Donald Trump pledges to enforce law, order in Washington
United States President Donald Trump has disclosed that his staying in Washington is to enforce Law and order.
While disclosing this on Friday 26 June, 2020, Trump announced the cancelation of a planned weekend visit to his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped. I am doing what is necessary to keep our communities safe – and these people will be brought to Justice,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump pledged to take a hard line on anyone destroying or vandalizing historical US monuments and threatened to use force on some protesters should activism against racial injustice continue in the country.
The 2003 Veterans Memorial Preservation Act stipulates up to 10-year prison term for anyone destroying or attempting to destroy monuments commemorating those who served in the US armed forces.
Trump’s order also threatens to withhold federal support to any state and local law enforcement agencies that fail to protect monuments.
The decision follows protesters’ demonstration on Monday 22 June, 2020 in an attempt to pull down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson in a park near the White House.
Hundreds of unarmed Washington, DC, National Guard troops are on standby to assist law enforcement personnel with protecting monuments.
Calls to remove these monuments come in conjunction with Black Lives Matter protests, spreading worldwide after the 25 May death of George Floyd, a black unarmed man killed in police custody in Minneapolis.
Trump announced his decision to cancel his planned weekend trip to New Jersey amid a rise in coronavirus cases in many states.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said Trump’s recent decision to cancel his trip was not related to New Jersey’s requirement that visitors from states with high rates of coronavirus cases self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
Earlier this week, Trump visited Arizona, one of the states with high rates of coronavirus cases.
