EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is deploying a special federal unit across the country for the July 4 weekend in order to protect federal monuments and statues from a possible fresh wave of vandalism.

“The upcoming July 4th holiday weekend has the potential for increased disruptive activity at specific locations across the country that could threaten our personnel and the Federal facilities and property they protect,” a soon-to-be-released memo penned by acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf, and obtained by Fox News, says. “DHS will be forward-leaning in preparing to protect federal facilities and property.”

TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO PROTECT AMERICAN MONUMENTS, MEMORIALS, AND STATUES 

Rapid Deployment Teams (RDTs) from the Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT), and consisting of law enforcement officers specially trained in areas such as crowd control and riot control, will be dispatched to Portland, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

Additional RDTs will be dispatched regionally so that they can be flown into any other area within a few hours should unrest spark up in other cities across the U.S.

This is on top of Federal Protective Service (FPS) presence being ramped up higher than usual for a weekend in response to the potential challenge. Hundreds of FPS officers will be protecting facilities, and DHS has identified hundreds more in case they need assistance.

DHS ASKS TECH GIANTS TO MAKE SURE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AREN’T USED AS TOOLS TO PROMOTE RIOTS

The move marks an aggressive response by the Trump administration to push back against the violence and vandalism seen aimed at monuments in recent weeks, an offshoot of the initial protests in response to the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

While the initial targets were Confederate generals and figures, it has quickly spread to others including Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and Thomas Jefferson, who penned the Declaration of Independence.

DC’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE WANTS ‘PROBLEMATIC’ LINCOLN STATUE REMOVED FROM LINCOLN PARK

In D.C., protesters recently tied ropes and tried to topple a statue of former president Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square Park, but were stopped by law enforcement.

The DHS move is in response to Trump’s executive order, signed Friday, that enforces laws prohibiting the desecration of public monuments, the vandalism of government property.

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In this order, Trump directs that DHS “shall provide, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, personnel to assist with the protection of Federal monuments, memorials, statues, or property.”

In the memo, Wolf told employees that DHS has started coordinating with the Justice Department and Department of the Interior to establish intelligence sharing and resource coordination to combat the threat.

That comes after the DOJ last week created a task force to combat anti-government extremism and has arrested more than 100 people for rioting and property destruction.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-federal-law-enforcement-presence-over-july-4-weekend-to-protect-monuments-amid-fears-of-vandalism

The post DHS deploys special federal unit to protect monuments over July 4 weekend amid vandalism fears first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Trump announced Friday that he signed an executive order to protect American monuments, memorials, and statues and threatened those who try to pull them down with “long prison time.”

“I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues – and combatting recent Criminal Violence,” Trump tweeted. “Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!”

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump

I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues – and combatting recent Criminal Violence.  Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great country! (2:48 PM – 26 June 2020)

The new order enforces laws prohibiting the desecration of public monuments, the vandalism of government property, and recent acts of violence, withholds federal support tied to public spaces from state and local governments that have failed to protect public monuments, and withdraws federal grants for jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies that fail to stop their desecration.

It also provides assistance for protecting the federal statues.

Meanwhile, on Friday evening, Attorney General Bill Barr directed the creation of a task force to counter anti-government extremists, specifically naming those who support the far-right “boogaloo” movement and those who identify as Antifa.

The task force will be headed by Craig Carpenito, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and Erin Nealy Cox, U.S. Attorney for the district of Northern Texas, and will be composed of U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the FBI and other relevant departments, according to a press release. The group will share information with local and state law enforcement and will provide training on identifying anti-government extremists, according to an internal Justice Department memo.

The president has been teasing his order related to memorials all week, as historic monuments and statues have become the targets of anger and vandalism during Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd‘s police custody death in Minneapolis at the end of May.

DC’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATE WANTS ‘PROBLEMATIC’ LINCOLN STATUE REMOVED FROM LINCOLN PARK 

The initial statues under fire were Confederate soldiers and generals largely in the South due to the treatment of African-Americans, and even some high-level military officials called for the renaming of Army bases named after Confederate generals. The anger has since spread to monuments of former presidents and others deemed to be “colonizers,” such as Christopher Columbus, and even some who fought against slavery.

On Friday night, protesters plan to try to tear down the Emancipation Statue of Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Park. The statue shows the 16th president holding the Emancipation Proclamation next to a kneeling, shackled slave. Protesters say it does not depict the role slaves had in securing their own freedom.

TRUMP ISSUES WARNING AMID VANDALISM, EFFORT TO TOPPLE ANDREW JACKSON STATUE 

Washington, D.C.’s congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, said Tuesday she would introduce a House bill to remove the “problematic” statue.

Last weekend protesters tied ropes and tried to topple a statue of former president Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square Park, but were stopped by law enforcement.

In San Francisco, protesters defaced and toppled a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, who led the Union Army during the Civil War. Protesters that same night also tore down statues of St. Junipero Serra and Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

This week McConnell listed the monuments that have been defaced in recent days—noting that in Portland, Ore., a mob “graffitied a statue of our first President, pulled it down, and burned an American flag over his head. This is George Washington.”

McConnell said another Washington statue was defaced in Baltimore, a statue of Thomas Jefferson was ripped down in Portland, and others were targeted.

“This is the general and first President who built our nation, and the author of the Declaration of Independence. Genius statesmen who helped begin this grand experiment that has brought freedom to hundreds of millions and saved the world a few times for good measure,” McConnell said. “And yet a crazy fringe is treating their monuments like vanity statues of tinhorn tyrants.”

He added: “Our Founding Fathers are being roped to the ground like they were Saddam Hussein. The list goes on.”

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McConnell was referring to the famous moment in 2003 when a 40-foot bronze statue of the Iraqi dictator was roped and pulled to the ground, symbolizing the end of his regime.

Fox News’ John Roberts, Jake Gibson, and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-to-protect-american-monuments

The post Trump signs executive order to protect American monuments, memorials and statues first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.