prayer". Hicks advised him to do more, such as reading from scripture or visiting with faith leaders. Trump reportedly vetoed those ideas, saying he would simply hold up a

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

Timeline

On May 30, U.S. Park Police (USPP) and U.S. Secret Service decide to "establish a more secure perimeter around Lafayette Park and discussed procuring an antiscale fence", according to the Interior OIG report. Occurring on June 1, all times given in

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...

: *12:00 p.m.: Secret Service tells a fencing contractor to proceed with installing fencing at Lafayette Park, according to the Interior OIG report. *4:50 p.m.: Secret Service informs the USPP incident commander that Trump would make an unscheduled visit to Lafayette Park later in the day, according to the USPP acting chief. *5:05 p.m.: A convoy of nine trucks carrying uniformed

troops enters the

complex. *5:30 p.m.: By this time, three trucks holding fencing material have arrived at the area. *5:50 p.m.: The Park Police incident commander informs the Park Police Horse Mounted Patrol unit, the Park Police civil disturbance unit, and the

Arlington County Police Department The Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency servicing the 238,643 residents of the of jurisdiction within Arlington County, Virginia. It is the primary law enforcement agency in the county for all leve ...

civil disturbance unit to prepare to deploy to H Street. *6:04 p.m.: White House communications office notifies reporters about a "6:15 news briefing in the Rose Garden". USPP incident commander drafts park dispersal warning. *6:08 p.m.: Law enforcement and military personnel begin massing before protesters at the north side of Lafayette Park. They include members of the Uniformed Secret Service, D.C. National Guard, and Park Police. *6:08 p.m.: Attorney General

is seen in Lafayette Park reviewing protesters and law enforcement. *6:10 p.m.: Around this time, Barr speaks to the Park Police operations commander. According to the Interior Inspector General report, the Park Police operations commander stated that Barr "asked him why the crowd was still on H Street and said he thought they would be gone by that point", to which the Park Police operations commander said that Park Police "were getting into position to move the crowd". Barr proceeds to ask: "Are these people still going to be here when POTUS comes out?" The Park Police operations commander said he replied: "Are you freaking kidding me?" *6:12 p.m.: The Metropolitan Police Department assistant chief asks the Park Police incident commander to delay the clearing operation until 7 p.m., when the

curfew A curfew is an order that imposes certain regulations during specified hours. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to remain indoors during the evening and nighttime hours. Such an order is most often issued by public authorit ...

would take effect but the Park Police incident commander refused. *6:15 p.m.: General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appears in the park behind the police barricade. *6:16 p.m.: Secret Service, contrary to the operational plan, begin moving into H Street prior to any dispersal orders being given to the crowd. The early deployment increased tension between law enforcement and the protesters. They meet significant resistance and eggs and bottles were thrown. They use pepper spray in response. Some security personnel kneel to put on

gas mask A gas mask is a piece of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft ...

s. This is misinterpreted by some protesters as a sign of solidarity; they start cheering. A D.C. police channel announces that "

CS gas The compound 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called ''o''-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile; chemical formula: C10H5ClN2), a cyanocarbon, is the defining component of the lachrymatory agent commonly referred to as CS gas, a tear gas which ...

", a type of tear gas, may soon be deployed. *6:17 p.m.: Before Park Police initiated their plan to warn protesters to disperse, agents of the Secret Service advance on protesters at the northeast corner of the park at H Street and

Madison Place Madison Place is a one-block street located in northwest Washington, D.C., across from the White House. It forms the eastern border of Lafayette Square (the northernmost part of President's Park) between Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street NW. ...

. After briefly occupying the intersection, they fall back. The Secret Service officer responsible for the early deployment apologized but offered no explanation for the change in timing. *6:21 p.m.: A person on a law enforcement communications channel says, "John, can you just confirm when you have all the

grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

s and shields with you." *6:22 p.m.: Barr and Milley leave Lafayette Square. *6:23 p.m.: Park Police make the first of three announcements directing protesters to leave. The announcement is largely unintelligible even to protesters at the front of the crowd. Two additional announcements were made at 6:26 p.m. and 6:28 p.m. About 1 minute before the final warning was completed, Park Police units deployed contrary to the operational plan. Park Police commanders could not identify who gave the order to deploy. *6:26 p.m.: D.C. Police radio announces that police action is about to take place and that D.C. Police are to hold their positions on 16th Street. *6:28 p.m.: Park Police notify Arlington County Police via radio that "level one's been activated", referring to a policing tactic to quell violent unrest by charging crowds to disperse them without making physical contact. Police and National Guard military police, wearing gas masks and riot gear advance to the barricade on the North side of Lafayette Park. At least one protester throws water bottles and is reprimanded by another protester. The Secret Service and Park Police begin to push protesters at the northeast corner of the park up

Vermont Avenue Vermont Avenue is one of the longest running north–south streets in City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, California. With a length of , is the third longest of the north–south thoroughfares in the region. For most of its length be ...

as Park Police mounted on horses appear behind them. *6:32 p.m.: Arlington Police radio says, "Moving forward to the intersection, forward to the intersection. Go, go, go," in reference to the largest group of protesters on H Street. The protesters retreat, evacuating H Street between 16th Street NW and Vermont Ave in front of the advancing security forces. Police with riot shields enter the patio of St. John's Episcopal Church and physically push out a group of clergy and volunteers, leaving the police in control of the front of St John's Church. *6:34 p.m.: Arlington Police radio says, "We're gonna take 16th Street on this next surge." *6:35 p.m.: Park police on H Street rush protesters at the intersection of H Street and 16th Street. A chemical grenade is rolled at the feet of protesters. *6:36 p.m.: Park police push protesters west on H Street past 16th Street. Video records several members of the Park Police

SWAT team A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations. SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to reso ...

and the

Special Operations Response Team Special Operations Response Team (or SORT) is the highly trained tactical unit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a federal law enforcement agency under the United States United States Department of Justice, Department of Justice. It's used t ...

firing pepper balls at the fleeing crowd. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reported that a member of the Park Police SWAT team threw a stingball grenade containing rubber pellets into the crowd. *6:39 p.m.: A Park Police SWAT officer rolls a white smoke grenade into the crowd. *6:42 p.m.: Arlington Police radio says, "We are going all the way to I Street. Copy, I Street." A line of mounted Park Police officers moves forward to disperse the crowd. *6:43 p.m.: Trump begins speaking in the

White House Rose Garden The White House Rose Garden is a garden bordering the Oval Office and the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., United States. The garden is approximately 125 feet long and 60 feet wide ( by , or about 684m2). It balances the Jacqueli ...

. *About 6:45 p.m.: Protesters are forced south along 17th Street. Several CS gas grenades are deployed by the Metropolitan Police Department on 17th Street between H Street and

Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown. Traveling through So ...

. *6:50 p.m.: Trump concludes his speech, saying, "Thank you very much, and now I am going to pay my respects to a very, very special place." *7:00 p.m.: The curfew previously announced by D.C. Mayor

Muriel Bowser Muriel Elizabeth Bowser (born August 2, 1972) is an American politician who has served as the current mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she previously represented th ...

goes into effect. *7:01 p.m.: The president begins walking with a group of White House officials and a security detail from the White House complex to St. John's Church. *7:06 p.m.: Trump arrives at the Parish House of St. John's Church, where he spends several minutes posing for photographs on the church grounds, first alone and then with his entourage. *7:11 p.m.: Trump and his entourage leave the church grounds. *7:18 p.m.: Trump and his entourage arrive back at the White House. *7:30 p.m.: Construction begins on new black fence around Lafayette Park and along 17th Street at Pennsylvania Avenue restricting public access. *10:00 p.m.: Helicopters disperse crowds that had reformed in violation of the curfew.

