Democrats Demand Answers After Protesters Cleared From Park For Trump Stunt
House Democrats want answers from the Trump administration on what happened in front of the White House on Monday, when federal law enforcement officers violently advanced on peaceful protesters, just minutes before President Donald Trump held a photo-op outside St. John’s Church.
On Wednesday, four Democratic House leaders ― Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (N.Y.), Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith (Wash.) and Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (Miss.) ― demanded Trump administration officials provide Congress information about the incident in Lafayette Square, the park outside the White House.
“We want to be clear: the use of federal personnel to prevent American citizens from exercising their Constitutional right to peaceably assemble represents a direct threat to our democracy,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter addressed to Attorney General Bill Barr, U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Roughly 30 minutes before Washington, D.C.’s 7 p.m. curfew on Monday, federal law enforcement officers in riot gear used tear gas, pepper spray, smoke canisters, stun grenades and rubber bullets to clear a crowd of peaceful protesters gathered in Lafayette Square.
House Democrats are inquiring who gave the orders to clear protesters, which agencies were present in the line of federal officers, and who was involved in the action.
Park Police and Trump have since denied using tear gas, despite reports from journalists and demonstrators on the ground. The officers were reportedly a mix of U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Park Police, directed by Barr to expand the police perimeter outside the White House. House Democrats have also asked when this interagency effort was...
