On June 1st of 2020, then President Donald Trump visited St. John’s church, and had his photo taken. Earlier that day, the area had been cleared of protestors by the police. Left wing activists and politicians claimed that Trump had ordered the use of force simply for a photo op, and nothing more. Joe Biden was one of these accusers.
“He’s using the American military against the American people,” Biden said in a tweet on that same day. “He gassed peaceful protesters and fired rubber bullets. For a photo.” The now President asserted. As it turns out, this is not the truth.
“Fox News reported, A report released Wednesday by Mark Greenblatt, the Interior Department inspector general, determined that Park Police were given permission to and carried out clearing the park long before anyone knew the former president had plans to walk over.
In fact, the park was being cleared so that anti-scale fencing could be installed following riots on May 30-31, Greenblatt wrote according to NBC News.”
The fencing was being installed as a result of damage to federal property, and injury to officers. These offences of course came from those that Joe Biden claimed were “peacefully protesting”.
The report stated that the Park Police who cleared the area were entirely unaware of Trump’s perspective visit to the church at the time. These officers were responding to unrest and property damage that had been occurring since the last days of May.
President Trump said in a statement, “Thank you to the Department of the Interior Inspector General for Completely and Totally exonerating me in the clearing of Lafayette Park!” the former president wrote. “As we have said all along, and it was backed up in today’s highly detailed and professionally written report, our fine Park Police made the decision to clear the park to allow a contractor to safely install antiscale fencing to protect from Antifa rioters, radical BLM protestors, and other violent demonstrators who are causing chaos and death to our cities.”
He went on to say, “In this instance, they tried burning down the church the day before the clearing. Fortunately, we were there to stop the fire from spreading beyond the basement—and it was our great honor and privilege to do so. Again, thank you to the Inspector General!”
Some Americans remain unwilling to accept reality and acknowledge a legitimate investigation into the occurrences of that day. The decree that the idea they have in their head, is reality despite reality.