Clearing Lafayette Square and St. John's

Minutes before a speech by Trump in the White House Rose Garden, hundreds of officers in riot gear rapidly advanced on the protesters at the direction of Attorney General

. Officers used chemical irritants (including

and pepper balls), sting ball grenades, flash grenades, smoke canisters, rubber bullets,

riot shield A riot shield is a lightweight protection device, typically deployed by riot police and some military unit during protest, though also utilized by protestors. Riot shields are typically long enough to cover an average-sized person from the top of ...

s, and batons to disperse the crowd. A number of law enforcement agencies were involved, including the U.S. Park Police (USPP), U.S. Secret Service, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), D.C. National Guard,

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

(ACPD), U.S. Marshals,

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...

(DEA),

(FBI), and

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention ...

(ATF). National Guard members were present but did not participate in clearing protesters. At 6:16 p.m., before any dispersal orders were given to protesters, the Secret Service entered H Street from Madison Place and began pushing back protesters. The Secret Service later apologized for this but did not explain why it had happened. USPP and ACPD officers began clearing the area around 6:28p.m., a half hour ahead of the previously announced 7:00p.m. city

, prior to completing dispersal warnings to the crowd, and despite specific requests from the D.C. Police Assistant Chief to delay the operation. Police were pushing clergy and church volunteers off the patio of St. John's Church by 6:30p.m. Police on foot and mounted police on horses began moving the crowd west along H Street, towards

Connecticut Avenue Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue wa ...

by 6:35 p.m. U.S. Park Police issued a statement claiming that "at approximately 6:33p.m., violent protestors on H Street NW began throwing projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles, and caustic liquids." The claim was disputed by multiple reporters and video taken at the scene. No U.S. Park Police officers reported injuries on June 1, 2020, until after the operation to disperse began, with one officer suffering a facial laceration and another who was kicked in the groin. An Army National Guard major who testified later said that "demonstrators were behaving peacefully". "More than a half-dozen officials from federal law enforcement, D.C. public safety agencies and the National Guard who were familiar with planning for protests" told ''

'' that "they had no warning that U.S. Park Police, the agency that commanded the operation, planned to move the and before a 7:00p.m. citywide curfew, or that force would be used." A ''Washington Post'' review of videos taken at the scene did not find evidence of these items being thrown. Some protesters threw eggs, candy, and water bottles at police. Journalists who were on the scene also reported that the demonstration was peaceful. Jonathan Allen of NBC News wrote: "no one was threatening the police. It was an entirely peaceful protest, the kind that occurs in Washington without incident, seemingly every day." A CNN team recorded no projectiles thrown at police, reporting that, as police began to clear the square, "demonstrators were hit by projectiles and began to cough and choke." Garrett Haake of NBC News wrote, "there was no object-throwing before the mounted park police moved in." During a live report for the Australian morning show ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

'', journalist Amelia Brace and cameraman Timothy Myers were assaulted by a charging police line. Brace was clubbed with a police baton and Myers was hit in the chest with the edge of a riot shield and then punched, as they covered protests near the White House. Brace said she and Myers were also shot by rubber bullets. Brace said at the time: "You heard us yelling there that we were media but they don't care, they are being indiscriminate at the moment." In response, the Australian Prime Minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...

announced Australia would launch an investigation into the incident. Reverend Gini Gerbasi, the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, Georgetown, said that despite some tense moments the crowd was calm and peaceful until the police advanced. She had helped organize more than twenty priests and lay volunteers to provide water, food, and hand sanitizer as a "peaceful presence in support of protesters". They were packing up before the 7:00p.m. curfew when armed riot police entered the churchyard and expelled them. Gerbasi found herself coughing from tear gas, while other people around her were hit with non-lethal projectiles, and they were forced from the churchyard by police carrying riot shields.

White House speech

While law enforcement continued to clear protesters from nearby streets and with smoke still drifting in the air, Trump emerged to give a speech in the

, where he said, "I am your president of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters." Law enforcement munitions could be heard in the background during the speech. Some news networks showed the speech and the police actions simultaneously, in a

split screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing), dividing graphics into adjacent parts * Split screen (video production), the visible division of the screen * ''Split Screen'' (TV series), 1997–2001 * Split screen, a focusing screen in a ...

described as "surreal". Regarding violent protests in the United States, Trump urged state governors to use the National Guard "in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets". If cities or states fail to respond adequately, he said he would "deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them". Regarding D.C., Trump stated, "As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults, and the wanton destruction of property." Trump concluded his speech by saying: "Now I am going to pay my respects to a very, very special place."

Participants

Flanked by Secret Service agents, the president walked with a group of senior officials and advisors from the White House complex to St. John's Church. The group included: *

,
*

Pat Cipollone Pasquale Anthony "Pat" Cipollone (born May 6, 1966) is an American attorney who served as White House Counsel under President Donald Trump. While in office he defended Trump in his First impeachment trial of Donald Trump, first impeachment trial ...

,
*

Alyssa Farah Alyssa Farah Griffin ( Farah; ; born June 15, 1989) is an American political strategist and television personality. She was the White House director of strategic communications and Assistant to the President in 2020 during the presidency of Do ...

,
* Hope Hicks,
*

Keith Kellogg Joseph Keith Kellogg Jr. (born May 12, 1944) is an American diplomat and retired Lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general in the United States Army. He previously served as the national security advisor to Vice President Mike Penc ...

,
*

,
* Nick Luna,
* Derek Lyons,
* Kayleigh McEnany,
*

,
* Stephen Miller,
* Mark Milley,
* Robert O'Brien,
* Anthony M. Ornato,
* Dan Scavino,
*

Appearance at the church

Following a five-minute walk from the White House, Trump arrived at St. John's Church at 7:06p.m. His daughter, Ivanka, handed him a Bible which she carried there in her handbag. Trump turned the Bible over, and held it aloft as he stood in front of

beside the church noticeboard. A reporter asked "Is that your Bible?" and Trump replied, "It's a Bible." Trump made no formal remarks. When asked if he had any thoughts, Trump said, "We have a great country. That's my thoughts. Greatest country in the world. We will make it greater. We will make it even greater. It won't take long. It's not going to take long. You see what's going on. You see it coming back." Trump first posed alone with the Bible, while standing in front of the church's noticeboard, which stated: "All are welcome". He then spent "several minutes posing for photos alone and with other officials", including Barr, O'Brien, Meadows, Esper, and McEnany. ''The New York Times'' reported that Trump "made no pretense of any intent other than posing for photographs—he held up the Bible carried by his daughter, then gathered a few top advisers next to him in a line". The entire group then departed the church grounds at 7:11p.m. and returned to the White House at 7:18p.m. Trump did not enter the church during this appearance. It was his third visit to the church since being elected president. There were viral social media claims and news reports that Trump had held the Bible upside down during the photo op, but these were untrue. However, the Bible version Trump held up was a

Revised Standard Version The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation is a revision of the American St ...

, which is not endorsed by evangelical Christians (a large portion of Trump's political base), due in part to translations like that in Isaiah 7:14, where is rendered "young woman" rather than "virgin" — which to evangelicals questions the prophecy of the miracle of the

Incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

Aftermath

The following morning, June 2, a tall fence was put up on the northern edge of Lafayette Square, and by June 4 "all entrances to Lafayette Park, the Ellipse and other open spaces around the White House" had been blocked off with fencing and concrete barriers.

