The American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Black Lives Matter filed a lawsuit on Thursday against President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr over the use of tear gas on protesters outside the White House, escalating the fallout from the president’s widely criticized church photo-op that occurred after the protesters were cleared.
US President Donald Trump walks back to the White House escorted by the Secret Service after … [+]
PHOTO BY BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
The lawsuit says the White House infringed on the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly of a group of protesters in Lafayette Square when police used rubber bullets and tear gas to sweep them out for the president to walk to a photo-op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
The lawsuit claims the protesters were peaceful and police “attacked” them without any warning (several journalists who were there also say the protests were largely peaceful).
Attorney General William Barr admitted on Thursday to personally ordering police to expand their perimeter, but denied he did so to clear the way for Trump: “I did not know that he was going to do that until later in the day after our plans were well underway to move the perimeter,” Barr said at a press conference.
Barr also said protesters were asked three times to move and threw objects at police officers in the area.
The Trump campaign has argued that police officers didn’t use tear gas—but police did admit to using pepper irritant, which the Centers for Disease Control classifies as a kind of tear gas.
Read the full complaint, which names Trump, Barr and Esper here.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“What happened to our members Monday evening, here in the nation’s capital, was an affront to all our rights,” said April Goggans, core organizer of Black Lives Matter D.C., the lead plaintiff in the case. “The death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers has reignited the rage, pain, and deep sadness our community has suffered for generations. We won’t be silenced by tear gas and rubber bullets. Now is our time to be heard.”
NEWS PEG
The use of tear gas on protesters near the White House has drawn widespread, and unprecedented, condemnation from former high-ranking military officials, including former Defense Secretary James Mattis and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen. Trump has repeatedly focused on looters and rioters who are burning down or breaking into buildings and has threatened to invoke a centuries-old law that allows the president to send in active-duty troops to quell unrest.
Forbes
