President Trump announced earlier today, an executive order tightening up restrictions on destroying federal monuments.
He tweeted: “I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent…..”
He also offered to help governors of states by bringing in the National Guard to help with enforcement.
This was after a night in DC of “hoodlums” trying to destroy the Andrew Jackson monument near the White House. The crowd was pushed back by the police (video below).
The president spoke to reporters before his trip to Arizona today:
https://twitter.com/TeamTrump/status/1275435916291604481?s=20
DC police scuffled with anarchists trying to tear down the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Park very close to the White House. It was great to finally see pushback from the police after statues have been falling all over America with no resistance.
Anarchists have also reportedly set up an autonomous zone nearby called BHAZ, aka “Black House Autonomous Zone.”
The videos below show the police officers forcing the mob back and stopping them from toppling the statue.
BREAKING: Anarchists attempting to tear down Andrew Jackson statue in front of the White House pic.twitter.com/xRrRQIuHY0
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 23, 2020
Police officers scuffle with anarchists:
Clashes with Police in front of Andrew Jackson statue pic.twitter.com/VwZqdORdex
— Richie🎥McG🍿 (@RichieMcGinniss) June 23, 2020
The DC police did a great job of pushing the crowd back:
Protesters and police actively fighting with each other. Protesters weren’t able to tear down the statue of President Andrew Jackson (police have pushed them back) pic.twitter.com/uXR3FZFjUB
— Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott) June 23, 2020
Tom Cotton spoke out about how it’s about time the DC Mayor let the police do their job:
It’s about time DC police showed up to stop the mob. If Muriel Bowser won’t allow the police to do their job, @realDonaldTrump should deploy federal law enforcement to protect this 168-year-old statue and every other landmark in our nation’s capital. https://t.co/J6RUDTEbYh
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) June 23, 2020