“Black Lives Matter” Plaza
Reporting on the decision to remove the massive “Black Lives Matter” mural from a street near the White House, USA Today claims that BLM “protesters” were “forcibly removed from the area with smoke canisters” in 2020 so Trump could “pose for photographs at a nearby church.”
IN FACT, that widespread narrative is entirely false. Here are the facts:
- On June 1, 2020, the U.S. Park Police and the DC Police Department dispersed a violent “Black Lives Matter” protest near the White House.
- Shortly thereafter, Donald Trump walked to a church in the area of the cleared protest and highlighted the damage that the protestors had done to the church.
- Soon after that on the same day, many Democrats and media outlets alleged that Donald Trump ordered federal troops to “tear-gas peaceful protestors for a photo op.” Here are 6 prime examples among many:
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- Senator Elizabeth Warren claimed, “The President of the United States tear-gassed peaceful protestors in order to clear the way for a useless photo-op outside the White House.”
- Senator Kamala Harris alleged, “Donald Trump just tear-gassed peaceful protesters for a photo op.”
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared that Trump “used the military to push out a peaceful protest so he could have a photo op at a church.”
- NPR reported that “U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops” used “tear gas” against “people nonviolently protesting police brutality” to “clear way” for a “Trump church photo-op.”
- A New York Times headline stated “Protesters Dispersed With Tear Gas So Trump Could Pose at Church.”
- A headline on Slate proclaimed, “Peaceful Protesters Tear-Gassed and Beaten Outside White House to Clear Space for a Trump Photo-Op.”
- Within 4 days, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser had “Black Lives Matter” painted in giant yellow letters on the street near the protest and announced that she was renaming the area to “Black Lives Matter Plaza.”
- Two months later, Bowser took the stage at the DNC Convention and boasted that she created “Black Lives Matter Plaza” because Donald Trump deployed “troops” and “tear gas” against people who “peacefully protested the death of George Floyd.”
- Ten months later in June 2021, the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior released the results of an investigation which found that all 4 elements of the allegations against Trump were false:
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- The investigation found that the protestors were not peaceful but had injured “at least 49” Park Police officers, “vandalized” “federal and private property,” wore “ballistic vests,” were “carrying baseball bats,” and “threw projectiles like rocks.”
- The investigation found that the Park Police “did not use CS gas” (i.e., tear gas) to clear the protestors.
- The investigation found that the DC Police Department—which was under the authority of Mayor Bowser—used tear gas in the area without “the control or direction” of the Park Police.
- The investigation found that the Park Police “did not know about” Trump’s visit to the area until “hours after it had begun developing its operational plan” to stop the violent protestors and the “fencing contractor had arrived in the park.”
- Even after the results of the investigation were released, Bowser campaigned for reelection in 2022 with a mailer that stated, “When Trump sent federal officers to the streets of DC to stop peaceful protestors, Muriel painted BLACK LIVES MATTER across 16 Street NW to send a bold message.”
Bottom line: The protestors were far from peaceful, they were removed because they were violent, the timing had nothing to do with Trump, and it was Bowser’s DC Police who deployed the teargas. Yet, Bowser, leading Democrats, and the media blamed Trump for all of this.
