Mr. Barr came under fire for his role in ordering federal officers to clear Lafayette Square near the White House on June 1 just before Mr. Trump’s widely criticized photo op in front of a nearby church.
He annoyed some White House officials when he said the Secret Service had earlier ordered Mr. Trump to shelter in the building’s bunker because of the threat of violence from protesters. That contradicted Mr. Trump’s explanation that he was merely inspecting the bunker, not seeking protection.
There was a crowd of thousands right outside the White House, and as I saw reported at the time, it was actually the Secret Service who moved the president to the bunker as a precaution.
Because just a day or two prior, protestors in Minneapolis, made up of the same Antifa and Black Lives Matter mob outside the White House, had over-run the 3rd Police District station in Minneapolis, and burned that station to the ground.
Further, had injured over 100 Secret Service agents guarding the White house, throwing bricks and rocks and bottles at the agents. Do you know the last time over 100 Secret Service agents were injured protecting the president? Never.
NEVER!
So clearly, there was an unprecedented threat. As I recall the lying media portrayal was that Trump was "afraid" and had gone to the bunker out of fear. But the answer was that, no, it was not Trump's idea and nor was he concerned, but that Trump followed the advice of his Secret Service security team in an abundance of caaution. And that Antifa and Black Lives Matter were probing for weakness, looking for a point where they could surge into the White House. In the words of former White House secret service agent Dan Boningo, this was not just a protest, but a military-style organized attck, "an insurgeny, make no mistake". Not just at the White House, but nationwide.
Further, when after multiple warnings the mob was asked to disburse and did not, pepper spray was used to clear the mob outside the grounds, and in the video of Trump walking across the street from the White House to the church, you could see all the vandalism and spray-painted graffiti that the mob had left in just a few hours of protest. They even used hammers and picks to break up the sidewalks into rocks, to throw at police and Secret Service there!
And obviously, where Trump walked across the street, the Antifa/Black Lives Matter "protest" mob had also burned down the church right across the street from the White House, a historic church attended by every previous president. If given the slightest opportunity, they clearly intended to do the same to the White House.
Ohh, Donald Trump cleared away the peaceful protestors, just so he could visit the church in a photo-op. The outrage ! No, the mob was warned multiple times to disburse, instead they were throwing rocks and continuing increase their aggression, at a time of day they were to comply with a curfew and leave for the day. Hurling rocks is not a "peaceful" form of protest, this mob was anything but "peaceful protest".