Subsequent demonstrations

A crowd of demonstrators triple the size of the previous day peacefully demonstrated the next day. By the afternoon of June 3, protesters "found themselves pushed almost a full street farther back from the White House" with two large military vehicles across

16th Street NW 16th Street Northwest, briefly known as the Avenue of the Presidents, is a prominent north-south boulevard in Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The street was laid out as part of the 1791 L'Enfant Plan, whi ...

entirely blocking Lafayette Square and rows of officers with riot gear and crowd-control munitions stationed in front of the vehicles. On June 11, temporary fencing around Lafayette Park was dismantled and the park reopened. On June 24, the fencing was put up again and stayed up until May 2021.

Active-duty military

In his June 1 speech, Trump encouraged governors to use the National Guard in sufficient numbers to "dominate the streets" and promised to "deploy the military" if necessary to restore order. On June 1 and 2, about 1,700

active-duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. Indian The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one of the largest active service forces in the world, with almost 1.42 million Active Standing ...

U.S. military troops from

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

Fort Drum Fort Drum is a U.S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, near the western border of northern New York, United States. The population of the CDP portion of the base was 12,955 at the 2010 census. ...

, and

Fort Riley Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...

were positioned at military installations in the capital area including

Fort Belvoir Fort Belvoir ( ) is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It was developed on the site of the former Belvoir (plantation), Belvoir plantation, seat of the prominent Lord ...

and

Fort Myer Fort Myer is the previous name used for a U.S. Army Military base, post next to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Founded during the American Civil War as Fort Cass and ...

in Virginia and

Joint Base Andrews Joint Base Andrews (JBA) is a United States military facility located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The facility is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force (USAF) 316th Wing, Air Force District of Washington (AFDW). The bas ...

in Maryland. No active-duty forces were deployed inside Washington, D.C. At a Pentagon press conference on June 3, Defense Secretary Mark Esper declared his opposition to using active-duty military to quell domestic unrest: "The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the

." Esper faced criticism earlier in the week for using the term "dominate the battlespace" in reference to how National Guard resources could be used. On June 3, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy ordered the return of some active duty troops to their home bases. The order was overturned by Esper after a White House meeting later that day. But the following day, Esper ordered the move to proceed and 700 troops from the 82nd Airborne were sent back to North Carolina. By June 5, the Pentagon had ordered all active-duty military to return to their home bases. The active duty troops stationed in the capital area complemented roughly 5,400 guardsmen from D.C. and 11 other states, including Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. Governors of Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware declined requests to send National Guard troops from their states to the District of Columbia.

Use of tear gas and tools for crowd dispersal

Numerous eyewitness accounts and news reporters indicated that tear gas was used to disperse protesters in Lafayette Square. WUSA9 reporters on scene "witnessed canisters venting out green-colored gas" and then collected several spent canisters. According to WUSA9, the canisters "were not from a previous day", because they "were in the middle of the street undisturbed, and in one case, still slightly warm to the touch", and also because the WUSA9 journalists were the first people on the scene "immediately after" the police departed. The canisters were labelled SPEDE-HEAT CS and SKAT SHELL OC. WUSA9 reporters also recovered a fragment of a Stinger OC Grenade, which releases OC gas and blasts rubber pellets out in a radius. OC is short for oleoresin capsicum, a chemical irritant found in peppers, which activates the

TRPV1 The transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1), also known as the capsaicin receptor and the vanilloid receptor 1, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''TRPV1'' gene. It was the first isolated member of ...

pain receptor and produces tears in humans. CS gas, which is commonly known as tear gas, activates the

TRPA1 Transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily A, member 1, also known as transient receptor potential ankyrin 1, TRPA1, or The Mustard and Wasabi Receptor, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TRPA1'' (and in mice and rats by ...

receptor and is more toxic than OC, but similarly it also produces tears in humans. A video of the event shows at least one law enforcement officer with an OC canister strapped to his vest. Video of the officers' advance shows a law enforcement officer throwing at protesters an object that ''The Washington Post'' identified as a sting-ball grenade. Despite this evidence, U.S. Park Police officials said, "USPP officers and other assisting law enforcement partners did not use tear gas or OC Skat Shells to close the area at Lafayette Park", adding that they only used "pepper balls" and "smoke canisters". But in a June 5 interview, U.S. Park Police spokesperson Sgt. Eduardo Delgado called it a "mistake" to insist "tear gas" was not used, as the pepper balls used by Park Police would also cause tears. Delgado said the initial decision to deny that "tear gas" was used was due to Park Police assuming "people would think fCS or CN", which are two common examples of tear gas. In sworn Congressional testimony on July 28, Monohan reiterated that CS gas was not used but when asked about the use of other "chemical agents", Monohan noted the USPP's use of sting ball grenades, which can contain chemical irritants. One such grenade containing OC gas was recovered at the scene. Attorney General William Barr and officials with several law enforcement agencies also denied using tear gas. In an interview with

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

, Barr reiterated "there was no tear gas used" on June 1. "The tear gas was used Sunday ay 31when they had to clear H Street to allow the fire department to come in to save St. John's Church. That's when tear gas was used." Donald Trump's presidential campaign demanded news outlets retract reports of "tear gas" use. Trump called the reports "fake" and said "they didn't use tear gas." Fact checkers from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, FactCheck.org, and

Politifact PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times ...

reported on this issue. The specific compound which the Park Police denied using is CS, a traditional tear gas. "

Tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

", however, is a broad term for a group of chemicals known for being riot control agents, e.g. PAVA in the pepper balls that USPP acknowledge using. The sources for this broad definition are the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'', and the ''Handbook of Toxicology of Chemical Warfare Agents''. Thus the fact checkers reported that the difference between pepper spray and traditional tear gas compounds is only

semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

, because the practical effect is the same: chemically irritated eyes, throats, and other areas. On June 13, 2020, U.S. Secret Service officials issued a correction stating that one employee had used OC spray "in response to an assaultive individual". In June 2021, after initially refusing to confirm whether it had used tear gas munitions, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) admitted in court filings (in a litigation brought by protesters and the ACLU) that the MPD had used tear gas against protesters on June 1. An MPD lawyer asserted that the department's use of tear gas was reasonable and that because the MPD "did not target specific protesters" the department did not violate the constitutional rights of any individual. In a report issued by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, MPD confirmed that it used CS gas on 17th Street. The use of the chemical irritant surprised the Park Police, as the Park Police incident commander had not authorized the use of CS gas.

Australian response to attack on Australian journalists

While dispersing demonstrators, two U.S. Park Police officers attacked a news crew from

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

, a major Australian media outlet. Cameraman Timothy Myers was hit with a riot shield and punched by police, while a different officer attempted to attack reporter Amelia Brace with a baton as she fled. Both Myers and Brace were also shot with rubber bullets and attacked with tear gas. The police actions were criticized by both

Australian Prime Minister The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the federal executive government. Under the principles of responsibl ...

and

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Anthony Albanese Anthony Norman Albanese ( or ; born 2 March 1963) is an Australian politician serving as the 31st and current prime minister of Australia since 2022. He has been the Leaders of the Australian Labor Party#Leader, leader of the Labor Party si ...

. Morrison said the event was "troubling" and directed the Australian Embassy to investigate and to express "strong concerns" to U.S. authorities. The

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries. Its Musicians section consists of the SOMA (Symphony Orchestra Musi ...

, which represents Australian journalists, submitted a letter to the U.S. Ambassador to Australia protesting the attack. A Network Seven spokesman said the attack against Myers and Brace was "nothing short of wanton thuggery". U.S. Park Police officials said the officers had been assigned to administrative duties pending investigation of the attack. According to the Government Accountability Office, in a report to Congressional requesters, the incident was referred to the OIG and an investigation was ongoing as of August 2021. Since then, no relevant report has appeared on the OIG website.

Investigations and hearings

Helicopters and subsequent investigation

Pentagon officials directed National Guard helicopters to use a "persistent presence" to disperse protesters. Helicopters, including a twin-engine

UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) ...

and

UH-72 Lakota The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) UH-72 Lakota is a twin-engine helicopter with a single, four-bladed main rotor. The UH-72 is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145, built by American Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters, Inc.), ...

, were observed in a very low-flying

show of force A show of force is a military operation intended to warn (such as a warning shot) or to intimidate an opponent by showcasing a capability or will to act if one is provoked. Shows of force may also be executed by police forces and other armed, n ...

over protesters who gathered later in the evening. Experts said that the maneuvers, including rotor wash that sends debris flying, presented risks to the pilots, the crew, and persons on the ground. ''The Washington Post'' reported that "one helicopter buzzed protesters from a height nearly level with three- and four-story buildings in the Chinatown area, ripping tree limbs away nd therotor wash hurled glass from broken windows like shrapnel." FAA flight data showed that one helicopter hovered below near a crowd by

Capital One Arena Capital One Arena is an indoor arena in Washington, D.C. Located in the Chinatown section of the larger Penn Quarter neighborhood, the arena sits atop the Gallery Place rapid transit station of the Washington Metro. The arena was opened o ...

. The use of a helicopter with Red Cross markings for a law enforcement action was also criticized. Misuse of the Red Cross symbol is prohibited by the

First Geneva Convention The First Geneva Convention, officially the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field (), held on 22 August 1864, is the first of four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It defines "the basis on whic ...

. In June 2020, the commander of the

District of Columbia National Guard The District of Columbia National Guard is the branch of the United States National Guard, National Guard of the United States based in the District of Columbia. It comprises both the District of Columbia Army National Guard, D.C. Army National ...

, Major General William J. Walker, announced an investigation into the use of the

medevac Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to patients requiring evacuation or transport using medically equipped air ambulances, helicopters an ...

helicopter. The crew of the UH-72 was grounded during the investigation. A report by the U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General issued on January 22, 2021, found that aircrews lacked clear orders to guide them on their mission, with some helicopter crews believing that their mission was to observe, and others believing their mission was to deter and disperse the crowd. The report found no law prohibiting the use of the medevac helicopter. The Army said that an unspecified number of personnel had been given "administrative discipline" for "performance shortcomings" (but not misconduct). The report recommended improved planning, training, and oversight of the use of aircraft during civil unrest. Although Walker, the D.C. National Guard commander, initially concluded that the use of a medical helicopter was inappropriate, the subsequent higher-level review concluded that there was no law prohibiting it. The Army said that it has changed its policy, noting that since the June 2020 incident, no Army helicopters had been deployed to public events in the capital.

Lawsuits

Observers raised concerns that the police action violated rights guaranteed by the

First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents Federal government of the United States, Congress from making laws respecting an Establishment Clause, establishment of religion; prohibiting the Free Exercise Cla ...

, which reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Three days after protesters were forcibly removed from Lafayette Square, a group of protesters and Black Lives Matter D.C., represented by the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

(ACLU) and

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, or simply the Lawyers' Committee, is an American civil rights organization founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy. When the Lawyers' Committee was created, its existence w ...

, filed a federal lawsuit against Trump and Barr, claiming they conspired to violate, and did violate, their constitutional rights under the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Fourth Amendments. Other officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secret Service Director James M. Murray, were also named as defendants. A second lawsuit, filed by three protesters in June 2020 against law enforcement and Trump administration officials asserting that June1 events represented a "gross abuse of executive power" that violated their First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. In May 2021, lawyers for the Justice Department asked the district court to dismiss four lawsuits against Trump, Barr, and other officials, claiming immunity "from civil lawsuits over police actions taken to protect a president and to secure his movements" and citing a 2004 Supreme Court decision that upheld qualified immunity for two Secret Service officers who had moved protesters away from the president—applied in the case of Barr. The government argued that the security of a president's movements was a "paramount" interest. The attorneys for the plaintiffs opposed the motions, arguing that security was "the latest in a series of 'shifting explanations' after-the-fact" and that acceptance of the argument would "authorize brutality with impunity." In June 2021, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Trump appointee, issued an order in the four cases. The order narrowed the case, dismissing most claims against Trump, Barr, and Gregory T. Monahan (who was at the time of the Lafayette Square incident the acting chief of the Park Police). Friedrich ruled that Trump, Barr, and Monahan, as federal officials, had

qualified immunity In the United States, qualified immunity is a legal principle of federal law that grants government officials performing discretionary (optional) functions immunity from lawsuits for damages unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated "c ...

from civil suits from damages, and that Black Lives Matter D.C. (one of the plaintiffs) could not show it was directly injured by the defendants' conduct. Friedrich also ruled that the plaintiffs' civil-rights and civil-conspiracy claims against the federal officials were "too speculative" to proceed. Friedrich allowed the other claims to go forward, including plaintiffs' claims against D.C. police and Arlington County police, and the plaintiffs' challenges to federal restrictions on First Amendment activity at Lafayette Square. The ACLU criticized the partial dismissals, and is appealing.

Congressional hearings

Congress investigated the tactics used in clearing of the park. The House Natural Resource Committee held hearings on June 29, July 28, and July 29, 2020. The

House Armed Services Committee The U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, commonly known as the House Armed Services Committee or HASC, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for funding and oversight of the Department of ...

held a hearing of the full committee on July 9, 2020. The full House Natural Resource Committee heard testimony from a protester, journalist, church leader, and law professor Jonathan Turley of

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest law school in Washington, D. ...

on June 29, 2020. Turley noted in his testimony that the Park Police had argued they were creating a perimeter to establish a new fence line on H Street but protesters were pushed back to I Street, "which is beyond the fence line". He notes this "would warrant congressional review ... of how far those protesters were pushed back and why". The U.S. Park Police stated on July 7 that "the radio recorder was not working and did not record any transmissions" during the June 1 sweep of protesters, meaning that there is no audio record of Park Police communication. Rep.

Raúl Grijalva Raúl Manuel Grijalva ( ; February 19, 1948 – March 13, 2025) was an American politician and activist who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona from 2003 until his death in 2025. A member of the Democra ...

, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, stated, "For the official audio record of that day to now turn up missing has every appearance of a coverup." At a July 9, 2020, hearing of the

on Department of Defense involvement in domestic law enforcement, Esper testified that it was "still unclear" who gave the order to clear D.C. protesters but that "National Guard personnel were not engaged in clearing protesters in Lafayette Square"; and that Guard forces present "maintained a static role" rather than advancing against the demonstrators. Esper testified that the Guard had lent riot gear (including shields labeled "MILITARY POLICE") to other agencies. The House Natural Resources Committee held its second hearing on July 28, 2020. Gregory T. Monahan, Acting Chief of the U.S. Park Police, testified that USPP officers "acted with tremendous restraint in the face of severe violence" and that the decision to clear the park was entirely unrelated to the President's planned visit. He reasserted that the clearing of Lafayette Square was unrelated to Trump's visit, and "his officers were under assault from projectiles again that day." Adam D. DeMarco, Major, D.C. National Guard testified that law enforcement used excessive force when clearing protesters from Lafayette Square and described the use of force as "an unnecessary escalation" and the events as "deeply disturbing". "From what I could observe, the demonstrators were behaving peacefully, exercising their First Amendment rights." DeMarco had not expected that Lafayette Square would be cleared prior to the 7:00 p.m. curfew and that he had been told tear gas would not be used but recognized its use. DeMarco stated that he was " away from the officer giving the warnings o clear the areaand about away from the front line of demonstrators" and that he could barely hear the warnings. In his written response to the committee's follow-up questions, DeMarco said the Department of Defense's lead military police officer for the District of Columbia region had sought to use an

Active Denial System The Active Denial System (ADS) is a directed-energy weapon developed by the United States armed forces, U.S. military, designed for area denial, perimeter security and crowd control. Informally, the weapon is also called the heat ray since it wo ...

or "heat ray", or a Long Range Acoustic Device, to clear the protesters from Lafayette Square, but was informed that the National Guard possessed neither device.

Inspectors General

Department of the Interior

On June 22, 2020, following requests from several members of Congress and Interior Secretary

David Bernhardt David Longly Bernhardt (born August 17, 1969) is an American lawyer who served as the 53rd United States secretary of the interior from 2019 to 2021 in the administration of Donald Trump. He previously was a shareholder at the Colorado law fir ...

, the

Office of Inspector General In the United States, Office of Inspector General (OIG) is a generic term for the oversight division of a federal or state agency aimed at preventing inefficient or unlawful operations within their parent agency. Such offices are attached to man ...

(OIG) for the U.S.

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...

, led by Inspector General Mark Greenblatt, launched a review of Park Police actions. On June 9, 2021, the Interior OIG published the report on their review. According to the report, " st of the officers there were under Park Police direction (except the Secret Service) but the inspector general only 'sought interviews and information from individuals outside of the USPP when doing so would provide us with information about the agency's USPP's activities. Accordingly, we did not seek to interview Attorney General William Barr, White House personnel, Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officers, .C. Metropolitan Police (MPD)personnel, or Secret Service personnel regarding their independent decisions that did not involve the USPP. The IG also did not investigate "individual uses of force by USPP officers" because there were pending investigations and lawsuits on this topic. The report concluded that the Park Police's plan to clear Lafayette Square and surrounding areas was lawful and consistent with policy, but made no conclusions on whether implementation of the plan at the time it was executed was a good decision. The report concluded that the clearing of H street by the Park Police was part of a plan to install "antiscale fencing" and that these plans were made before Barr arrived on the scene and before Trump walked over to the church, and that the Park Police had only learned of Trump's plans to leave the White House when Barr urged them to speed up the timeline for clearing the park. The report noted that "contrary to the operational plan", U.S. Secret Service began advancing on protesters before the Park Police had a chance to warn them to disperse. The report describes that a "Secret Service lieutenant later apologized for the early entry onto H Street during the operation but did not explain why it occurred". Some Park Police officers speculated that it may have occurred due to miscommunication or because they didn't have a shared radio channel. Since the OIG did not interview Secret Service personnel, they "cannot assess whether the Attorney General's visit to the park or any planned movement of the President influenced the Secret Service's actions, including its early deployment on to H Street". The report also concluded the Park Police began their clearing operation prior to completing dispersal orders, that commanders could not identify who gave the order to deploy, and that they were surprised that radio transmissions were not recorded as expected. A subsequent report issued in 2022 by the OIG concluded that USPP violated Department of Interior policy for years that requires all law enforcement radio communications be recorded. Conflicting information was received by investigators, but they found the analog recording system's hard drive was corrupted in 2018 and a new digital recording system was not configured to record all channels for “unknown reasons“. The report concluded that although the Park Police used a Long Range Acoustic Device, borrowed from the DC MPD, to warn protesters to disperse three times, the warnings were not loud enough for all present to hear and were not completed before Park Police and Secret Service entered the street to begin the operation. The report cites multiple law enforcement officers as saying that "they either did not hear the warnings or protesters to disperseor could not clearly hear the information conveyed in the warnings". The report cites that the warnings did not inform protesters on which exit route to take to avoid the police's clearing operation. Investigators found that there was poor communication and coordination among the various law enforcement agencies involved, which could have led to "confusion during the operation" and deviations from the operational plan. The report notes that Park Police did not use a shared radio channel with the Secret Service. The report established that Park Police did not launch

(tear gas) into the crowd, but that Bureau of Prisons forces "may have fired pepper balls into the crowd, contrary to the USPP incident commander's instructions" and that D.C. Metropolitan Police officers, who were not involved in the initial advance of police against the crowd, launched CS gas at demonstrators as they moved away from the park toward 17th Street. The report further noted that "the USPP acting chief of police and the USPP incident commander told us they did not request the ureau of Prisonss assistance and did not know who dispatched them to Lafayette Park on June 1".

Department of Justice

On July 23, 2020, Michael Horowitz, the U.S. Justice Department Inspector General, announced that his office was investigating the role of DOJ law enforcement personnel in responding to protests in Washington during the previous two months, "examining the training and instruction that was provided to the DOJ law enforcement personnel; compliance with applicable identification requirements, rules of engagement, and legal authorities; and adherence to DOJ policies regarding the use of less-lethal munitions, chemical agents, and other uses of force". He added that his office's Lafayette Square investigation would coordinate with the Interior Department OIG office. No report has been issued. The investigation appears on a list of ongoing reviews on the department's website, as of May 2024.

Department of Homeland Security

In 2020, Joseph V. Cuffari, the Trump-appointed Department of Homeland Security Inspector General, declined recommendations from DHS career staff and members of Congress to conduct an investigation into the clearing of Lafayette Square. As a result of his decision, "a variety of unanswered questions remain surrounding the Secret Service's adherence to its own use-of-force and related policies. Because Cuffari blocked the proposed review, it's unclear if a full picture will ever emerge of who was in charge or what happened inside the Secret Service's Joint Operation Center, which normally plays a key coordination role when protestors are cleared from Lafayette Square and its environs." Secret Service official Anthony M. Ornato, who had received the unprecedented permission to temporarily take a leave of absence to become a White House political advisor, had reportedly organized the photo-op. The Project on Government Oversight noted that "it remains unclear whether Ornato's role in the events of Lafayette Square ever came under scrutiny."

Response

White House and Trump administration

Within hours of the visit, the White House released a video of the event set to "swelling orchestral music", showing Trump walking to the church, standing in front of the church with a Bible, and pumping his fist while walking past a row of riot police. The video shows almost no sign of destruction caused by days of protests near the White House. Photos of Trump during this event, including those of him walking across Lafayette Square, were quickly distributed and displayed by Trump's re-election campaign. The Trump administration gave conflicting explanations for the forcible removal of the demonstrators from the park. The White House asserted that the crowd was dispersed to help enforce the 7:00p.m. curfew, but neither Mayor Bowser nor the D.C. police force ever requested such assistance, and demonstrators were forced out before curfew. Other Trump administration officials said the move to remove demonstrators was part of a previously planned decision by Barr and others to extend the perimeter around Lafayette Square by a block. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany compared Trump's photo opportunity to British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

's review of World War II bombing damage in 1941, saying it was "a message of resilience and determination". Several days later, she said: "There's no regrets on the part of this White House... many of those decisions were not made here within the White House. It was AG Barr who made the decision to move the perimeter. Monday night Park Police had also made that decision independently when they saw all the violence in Lafayette Square." Responding to criticisms, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said, "Is it a photo op because a photo was taken?... I think the words photo op itself, calling into question, you're looking into someone's heart and wondering, and second-guessing why they would go over there." ''Axios'' quoted a senior White House official as saying "I've never been more ashamed. I'm really honestly disgusted. I'm sick to my stomach. And they're all celebrating it. They're very very proud of themselves."

