President Trump considered using ‘tanks’ or other armored military vehicles to help restore order in Washington after chaos erupted outside the White House on Monday night, defense officials have revealed.
As protests over the death of George Floyd enter their second week, Trump has threatened to deploy active duty military across the country to quell the unrest.
A senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed today that Trump hoped to make the aggressive action in Washington an example for the rest of the country.
Two Pentagon officials also told AP that the president had ordered military aircraft to fly above the capital on Monday night as a ‘show of force’ against demonstrators.
They did not say how many or what type of aircraft had been mobilized.
Videos and photographs posted on social media showed helicopters flying low over buildings and hovering just above groups who were on the street despite a district-wide curfew.
Law enforcement paired the tactic with heavy use of tear gas, pellets and chemical spray as protesters marched toward the White House well after the city’s 7pm curfew.
Trump’s tactics were decried today by some fellow Republicans as well as his presumptive Democratic opponent.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) warned against further militarization in response to the protests.
“I don’t think militarization is the answer to the anxiety and fear, the distrust … that we feel right now. It is not the response,” she said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally, said the law should be invoked as a “last resort.”
“I don’t think the Pentagon’s keen on getting brought into this unless they absolutely have to. We need to restore order, but using active-duty military troops in circumstances like this is a fairly rare occurrence — so as a last resort,” he told reporters.
Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Republican senator, told reporters he would “prefer that these things be handled by the state and local authorities. … You want to de-escalate rather than escalate.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) told reporters that talk of sending in the military was “premature,” while Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of GOP leadership, said that “ordinarily it’s a local matter.”
Show-of-force missions are designed to intimidate and, in combat zones, warn opposing forces of potential military action if provoked.
It comes as 700 soldiers dressed in riot gear and armed with bayonets arrived at two military bases near Washington tonight, while another 1,400 are preparing to mobilize, as the nation’s capital braces for another night of chaos.
Hundreds of members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division were called earlier after Trump promised a more aggressive approach on the violence and riots unfolding across the country.
Defense officials told AP the US military and National Guard were operating under the mission name ‘Operation Themis’ – named after the titaness of divine law and order.
Moments after the historic Lafayette Park was cleared of protesters, Trump walked across to pose with a Bible in front of a church damaged by fire during protests the previous evening.
He hoped his personal walk to the church would send a message about how dominant force could restore law and order, sources said.
Meanwhile, governors and mayors, Republicans and Democrats alike, rejected Trump’s threat to send in the military, with some saying troops would be unnecessary and others questioning whether the government has such authority and warning that such a step would be dangerous.
“Denver is not Little Rock in 1957, and Donald Trump is not President Eisenhower. This is a time for healing, for bringing people together, and the best way to protect civil rights is to move away from escalating violence,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, both Democrats, said in a statement, referring to Eisenhower’s use of troops to enforce school desegregation in the South.
A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the president is not rushing to send in the military and that his goal was to pressure governors to deploy more National Guard members.
Such use of the military would mark a stunning federal intervention rarely seen in modern American history.
Amid the protests, nine states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries that moved Joe Biden closer to formally clinching the Democratic presidential nomination.
Voters waited in long lines hours after polls closed, brushing up against curfews in Washington and Philadelphia, two cities rocked by protests.