Trump was accused of having instructed law enforcement to tear gas protestors to clear the park so that he could engage in a “photo op.”
President Donald Trump was roundly criticized on June 1, 2020, when he walked through Lafayette Square, the site of major protests, to deliver a speech before St. John’s church, which had been set aflame by rioting arsonists.
He was accused of having instructed law enforcement to tear gas protestors to clear the park so that he could engage in a “photo op.” It was recently revealed that the park was in the process of being cleared already in order that fencing could be installed. Now it turns out that Trump wasn’t even the one responsible, it was Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser, reports Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist.
Official reports prove that it was in fact DC Mayor Muriel Bowser who likely gave the order to disperse the crowd using forceful means such as tear gas. The report from the Office of the Inspector General notes that:
“Finally, we found that the USPP and the Secret Service did not use a shared radio channel to communicate, that the USPP primarily conveyed information orally to assisting law enforcement entities, that an assisting law enforcement entity arrived late and may not have received a full briefing on the rules of engagement, and that several law enforcement officers could not clearly hear the incident commander’s dispersal warnings.”