Donald Trump

On June 2, Trump tweeted, "D.C. had no problems last night. Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination. Likewise, Minneapolis was great (thank you President Trump!)". Later that day, he asserted that the same protesters who had been dispersed had set fire to the church. Two days later, Trump shared a letter on Twitter from his former attorney, John M. Dowd, apparently directed to James Mattis in the wake of his sharp criticism of Trump, calling the peaceful demonstrators who were forcibly removed from Lafayette Park "terrorists". Speaking of his St. John's Church appearance in an interview with

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...

, Trump said, "most religious leaders loved it. And why wouldn't they love it? I'm standing in front of a church that went through trauma. ... It's only the other side that didn't like it." However, only a small minority of church leaders expressed approval while many more sharply criticized his performance, including the pastor of St. John's Church, who had not been notified of Trump's plans, and the bishop of the diocese, who said she was "outraged". In a second Fox News interview days later, Trump said, "I think it was a beautiful picture... And I'll tell you, I think Christians think it was a beautiful picture." On June 11, Trump continued to praise law enforcement's handling of protesters and anarchists, tweeting, "Our great National Guard Troops who took care of the area around the White House could hardly believe how easy it was. 'A walk in the park', one said. The protesters, agitators, anarchists (ANTIFA), and others, were handled VERY easily by the Guard, D.C. Police, & S.S. GREAT JOB". Trump said in a ''Wall Street Journal'' interview on June 18, that he could not enter the church because of "insurance reasons". However, Reverend Mariann Budde, who was overseeing the church at the time, refuted this claim stating "there were no insurance reasons why he couldn't go in" given that the damage was isolated to the church nursery.

William Barr

A Department of Justice spokeswoman said Attorney General William Barr had been appointed by Trump to lead "efforts to assist in the restoration of order to the District of Columbia". In an interview with the Associated Press on June 5, Barr said the decision to expand the security perimeter was reached in a meeting he attended with law enforcement officials at approximately 2:00 p.m. on June 1, and the perimeter was to have been expanded immediately after the meeting. However, because the perimeter had not been expanded when Barr arrived at Lafayette Square later that afternoon, he "was frustrated" and "worried that as the crowd grew, it was going to be harder and harder to do". Barr later distanced himself from the controversial move, saying that earlier on Monday he had ordered the security perimeter extended, and that upon seeing protesters still there in the afternoon he urged "get it done" but did not give the "tactical command" how to do it. Video shows him conferring with officials on the ground about 24 minutes before the police launched their push. Barr also said he was not "involved in giving tactical commands like that", the order to clear the protesters was given by a Park Police official whom he never spoke to, and it was already in progress when he arrived: "They had the Park Police mounted unit ready, so it was just a matter of execution. So, I didn't just say to them, 'Go. Several days after the incident, Barr falsely claimed the pepper balls used by law enforcement on protesters were not chemical irritants. Pepper balls contain pelargonic acid vanillylamide; both the product's manufacturer and the Justice Department consider pepper balls a chemical irritant. In a Fox News interview on June 8, Barr was asked three times if he would do anything differently in retrospect. Barr replied "no". He explained that the actions were taken in response to days of violent protests, including his being targeted by protester-thrown projectiles such as "rocks and bottles" during his visit to the park. Barr challenged the notion that expanding the security perimeter was associated with the photo op, calling it "totally false" and a "canard".

Local government officials

District of Columbia Mayor

called the use of force "shameful" and released a statement through the office's Twitter account that "I imposed a curfew at 7:00p.m. A full 25 minutes before the curfew & w/o provocation, federal police used munitions on peaceful protesters in front of the White House." Bowser also said this event will cause D.C. police to have more difficult jobs from then on. In a statement, D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine said the district was "now reckoning with an unhinged president responding to nonviolent demonstration with war-like tactics". Racine referred to Trump's actions as that of a "tyrannical president", saying: "The entire country watched as Donald Trump ordered federal law enforcement and military police to assault peaceful protesters and clergy exercising their constitutional rights—unconscionably, for a photo opportunity." Hours after police were used to clear Lafayette Square, neighboring Arlington County ordered its officers in D.C. (where they were supplied as part of a mutual aid agreement) to immediately withdraw; all

had left D.C. by 8:30p.m. Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey said she was "appalled" that the agreement was abused "for a photo op". In a statement the next day, the Board said "This unprecedented decision by the County was a necessary response to an unprecedented situation" and said its action was to ensure its officers were "never again put in a situation where they are asked to take action that is inconsistent with our values". On June 5, four days after the clearing of the square, Mayor Bowser oversaw renaming the intersection in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, the corner of 16th Street NW and H Street NW, to Black Lives Matter Plaza. A street sign was installed marking the new name, and the D.C. Department of Public Works, as well as artists with MuralsDC and volunteers, painted "BLACK LIVES MATTER" in large, capital, block letters stretching from Lafayette Square north for two blocks. Bowser's chief of staff John Falcicchio said, "There was a dispute this week about whose street this is... Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear that this is DC's street and to honor demonstrators who (were) peacefully protesting on Monday evening."

Religious leadership

The Right Reverend Mariann Budde, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington who oversees St. John's Church, decried how Trump "used violent means to ask to be escorted across the park into the courtyard of the church... He did not pray... He did not seek to unify the country, but rather he used our symbols and our sacred space as a way to reinforce a message that is antithetical to everything that the person of Jesus, whom we follow, and the gospel texts that we strive to emulate... represent." She said the President had used the church as a backdrop and the Bible as a

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

, adding "I am outraged that he felt he had the license to do that, and that he would abuse our sacred symbols and our sacred space in that way", adding that he had not told her he intended to visit. The Most Reverend Michael Curry, the presiding bishop and

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

the Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

, said Trump was using "a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes". Describing the incident, Rector Gerbasi said, "We were literally driven off of the St. John's, Lafayette Square patio with tear gas and concussion grenades and police in full riot gear... We were pushed back ." Gerbasi said Trump had transformed the church from a "holy ground" to a "battle ground", as well as making a "cheap political stunt". Gregory Brewer, Bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida The Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida is a diocese in Florida in Province IV of the Episcopal Church. It is bounded on the north by the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the dioceses of Sout ...

, tweeted, "I am shaken watching protesters in Lafayette Park gassed and cleared so that the President of the United States can do a photo... This is blasphemy in real time." Nine Episcopal bishops from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

released a joint statement decrying Trump's actions as "disgraceful and morally repugnant". They criticized him for trying to use "an unopened Bible" to "claim Christian endorsement and imply that of The Episcopal Church". Worse, they wrote, he appeared to be using the "authority" of God "to support his own authority and to wield enhanced use of military force in a perverted attempt to restore peace to our nation". The Reverend Robert Fisher, the rector of St. John's Church, wrote a letter in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and shared a photo of a new sign displayed in front of the church reading: "BLACK LIVES MATTER... Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)". Rabbi Jack Moline, president of the Interfaith Alliance, called the event "one of the most flagrant misuses of religion I have ever seen", which demonstrates Trump's "complete lack of compassion for black Americans and the lethal consequences of racism".

