Today Attorney General William Barr was identified as the Trump official who gave the order to attack peaceful protesters at and around St. John's Church so Trump could use the building as a momentary prop. The justification for the attack was clearly fraudulent: Despite anonymous Justice Department insistence that the White House "perimeter" was previously going to be expanded and Barr gave the order when he saw that it had not been, there is no plausible reason why it was so important to clear the area in the 15 minutes before Trump's toxic, fascist-minded speech that it required the use of rubber bullets, tear gas, flash-bang grenades, mounted police, and public beatings.
By giving that order, Barr has betrayed his oath and nation and should be removed from office immediately. For going along with it, every other member of the administration should similarly be removed, down to the Secret Service agents, the office clerks, the legal staff, and the gardeners.
A roundup of today's protest news:
• Today saw a flurry of lies from officials attempting to distance themselves from the violent and likely criminal attack on St. John's Church clergy, worshippers, and nearby demonstrators. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Mark Milley both claimed to be unaware that the park was being cleared by force, despite flash-bang grenades rattling the White House, clearly visible smoke, and the visible aftermath of a fleeing crowd. They are liars.
• Park Police are similarly claiming—anonymously and falsely—they did not know the action was for a White House publicity stunt. They also anonymously claimed tear gas was not used in the action—a claim repeated by the White House—despite the reverend at St. John's Church, multiple reporters on scene, and others reporting they themselves felt the effects of that gas. They are lying, and have betrayed their own oaths.
• Trump continued his religiously justified jaunts with a trip to a nearby Catholic shrine, running a gauntlet of finger-extending Americans protesting him as his motorcade zipped through heavily guarded police lines. The merging of military violence with supposedly religious symbolism and justifications is one of the defining features of true fascism. The Catholic archbishop was publicly livid over the stunt.
• Australia’s prime minister is demanding an investigation into the police brazenly attacking two Australian reporters in D.C. during Trump's "clearing" operation—an attack that was carried live on Australian televisions.
• Republican lawmakers said nothing—seriously, not a damn thing—to object to the St. John's Church assault.
• Stepping up to give the speech the unraveling Donald Trump is sociopathically incapable of, election challenger Joe Biden condemned both police violence and Trump's stunt, promising reforms.
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasted the deployment of Customs and Border Protection officers to D.C. streets, noting their record of violence and that it "very well may be one of the most dangerous" law enforcement agencies in the country.
• Trump's nods towards "Second Amendment" militia violence are likely to bear fruit in coming days. Denver Police seized a large assortment of guns from two "Boogaloo" adherents who showed up in that city's protests. "Boogaloo" is the name given to a militia-planned civil war and purge of non-white citizens—a true terrorist movement.
• As many National Guard troops are now deployed on American soil as active-duty American troops deployed in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan combined.
• A D.C. man is being hailed as a hero for sheltering roughly 100 fleeing protesters in his home after they were attacked by local and federal officers. The protesters remained in the home until morning as officers waited outside to arrest any who attempted to leave during "curfew" hours.
• The Louisville, Kentucky, mayor fired the city's police chief upon learning that allegedly no officers on scene had turned on their body cameras during a police shooting that left 53-year-old restaurant owner David McAtee dead.
• A Washington state high school wrestling coach has been fired after posting a video in which he and two students mocked George Floyd's death at the hands of police. Unfortunately, this story does not include the words "out of a cannon."
• As if to spit on the American public, Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced he was meeting with survivors of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing, China—one day after the Trump administration attacked peaceful protesters in our own nation's capital.
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not able to mask his raw contempt for Trump when asked about Trump's attack on St. John's Church.
• Trump is collapsing in the polls.