The Inspector General for the Department of the Interior has issued a report about the events of that day. Some media outlets understandably are emphasizing the I.G. determination that U.S. Park Police decided on their own to clear the park without being directed to by the White House or Dept. of Justice, and that the park would have been cleared even if the President weren't planning his photo op, because the Park Police were planning to install a fence that evening. Obviously if that's true, it would seriously undermine my assessment above. If so, I will admit my mistake -- although I seem to recall the White House saying at the time that Attorney General Barr had ordered the park to be cleared.N.E. Brigand wrote: ↑Sun May 30, 2021 1:59 am This goes back to our earlier discussion about the presumption of regularity. I just don't see the problem with a new administration deciding not to defend the bad actions of the preceding administration. The president and attorney general can't hurt people just because they feel like it -- and that principle is what's at stake here.
And consider this: following the crowd control measures that were used to clear Lafayette Park so Trump could have his photo op, the official line was that tear gas was not used. But just yesterday, an attorney representing D.C. police admitted that was not true. Almost a year later.
Lying about what happened shows consciousness of guilt. They knew what they did was wrong. What else are they still covering up?
Trump and Barr gassed people on a whim. They wanted to hurt people. Trump even praised the brutality shortly after it happened. That's indefensible, and that's what they're being sued for. The Dept. of Justice should say, "Those actions were wrong, and we're not going to defend them because they have nothing to do with protecting the President."
But speaking of Barr: he wasn't interviewed for this report. Neither were Secret Service officials, who would know about what requests were made for the President's security, and when they were made. Nor was anyone not part of the park service who took part in clearing the park, like Bureau of Prisons staff, interviewed for the report. Even so, in the report as published today, there is a quote attributed to Barr by a park police official that indicates that Barr at least strongly encouraged the park to be cleared (think Henry II) when he walked through about an hour before it was cleared. And there are a couple redactions in the report that appear to pertain to the subject of how it was determined that the park needed to be cleared.