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest and author James Martin declared that Trump's actions are "pretty much the opposite of all Jesus stood for" and said: "Religion is not a political tool. And God is not a plaything." Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, called Trump's actions "manipulative" and even described it as "

desecration Desecration is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful, contemptuous, or destructive treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual. Overview Many consider acts of desecration t ...

". Russell Moore, president of the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...

Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, the second-largest Christian Christianity in the United States#Major denominational families, denomination in the United States. Bren ...

, said the Bible "is the word of the living God and should be treated with reverence and awe". He said he was "brokenhearted and alarmed" both by Floyd's murder and by Trump's response.

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Archbishop of Washington The Archdiocese of Washington () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church for the District of Columbia and several Maryland counties in the United States. The Archdiocese of Washington is home to the Ca ...

Wilton Daniel Gregory Wilton Daniel Gregory Jr. (born December 7, 1947) is an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, archbishop of Washington from 2019 to 2025. Pope Francis made him a ...

, criticized Trump's use of religious landmarks. Prior to Trump's June 2 visit to Saint John Paul II National Shrine, Gregory said that the planned visit was "baffling" and "reprehensible"; the shrine would be "egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles"; and that

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

"certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace". Megachurch pastor

Robert Jeffress Robert James Jeffress Jr. (; born November 29, 1955) is an American Southern Baptist pastor, author, radio host, and televangelist. He is the senior pastor of the 14,000-member First Baptist Church (Dallas), First Baptist Church, a megachurch i ...

defended Trump' actions as "completely appropriate", claiming Trump's display of the Bible showed that "God also hates lawlessness".

Franklin Graham William Franklin Graham III (born July 14, 1952) is an American evangelist and missionary in the evangelical movement. He frequently engages in Christian revival tours and political commentary. The son of Billy Graham, he is president and CEO ...

, a prominent evangelical supporter of Trump, thanked Trump for having "made a statement". Delivering the eulogy at George Floyd's memorial service in Houston, Texas, Baptist minister and civil rights leader the Reverend

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptists, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and TV personality, who is also the founder of the National Action Network civil rig ...

said, "You take rubber bullets and teargas to clear out peaceful protesters, and then take a Bible and walk in front of a church, and use a church as a prop. Wickedness in high places." Reverend Rob Schenck pointed out that it was odd for Trump to choose St. John's Church as the church to do a photo op at, considering the church was liberal and supported tenets normally opposed by conservative religious officials such as

abortion rights Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their p ...

and

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. The Bible held by Trump was the

, and Schenck said this translation "would be pretty much rejected by the vast majority of evangelicals" including a committed part of Trump's support base.

Current and former officials

Democrats

Former

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee in the

2020 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...

said, "The president held up the Bible at St John's Church yesterday. I just wish he opened it once in a while... In addition to the Bible, he might also want to open the U.S. Constitution. If he did, he'd find the First Amendment." Following the event, Speaker of the House of Representatives

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

and Senate Democratic Leader

Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...

issued a joint statement, reading in part, "at a time when our country cries out for unification, this President is ripping it apart. Tear-gassing peaceful protesters without provocation just so that the President could pose for photos outside a church dishonors every value that faith teaches us." A number of Democratic senators "used words like '

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

' and '

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

' to describe the president's words and actions". Senator

Mark Warner Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...

(D-VA) called for Barr to resign over the order to extend the White House security perimeter during peaceful protests. Senator

Tammy Duckworth Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired Army National Guard Lieutenant colonel (United States), lieutenant colonel serving since 2017 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States ...

(D-IL), an Iraq War veteran, said that Trump's use of the military to disperse the protesters was "tin-pot dictatorial" which "sickened her to the core". Representative

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

(D-WA), chair of the

, criticized General Mark Milley for amplifying the rhetoric of Trump and Esper: "The optics of him being in uniform out there might not have been so bad if we didn't have the president out there talking about going to war with the country and using the military and using overwhelming force and Secretary Esper talking about the need to occupy the battlespace."

Terry McAuliffe Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the List of governors of Virginia, 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...

, who was governor of Virginia when Trump declared that there were "very fine people on both sides" of the 2017

Unite the Right rally The Unite the Right rally was a White supremacy#United States, white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, whi ...

, stated, "Charlottesville and the Bible incident are the two biggest moral failures of this president."

Republicans

Some of Trump's fellow Republicans defended the clearing of protesters and subsequent photo op at the church, while others decried it. Senator

John Cornyn John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. ...

told CNN the protesters had to be cleared out "for security purposes" since Trump was "walking over to the church" and dispersing them "was a necessary security measure". Senator

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Re ...

defended the clearing of the protesters, stating, "It's all assumed to be peaceful until someone that's got a terrorist activity or a rioting activity, you don't know that until it happens. So I don't know if they could have known that." Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

stated, "I'm glad the President went to St. John's church... It was strong and powerful for the President to go there and say we will not be cowed." Senator

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

also defended Trump, tweeting that professional agitators knew the street needed to be cleared before curfew but deliberately stayed to trigger police action and get the story they wanted, that "police attacked peaceful protesters". By contrast, Senator

Tim Scott Timothy Eugene Scott (born September 19, 1965) is an American businessman and politician serving since 2013 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from South Carolina. A member of the Re ...

, the only black Republican senator, objected to using tear gas "so the president can go have a photo op"; Senator

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of ...

said Trump "came across as unsympathetic" and "insensitive" and peaceful protesters were tear gassed "in order for the president to go across the street to a church". Senator Ben Sasse voiced his opposition to "clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop". Senator James Lankford criticized the timing of the president's visit for being before the 7:00 p.m. curfew, as "everyone knew there were going to be protesters in that area" at that time. Senator Lisa Murkowski said, "I did not think that what we saw last night was the America I know."

Former Justice Department officials

A group of 1,260 former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors and other officials issued an open letter on June 11, asking Michael E. Horowitz, the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Inspector General of the Department of Justice, to investigate Attorney General William Barr over his role in the use of chemical agents and rubber bullets to halt a peaceful demonstration. The former officials (who included former career DOJ civil servants, former DOJ political appointees, and retired judges) wrote: "If the Attorney General or any other DOJ employee has directly participated in actions that have deprived Americans of their constitutional rights or that physically injured Americans lawfully exercising their rights, that would be misconduct of the utmost seriousness, the details of which must be shared with the American people."

Current and former military officers and officials

Esper

Trump was accompanied on his walk and photo opportunity by Defense Secretary

and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, prompting criticism of both men. An anonymous senior defense official said neither had intended to participate, and in a subsequent interview with NBC, Esper said he believed the walk was to review the troops and was not aware a peaceful protest had just been dispersed. At a news conference on June 3, Esper revised his account, saying, "I did know that we were going to the church; I was not aware that a photo op was happening." Esper did not directly answer a question from the press about whether he regretted participating in the photo-op, saying that he tried to stay apolitical but "Sometimes, I'm successful, and sometimes I'm not as successful." Esper also said he was not aware of the plan to clear the park and criticized the use of a helicopter. On June 3, Esper sought to send home a small portion of the 1,600 active-duty troops called to Washington, but during an angry meeting, Trump ordered Esper not to do so. The following day, amid a contentious dispute between the Pentagon and the White House, some National Guard troops began to withdraw. Regarding the use of active-duty military, Esper said "The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the

." In a memoir published in 2022, Esper wrote of Lafayette Square, "the tactics employed seemed excessive and unnecessary." Esper directed the Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy, Ryan McCarthy to lead an after action review of the National Guard's role in domestic law enforcement. The review was expected to be completed by July 30, 2020.

