Trump photo op was not reason for removal of protesters: Report

The report says plans to clear Lafayette Park made before the photo, but Trump officials did ask if the protest would be cleared.

An internal investigation into the forcible clearing of racial justice demonstrators in Washington, DC, was not influenced by former President Donald Trump’s plans to be photographed outside a church while holding a Bible. The report released on Wednesday by the Interior Department’s inspector general concludes that the protesters were cleared by US Park Police (USPP) last June 1 so that a contractor begins the installation of new fencing. Trump had been widely criticised for what appeared to be the forceful clearing of the demonstrators with pepper pellets and flash-bangs 30 minutes before he took the photo in front of St John’s Church, near the White House.