Donald Trump’s ruthless decision to have protesters violently cleared from Lafayette Square so that he could stage a photo-op in front of a church has Georgetown law professor Jonathan Turley calling for Attorney General Bill Barr’s resignation.
Protesters had gathered in the square to protest racial injustice and police brutality in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a white cop in Minneapolis. Trump had repeatedly threatened to use force to break up the protests, including that very day in the Rose Garden. As he spoke, loud noises in the background indicated that police were targeting peaceful protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets.
After he spoke, Trump and an entourage walked over to St. John’s Episcopal Church where he held up a bible upside down for a photograph.
As it turns out, Barr had a lot to do with with carrying out Trumps’s order to clear the square, which means he also partly owns the actions of police that day.
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During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing, Turley — who testified as a witness for Republicans against Trump’s impeachment in late 2019 — testified that Barr should resign if the purpose of clearing the square in this violent way was for a mere photo-op.
“If Attorney General Barr cleared that area for the purpose of the photo-op, I would immediately call for him to step down, because that would be an outrageous abuse of power,” Turley said according to New York Daily News reporter Michael McAuliff.
Jonathan Turley, on if Trump’s photo op played any part in the clearing Lafayette Square. “If Attorney General Barr cleared that area for the purpose of the photo op.. I would immediately call for him to step down, because that would be an outrageous abuse of power.”
— Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) June 29, 2020
“Whether the president’s photo-op played a role in the size of the perimeter — the decision to move people all the way to I Street, for example — those are things that are legitimate questions,” Turley continued. “If this was done to intimidate people, you know, this would be a serious problem.”
Turley also slammed police for targeting journalists with violence.
“The attack on the Australian journalists appeared entirely unjustified and unlawful,” he said.
Turley, the R witness in this hearing on Lafayette Square, says of the strikes on the Aussie reporters, “I think that that attack was unlawful.. It seems clear to me that any officer could have seen that the Australian journalists were in fact journalists.”
— Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) June 29, 2020
Frankly, Barr should resign. Because even if it’s not for the above reasons, there are plenty more to justify his ouster, including his efforts to politicize and weaponize the Department of Justice for Trump and helping him bury investigations against him. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of Barr’s corruption.
He needs to go, and legal consequences need to be pursued.
Featured image via White House Photo/Wikimedia Commons
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