Milley

In the days after the photo op, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley—who had accompanied Trump under the belief that he intended to review troops outside Lafayette Square—expressed anger to Trump over what had occurred. On June 1, Milley and Trump had a "heated discussion in the Oval Office over whether to send active-duty troops into the streets"—a demand by Trump that Milley strongly opposed. Milley publicly said he opposed invocation of the Insurrection Act and issued a memorandum on June2 to the heads of each branch, reminding them "[the Constitution] gives Americans the right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly" and of each member's sworn oath to "remain committed to our national values and principles embedded in the Constitution". Milley considered resigning from his role as Joint Chiefs Chairman over the incident. In a draft resignation letter that was never submitted to the President, Milley wrote, "It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military." On June 11, in a recorded commencement address to the National Defense University (Washington, D.C.), National Defense University (his first public comments since the event), Milley apologized for his role in Trump photo-op, saying, "I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.... As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from."

Mattis

Retired Marine Corps general Jim Mattis, who served as Trump's first Secretary of Defense until his resignation in 2018, denounced Trump as a threat to the Constitution. In a statement published in ''The Atlantic'', Mattis wrote that he had witnessed "this week's unfolding events, angry and appalled" and said he never believed U.S. forces "would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside". Mattis described Trump as "the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try" and wrote: "We know that we are better than the Abuse of power, abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution." Trump responded to Mattis by calling him "the world's most overrated General". John F. Kelly, John Kelly, former

and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under Trump, said he agreed with Mattis's criticism of Trump: "I agree with him. I think we need to step back from the politics... the separation of powers is very, very, very important. No president ever is a dictator or a king."

Former military

Former military leaders condemned Trump over his response to protests and the order to clear demonstrators from Lafayette Square. A letter signed by a bipartisan group of 89 former Defense officials, including four former Secretaries of Defense, was published in ''The Washington Post''. The officials objected to Trump's proposal of deploying the military, declaring that American troops "signed up to fight our nation's enemies and to secure—not infringe upon—the rights and freedoms of their fellow Americans". Retired four-star general and former

Martin Dempsey wrote, "America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy." Mick Mulroy, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Trump administration, echoed Dempsey: "Active Army and Marine Corps units are trained to fight our nation's enemies, not their fellow Americans. American cities are not battlefields." Mike Mullen, a retired Navy admiral and a former

, criticized Trump for having "risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces" and urged Americans not to forget "the larger and deeper concerns about institutional racism that have ignited this rage". Mullen warned that "our fellow citizens are not the enemy" and said American cities and towns were "neighborhoods" and not "battle spaces to be dominated". Mullen concluded "This is not the time for stunts. This is the time for leadership." william McRaven, Retired Admiral William McRaven said, "You're not going to use, whether it's the military, or the National Guard, or law enforcement, to clear peaceful American citizens for the president of the United States to do a photo op... There is nothing morally right about that." Former Secretary of State, Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was "proud" of the statements issued by retired military leaders. "We have a Constitution. And we have to follow that Constitution. And the President has drifted away from it." In a Bloomberg editorial, former supreme allied commander of NATO, James Stavridis, also expressed support for the statements. In a piece in ''Foreign Policy'', retired Marine general and former U.S. envoy John R. Allen wrote that the U.S. under Trump had begun turning Illiberal democracy, illiberal, which "may well signal the beginning of the end of the American experiment". Allen wrote that Trump "doesn't care about the devout, except insofar as they serve his political needs" and had "failed to project any of the higher emotions or leadership desperately needed in every quarter of this nation during this dire moment". Allen also wrote "It wasn't enough that peaceful protesters had just been deprived of their first-amendment rights—this photo-op sought to legitimize that abuse with a layer of religion." On June 2, the former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James N. Miller, James Miller resigned from the Defense Science Board in protest after the incident, while sharing his resignation letter with ''The Washington Post''. Miller wrote that Trump "violated his oath to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed', as well as the First Amendment 'right of the people peaceably to assemble. He cited his own oath of office and wrote that Esper had violated the same oath—to support and defend the Constitution—saying Esper "visibly supported" Trump's "directing this appalling use of force". Miller also criticized Esper's statement urging Governor (United States), state governors to "dominate the battlespace", writing, "I cannot believe that you see the United States as a 'battlespace', or that you believe our citizens must be 'dominated'. Such language sends an extremely dangerous signal." Retired Army general Wesley Clark, former Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, said: "It was really shocking and outrageous. There was no reason for it. Then to see the president come across with the military leadership, oh, it looked ugly."

National Guard on the scene

One of the Guardsmen on the scene later recalled, "As a military officer, what I saw was more or less really fucked up... the crowd was loud but peaceful, and at no point did I feel in danger, and I was standing right there in the front of the line. A lot of us are still struggling to process this, but in a lot of ways, I believe I saw civil rights being violated in order for a photo op." Another guardsman confirmed the presence of tear gas, adding that "I've been tear gassed before. I was there the night before when we got tear gassed, [and] there was tear gas there" Monday evening.

Scholars

Law professor Garrett Epps wrote that "the dispersal of the peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square was a monstrous violation of America's venerable right of assembly" as guaranteed by the Constitution's First Amendment. John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College, said, "Looking back through history, whenever you see someone in authority using the Bible to justify law and order, it ends badly." Historian Robert Kagan, a Brookings Institution senior fellow and ''Washington Post'' contributing columnist, wrote that General Milley's appearance in the photo—in Army Combat Uniform, combat uniform—might "turn out to be the first in a series of pictures in some future history text about the undermining of American democracy". Princeton University's Eddie Glaude said the photo op represents "the theater of dictatorial power", asserting that "people saw it clearly for what it was, and to conscript the military into that performance made concrete the feeling that not only are we seeing the erosion of democratic norms, but the very institutions of the country are in jeopardy." Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute said there was a strong legal case that the protesters' First Amendment rights were violated. Of particular relevance is a 2015 legal settlement made after the unlawful 2002 mass arrest of Anti-globalization movement#Washington D.C. 2002, anti-globalization protesters in Pershing Park. In the settlement, the U.S. Park Police agreed to revise its policies to ensure warnings to protesters that they are in violation of the law are clearly audible to the entire crowd, and that demonstrators have adequate time to respond to instructions.

Media

The ''New York Times'' editorial board called Attorney General

's decision to forcibly clear a peaceful protest in a public park and churchyard for Trump to conduct a photo-op "a brazen display of this administration's disregard for the First Amendment" that "managed to take aim at the freedom of assembly, speech and religion all at the same time". The ''Washington Post'' editorial board criticized Barr and Trump's actions as "cheap political theater" and called upon leaders in Congress and the military to dissuade Trump from deploying active-duty Army soldiers on Americans streets (as Trump indicated he might do), saying such a move would be "unacceptable" and "move America closer to anarchy".

International reactions

The scenes of peaceful protesters being violently dispersed were seized upon by the U.S.'s international adversaries, undercutting U.S. diplomats' efforts to promote democracy and human rights abroad. Representatives of Russia, China, and Iran used the event to challenge America's moral authority and historical advocacy for the rights of protesters. Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, was asked to comment on Trump's proposal of using the military against protesters in the United States, as well as the protesters being cleared for the photo op. Trudeau paused for 21 seconds before responding: "We all watch in horror and consternation at what is going on in the United States". Trudeau continued, "it is a time to listen" and "a time to learn what injustices continue despite progress".

Notes

References

External links

Review of U.S. Park Police Actions at Lafayette Park
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