- More military leaders have followed General Mattis in speaking out about the current crisis. The active duty leaders have mostly reaffirmed that the duty of the military is to defend the Constitution. Retired leaders have directly criticized Trump’s actions over the past week.
- The president quote tweeted his son encouraging a Qanon account which said Attorney General Barr was about to release secret communications between Antifa groups proving coordination of riots in multiple cities. The FBI has found zero evidence of any Antifa involvement in any protests or riots. Either Trump Jr deleted this or the original count was deleted. Trump Jr. had also been pushing a fake Antifa account which turned out to be run by a white supremacist organization.
- The White House posted a video montage “proving” that Antifa was setting out bricks for protesters to use. It was quickly pointed out by a vast number of journalists that nearly all of these incidents were fake. In one case the bricks they claimed were for rioters to use were barriers in front of a Jewish synagogue which were set out in front of their building over a year ago. Multiple instances of bricks near construction sites were there because they were construction sites. The White House deleted the video without explanation.
- The rector of St. John’s Church has published an op-ed detailing the government’s attack on the protest near the church on Monday night. She helped tend to people who were being attacked by the police until the police forced the congregation off of church grounds.
- As the Park Police continue to deny they used tear gas in Monday’s attack on protesters, journalists have acquired empty canisters from the area. Some of them are OC gas, a pepper spray, but some of them are CS gas which is a tear gas by any definition. The Park Police issued a statement saying the crowd was violent, a lie, and that they two Australian journalists assaulted by police “may have fallen.” Clear video exists of Amelia Brace being hit with a baton and her cameraman being attacked with a shield. The Park Police statement also says they were not clearly identified as journalists. Her cameraman was carrying a large television camera which to most people would signify he was… a cameraman. The two officers who carried out the assaults have been suspended.
- Attorney General Barr has said there was “no correlation” between his decision to clear Lafayette Square and the president walking through it despite the latter happening just minutes after the former.
- The president tweeted out a letter from his former attorney John Dowd (Trump did not disclose this relationship) attacking General Mattis. In the letter, Dowd says the protesters at Lafayette Square on Monday were, and I quote, “terrorists.” Said terrorists included an Episcopal Church group. Trump continues to say he fired General Mattis. This is a lie. Mattis resigned over Trump’s Syrian withdrawal. General Kelly pointed this out which prompted Trump to attack Kelly.
- Almost immediately after the president tweeted out a letter labeling the protesters on Monday “terrorists,” the White House released their statement commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in which the Chinese government slaughtered hundreds, possibly thousands, of protesters after labeling them “terrorists.” In a 1990 interview, Donald Trump praised the Chinese government for showing “strength” in slaughtering the unarmed protesters.
- Senator Lisa Murkowski said she supported General Mattis’s letter and was not sure if she would be supporting Donald Trump in the November election. This prompted Trump to say he would campaign for anyone running against her, “good or bad.” Notably Senator Murkowski once lost a Republican primary and won her Senate election anyway as a write-in candidate. This is unheard of.
- As the National Guard is investigating the possibly illegal use of their helicopters to carry out “show of force” maneuvers by hovering low over protesters, the president has tweeted his approval of the practice. The president wants the military to use helicopters to intimidate legal protesters into scattering.
- I want to end with a link to a video from Legal Eagle, aka Devin Stone. Mr. Stone is a lawyer who publishes videos with legal analysis of either pop culture or current events. He has responded to the attack on Lafayette Square with an impassioned video detailing and decrying the grotesque abuse by the Trump administration. I would urge you to watch it: https://youtu.be/z56j06plUgs
