On June 1, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C., law enforcement officers used tear gas and other riot control tactics to forcefully clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square, creating a path for President Donald Trump and senior administration officials to walk from the White House to St. John's Episcopal Church. Trump held a Bible and posed for a photo op in front of Ashburton House (the church's parish house), which had been defaced by graffiti and damaged by a fire set during protests the night before.

The clearing of demonstrators from Lafayette Square was widely condemned as excessive force and an affront to the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly. Just before visiting the church, Trump delivered a speech in which he urged the governors of U.S. states to quell violent protests by using the National Guard to "dominate the streets," or he would otherwise "deploy the United States military 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 defended the actions. The event was described by The New York Times 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 groups filed a federal lawsuit against Trump, U.S. Attorney General William Barr, and other federal officials, alleging they violated protesters' constitutional rights. General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 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 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, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 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, Richard Nixon and then-Governor of California Ronald Reagan. He reiterated the theme in his inaugural address: "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, "These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen. Just spoke to [Minnesota] Governor Tim Walz 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 to deploy active-duty military forces was discussed in a 10:30 a.m. meeting in the Oval Office and favored by Vice President Mike Pence but opposed by Attorney General William Barr, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Trump stated that the violence made him look "weak" and requested ten-thousand active duty troops be brought to Washington. A senior Pentagon official recalled that Trump said, "We need to get control of the streets. We need 10,000 troops up here [in 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 [Newsham] being 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 Mark Esper 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 Insurrection Act had last been invoked in 1992 at California's request in response to the Rodney King riots, and also been used during the Civil rights movement to enforce school integration and desegregation.

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 Secret Service placed the White House on lockdown and recommended that Trump and his family move to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, an underground bunker, which they did. Trump spent almost an hour in the bunker.

The specific security measure was kept secret until reported by The New York Times 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 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 photo op at St. John's Church.

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, the parish house 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 graffiti 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 terrorists".

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 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 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 (FBI) to deploy its Hostage Rescue Team to the streets by midnight. The federal response resulted in all Homeland Security Investigations 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 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 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 Jared Kushner, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Counselor to the President 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.

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: 12:00 p.m.: Secret Service tells a fencing contractor to proceed with installing fencing at Lafayette Park, according to the Interior OIG report.