Donald Trump photo op at St. John's Church

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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...

Read on Wikipedia · Image The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain