Politics

Pompeo hits back against China’s ‘obscene propaganda’ following George Floyd’s death

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Saturday blasted the Chinese Communist Party’s “obscene propaganda” in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and accused the Chinese government of a “callous exploitation” of Floyd’s death.

“Beijing in recent days has showcased its continuing contempt for the truth and scorn for law,” Pompeo said Saturday in a statement. “The [Chinese Communist Party’s] propaganda efforts – seeking to conflate the United States’ actions in the wake of the death of George Floyd with the CCP’s continued denial of basic human rights and freedom – should be seen for the fraud that they are.”

China has reveled in the unrest in the United States in the wake of the May 25 death of Floyd while in the custody of a Minneapolis police officer who has been charged with his murder. China has accused the U.S. of a “double standard” by supporting anti-China protests in Hong Kong and criticizing China’s record on human rights when anti-racism protests rage throughout the U.S.

“I think the Chinese Communist propaganda apparatus is very grateful to have some burning cities in the United States right now, having had to suffer and feel deeply humiliated by the specter of Hong Kong being in a state of chaos,” Orville Schell, director of the Asia Society’s Center for U.S.-China Relations, told NPR.

CHINESE STATE MEDIA EDITORIAL CLAIMS SOME IN CHINA ‘CHEERING’ GEORGE FLOYD UNREST ONLINE

China’s state-run TV and newspapers have given ample attention to the protests, airing vivid images of the chaos, looting and rioting in an effort to position China as a more stable power.

And Chinese Communist Party officials have trolled the U.S. on social media.

When State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus tweeted support May 30 for the Hong Kong people, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, responded with Floyd’s dying words: “I can’t breathe.”

U.S. adversaries including Iran, Russia and China have all stepped up their efforts in recent days to take advantage of Floyd’s death and attack the U.S. using social media, according to a study done by Graphika.

HONG KONG PASSES BILL MAKING IT A CRIME TO DISRESPECT CHINA’S NATIONAL ANTHEM

In one example, the Chinese deputy foreign minister mocked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for calling the Hong Kong demonstrations last year a “beautiful sight” by retweeting comments from the editor of a state-run outlet: “I want to ask Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Pompeo: Should Beijing support protests in the US, like you glorified rioters in Hong Kong?”

Pompeo said the contrast between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could not be more stark, while outlining several examples of how the CCP has sent journalists to prison, abused protesters, muzzled doctors warning of the coronavirus and imprisoned Muslims in re-education camps.

POMPEO: CHINA IS BENT ON WESTERN ‘DESTRUCTION’

“As with dictatorships throughout history, no lie is too obscene, so long as it serves the Party’s lust for power,” Pompeo said. “This laughable propaganda should not fool anyone.”

Facebook pulls ad from gun-toting Georgia candidate taking on Antifa: ‘Big Tech censorship of conservatives must end’

A GOP congressional candidate is accusing Facebook of “censorship” after the social media giant took down a campaign video that shows her holding an assault rifle and warning Antifa to “stay the hell out of northwest Georgia.”

Marjorie Greene, a businesswoman running in Georgia’s 14th District, posted the ad on Facebook Tuesday. By Thursday, Facebook told her campaign the video was coming down because it violated company policies against promoting the use of firearms.

The video is still running on Twitter, and Greene has bought air time to run the ad on broadcast and cable TV in advance of the Tuesday primary.

Greene said the decision by Facebook reeks of a double-standard.

“Facebook lets Antifa organize terrorist attacks on America and allows videos of innocent Americans being brutally attacked, but pulls my post down,” she told Fox News. “America is a country of law and order — not anarchy. Telling Antifa thugs to stay out of northwest Georgia is not a violation of Facebook.”

GOP CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE BLOWS UP ‘SOCIALISM’ IN NEW TV AD

Greene’s Facebook ad reached more than 2 million people before being deleted.

“Big Tech censorship of conservatives must end,” Greene said.

Facebook stands by its decision.

“We removed this ad, which advocates the use of deadly weapons against a clearly defined group of people, for violating our policies against inciting violence,” Facebook said in a statement to Fox News.

Facebook told Greene’s campaign that she can’t have ads “promoting the brandishing of firearms,” according to an email reviewed by Fox News.

During the ad, Greene takes on Antifa, the anti-fascist protest movement that the Trump administration contends is a domestic terrorist group responsible for the violent uprisings against police in recent days.

CONSERVATIVE GROUPS PUSH DIVERSE SLATE OF GOP HOUSE CANDIDATES IN EFFORT TO TAKE BACK LOST GROUND

Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters have demonstrated against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on the unarmed man’s neck for more than eight minutes. But an organized fringe element has sought to hijack the protests, destroy property and unleash violence, government officials say.

In her ad, Greene is armed with an AR-15 on the front porch of a local Georgia business when she issued her warning to Antifa activists.

“You won’t burn our churches, loot our businesses or destroy our homes,” she declares.

REPUBLICAN REVENGE: RECORD GOP FIELD FORMS, ON 2020 MISSION TO TAKE DOWN ‘SOCIALISTS’

This isn’t the first time Greene has campaigned with firearms. In her first ad, she literally blows up “socialism.” Facebook didn’t pull that ad.

Greene faces a crowded primary race against John Cowan, a neurosurgeon; Clayton Fuller, a former prosecutor; John Barge, former state schools superintendent; and Ben Bullock, an Air Force veteran. Also running in the GOP primary are Kevin Cooke, a state representative; Bill Hembree, a former member of the Georgia legislature; Andy Gunther and Matt Laughridge.

AOC supports Defund the Police demands in wake of George Floyd’s death

Lawmakers propose new police reform policies

Fox News’ senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses a new bill proposed by a Michigan congressman that would abolish qualified immunity, which could make it easier to sue law-enforcement officers.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her weight behind a growing movement to defund police departments that’ has become a rallying cry for some protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

The progressive firebrand put her stamp of approval on the far-left demand as a policy solution to combat police brutality and racial injustice during a congressional primary debate that aired Friday night on NY1.

AOC RANKLES DEMOCRATS AGAIN FOR CAMPAIGNING AGAINST AN INCUMBENT: ‘SHE HAS ABANDONED HER COLLEAGUES’

Ocasio-Cortez said she’s “actively engaged in advocacy for” a “reduction of our NYPD budget and defunding a $6 billion NYPD budget that costs us books in the hands of our children and costs us very badly needed investment in NYCHA [New York City Housing Authority] and public housing.”

Ocasio-Cortez echoed the demands of Black Lives Matter supporters and police reform activists that New York City should be spending less on policing and put that money into resources that would help black communities thrive, such as education, housing and social services.

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS CHAIR REJECTS CALL TO DEFUND POLICE, BUT PUSHES FOR JUNE VOTE ON REFORMS

That stance puts her at odds with the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio who say they don’t support efforts to defund police departments.

Activists and liberal New York City Council members are calling for New York to slash at least $1 billion from NYPD’s $6 billion budget.

“I do not believe it’s a good idea to reduce the budget of the agency that’s here to keep us safe,” de Blasio said Friday during a press briefing.

Ocasio-Cortez offered up her support for the #DefundthePolice movement when laying out her policy solutions to police reforms. She also wants to end qualified immunity that shields police officers from legal accountability and she also wants to end the transfer of military equipment to police departments.

DETROIT POLICE CHIEF SLAMS ‘KNEE-JERK REACTION’ TO DEFUND THE POLICE

House Democrats, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, are expected to unveil their police reform legislative solutions this week and hold a vote later this month. Rep. Karen Bass, the leader of the influential CBC, came out against slashing police budgets this week.

“No, I don’t believe that we should defund police departments,” Bass said Wednesday.

Ocasio-Cortez is facing a heated primary challenge from former TV journalist Michelle Caruso-Cabrera. The Democratic primary is June 23.

HOUSE WILL TACKLE POLICE BRUTALITY, RACIAL PROFILING IN JUNE 10 HEARING

During the debate, Caruso-Cabrera hit Ocasio-Cortez on voting against a coronavirus relief package in April, for fighting Amazon’s expansion into New York City and for holing up in her Washington DC apartment for a period of time at the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

Caruso-Cabrera said: “AOC is MIA.”

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez gave tepid support for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is backing AOC’s reelection. Ocasio-Cortez gave a mixed response when asked if she would vote to have Pelosi continue as House Speaker.

TUCKER CARLSON SAYS CALLS TO ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ LEAVE HIM ‘TERRIFIED’: ‘IT MEANS THUGS ARE IN CHARGE’

“Well you know, that’s always subject to continuing dynamics,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But I support her. Yes. Maybe? Yes. If she wants it, she’s also already indicated that she may or may not run again.”

The Defund the Police petition has gotten celebrity support from the likes of John Legend, Natalie Portman and Lizzo. They are demanding police budgets be cut and money invested into education, community programs and healthcare.

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“Despite continued profiling, harassment, terror and killing of Black communities, local and federal decision-makers continue to invest in the police, which leaves Black people vulnerable and our communities no safer,” the petition says.

Organizers aim to bring a million protesters to Washington in largest BLM demonstration yet

The nation’s capital is bracing for its largest day of protests yet, with thousands of people expected to march Saturday against police brutality as the nation continues to mourn the death of George Floyd.

Black Lives Matter organizers were hoping to draw a million protesters.

Authorities have expanded the fenced security perimeter around the White House, which now extends to the outskirts of a park complex known as the Ellipse, near the National Mall.

“We have a lot of public, open-source information to suggest that the event on this upcoming Saturday may be one of the largest that we’ve had in the city,” D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham told reporters Thursday.

It was not clear how many would show up for Saturday’s demonstrations, but #1MillionDCSaturday was trending on Twitter in a call for 1 million people to march on the capital.

Uniformed military personnel walk in front of the White House ahead of a protest against racial inequality in the aftermath of the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Washington, U.S. June 6, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY – RC2Q3H9XVFXZ

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Friday that local officials were estimating a crowd of 100,000 to 200,000 protesters.

DC READIES FOR SATURDAY PROTESTS AS POLICE CHIEF SAYS IT MAY BE ‘LARGEST WE’VE HAD IN THE CITY’

Newsham wouldn’t commit to a number but predicted it would be smaller than the Women’s March in 2017, which drew roughly a million people.

Police announced Friday that large swaths of roads would be closed to make room for demonstrators Saturday.

U.S. Park Police told McClatchy DC it was using “intelligence to monitor upcoming events” but would not divulge details that could “pose a hazard to the public and police.”

Uniformed military personnel walks into the secured White House area ahead of a protest against racial inequality in reaction to the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Washington, U.S., June 6, 2020. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson – RC2R3H9UVSQD

More than 4,500 National Guard troops are still deployed in Washington and various federal law enforcement officers are also patrolling the city,

But Mayor Muriel Bowser wants all non-D.C.troops out of the city. All 900 active-duty military police brought to bases around Washington following the civil unrest after Floyd’s death are heading home, the Department of Defense said Friday.

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Bowser said she only requested 100 D.C. National Guard troops to line the perimeter of the White House, in a limited role and unarmed.

Protesters have lined the streets surrounding the White House every day this week. On Monday, riot police cleared peaceful protesters out of Lafayette Square, using chemical agents, so that President Trump could walk to a neighboring church for a photo op.

Since then protests have been largely peaceful with few arrests.

Barr says he didn’t give tactical order to clear protesters

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr says law enforcement officers were already moving to push back protesters from a park in front of the White House when he arrived there Monday evening, and he says he did not give a command to disperse the crowd, though he supported the decision.

Barr’s comments in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday were his most detailed explanation yet of what unfolded outside the White House earlier this week. They come after the White House and others said repeatedly that the attorney general ordered officers to clear the park. Shortly after officers aggressively pushed back demonstrators, President Donald Trump — accompanied by Barr, Pentagon leaders and other top advisers — walked through Lafayette Park to pose for a photo at a nearby church that had been damaged during the protests.

The episode played out on live television and prompted an outcry from some Republicans and former military leaders, including Gen. Jim Mattis, Trump’s first defense secretary. Barr told the AP that much of the criticism was unwarranted and that Mattis’ rebuke was “borne of ignorance of the facts.”

BARR ORDERED OFFICIALS TO CLEAR AREA AROUND LAFAYETTE SQUARE BEFORE TRUMP’S PROTEST REMARKS, OFFICIALS SAY

Still, administration officials have spent much of the week trying to explain how the situation escalated and why smoke bombs, pepper balls and police on horseback were needed to clear the largely peaceful crowd.

Earlier in the week, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters it was Barr who made the decision to push back the security perimeter outside the White House on Monday morning. McEnany said that when Barr arrived at Lafayette Park later that day to survey the security situation, he was surprised to see that action had not yet been taken.

Attorney General William Barr, center, stands in Lafayette Park across from the White House as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd, Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“So he said that we needed to get going with moving that perimeter. He told the officers that out there,” McEnany said Wednesday. A person familiar with the matter also said earlier this week that Barr told law enforcement to take action to move the perimeter when he arrived in the park.

ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL BARR SPOTTED OBSERVING PROTESTS OUTSIDE WHITE HOUSE

On Friday, Barr told the AP that both he and U.S. Park Police were in agreement on the need to push back the security perimeter. He said he attended a meeting around 2 p.m. Monday with several other law enforcement officials, including Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham, where they looked at a map and decided on a dividing line. Under the plan, the protesters would be moved away from Lafayette Park and federal law enforcement officials and members of the National Guard would maintain the perimeter line, Barr said.

Barr said the plan was supposed to be put into action soon after the meeting, but additional officers and National Guard troops had to be called in because of a high number of officers who had been injured throughout the weekend. It had not yet been implemented when he arrived at the park later in the evening and the crowd had grown much larger than it was in the afternoon, Barr said.

Still, he said he did not give the officers the orders to proceed — they were already in the process of doing so when he showed up.

“They told me they were about to make the announcement and I think they stretched the announcements over 20 minutes. During the time I was there, I would periodically hear announcements,” Barr said. “They had the Park Police mounted unit ready, so it was just a matter of execution. So, I didn’t just say to them, ‘Go.'”

Barr said it was a Park Police tactical commander — an official he never spoke to — who gave the order for the law enforcement agencies to move in and clear the protesters.

“I’m not involved in giving tactical commands like that,” he said. “I was frustrated and I was also worried that as the crowd grew, it was going to be harder and harder to do. So my attitude was get it done, but I didn’t say, ‘Go do it.’”

Barr insisted there was no connection between the heavy-handed crackdown on the protesters and Trump’s walk soon after to St. John’s Church. The attorney general said he had learned in the afternoon that Trump wanted to go outside, and said that when he went to the White House in the evening, he learned of the president’s intended destination.

Several different groups, including the Secret Service and Park Police, were involved in the pushback on the protesters. Members of the National Guard were present but didn’t engage with the protesters, Barr said. Trump also threatened that night to deploy active-duty military forces to the states if local and state authorities could not adequately quell the demonstrations, which have occasionally turned violent.

Mattis, who left the administration in 2019, said Wednesday that Trump was setting up a “false conflict” between the military and civilian society, and took particular issue with the show of force outside the White House.

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“We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution,” Mattis said.

Anti-Trump GOP group targets president over coronavirus

EXCLUSIVE — A Republican group that opposes President Trump’s re-election is going up with a new ad on Saturday that spotlights the president’s comments in March that he didn’t “take responsibility at all” for a widespread lack of coronavirus testing Americans faced at a time when the pandemic was spreading across the nation.

The commercial by The Lincoln Project – shared first with Fox News — highlights the late Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower and recounts how, as the Allied commander in charge of the successful World War II D-Day landings in Europe, he was prepared to take responsibility if the massive operation had failed.

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“Great leaders prepare for every eventuality. The hope for the best, but they prepare for the worst,” the narrator in the spot says.

The ad then uses the clip of President Trump saying, “no I don’t take responsibility at all” when asked at a White House press conference about the struggles at the time to expand coronavirus testing. The clip of the president refusing to take responsibility went viral and has been used by Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s campaign and other Democrats to criticize the president’s actions to combat the pandemic.

The president has repeatedly pushed back the past three months against charges from his critics that he initially downplayed the severity of the coronavirus and later fumbled the federal response.

Trump, in a Rose Garden event on Friday, once again spotlighted that his actions saved “millions of lives,” crediting his decision in late January to “stop people very early on from China, from coming in. Because we stopped early at the end of January, very early, people coming from China who were infected coming into our country.” The coronavirus originated in China.

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The narrator in the ad goes on to say “isn’t it time America returned to a different kind of leadership.”

