Attorney General Bill Barr on Monday evening defended President Trump’s surprise photo-op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church last week that occurred after peaceful protesters outside the White House were forcibly dispersed.
When asked by Fox News’ Bret Baier about whether he’d do anything differently about the President’s church photo-op that he and other Trump administration officials also participated in, Barr replied “no” before going on to argue that the image from the church photo-op “has somewhat been created and miscreated,” which he said was due to how videos capturing “all the violence that was happening preceding that” have not been aired.
After Barr claimed that he personally saw two projectiles thrown at him, Baier pressed him on whether he would do anything differently regarding the walk over to the church, saying that the visual of an “all white, mostly male” image prompted many to think that it “wasn’t a good thing for the President in retrospect.”
Barr replied that the church photo-op was “a decision for the White House and the President to make.”
“I don’t say this as a critic of these kinds of leadership decisions made at the White House, but as I have said, the President of the United States should be able to walk one block from the White House out to the church of presidents,” Barr said. “He should be able to do that. And this canard that this exercise was done to make that possible is totally false. I don’t see anything wrong with the President walking over to the church.”
Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters during a briefing that there are “no regrets” regarding the forcible removal of peaceful protesters ahead of Trump’s church photo-op last week.
Watch Barr’s remarks below:
Barr says he wouldn't do anything differently when asked about Trump's church photo-op last week pic.twitter.com/pXPcVMkMse
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) June 8, 2020