The Lincoln Project says the spot will appear digitally starting Saturday and will run on TV in Washington DC and other television markets starting on Tuesday.

The Lincoln Project was formed late last year by well-known Never Trumpers. Among them are George Conway, the husband of senior White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, as well as Republican consultants John Weaver, Steve Schmidt and Rick Wilson, who were leading political advisers to the late Sen. John McCain. Weaver was also the top political adviser for then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign.

ANTI-TRUMP GROUP ZINGS PRESIDENT OVER RACE RELATIONS

On Monday the group announced it was spending half a million dollars to run a scathing TV commercial in six general election battleground states and the DC market that targets the president over his comments and record on race relations amid a wave of unrest in cities across the country sparked by the death of George Floyd.

The new ad is the second by the group to zing the president over the coronavirus. Last month they ran a commercial titled “Mourning in America,” which was a riff on the successful “Morning in America” ad by President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election team.

Trump fired back, calling The Lincoln Project a “group of RINO Republicans who failed badly.”

De Blasio can no longer ‘hide behind’ his black wife, children, NYC official says

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams just made his criticism of Bill de Blasio’s handling of Big Apple protests personal — accusing the mayor of using his biracial family as a political shield.

“This is me talking, like, you can no longer hide behind your black wife and children, not anymore,” Williams said during a press conference live-streamed on Facebook Friday.

“You’re exposed now. We are at a time when we need your leadership. It is not there,” Williams said.

DE BLASIO CLAIMS SPIKE IN COVID-19 HOSPITALIZATIONS NOT LINKED TO MASSIVE PROTESTS

A spokeswoman for the mayor did not immediately return a request for comment.

De Blasio’s wife, first lady Chirlane McCray, is black, and they share two biracial children, Dante, 23 and Chiara, 25.

Former President Bill Clinton, left, speaks before he administers the oath of office to Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, right, as Chiara de Blasio, second from left, Dante de Blasio, center, and wife Chirlane McCray, second from right, watch on the steps of City Hall Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, in New York City. (Associated Press)

In 2013, then 15-year-old Dante, sporting a puffed-out afro, starred in a campaign ad for his father’s mayoral race that some pundits say helped de Blasio clinch the primary race.

A year later, thousands of cops turned their backs on the mayor at the funerals for a pair of officers who were shot just weeks after an interview in which de Blasio said he and McCray had taught Dante about the “dangers” posed by the police to young black men.

Williams’ rebuke comes a day after de Blasio was booed off the stage at a George Floyd memorial in Brooklyn.

When the mayor attempted to tell the crowd, “Black lives matter in New York,” one heckler shouted, “Not to you!” even as McCray stood by de Blasio’s side.

And in an echo of the 2014 police funeral, much of the crowd turned their backs on the mayor before he finished speaking.

On Friday, Williams said the NYPD should take a hands-off approach to protestors who are demonstrating past the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, instead of aggressively shutting them down.

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“Don’t put additional tension spots and say you got to be home by this time,” he said, before faulting the mayor for failing to assure protests remain peaceful.

“It’s like you’re not even trying. I don’t know how much you care at his point to put forth a plan. I guess it’s good to show up at a George Floyd memorial, but where’s your plan?” Williams asked.

Pressed on his Facebook comment, Williams later said, “This time we’re in is not about the mayor’s family or any one family, but the thousands of families and people across the city who are looking for leadership and action but aren’t receiving it.”

Biden clinches Democratic presidential nomination with latest delegate haul

Forget saying “presumptive.”

Joe Biden is now the Democratic presidential nominee, after reaching the threshold of 1,991 pledged delegates needed to clinch his party’s nomination.

“It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded — and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party,” Biden said in a statement. “I am going to spend every day between now and November 3rd fighting to earn the votes of Americans all across this great country so that, together, we can win the battle for the soul of this nation, and make sure that as we rebuild our economy, everyone comes along.”

Biden now has 1,993 delegates, according to The Associated Press. There are still contests to come in eight states and three U.S. territories.

BIDEN ON THE CUSP OF CLINCHING THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION

The former vice president became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee in April, after his last remaining rival for the nomination – Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont – suspended his campaign and backed Biden.

But Sanders has kept his name on the ballots as he continues to capture delegates in order to have influence in the voting on the party’s platform at the summer nominating convention. With Sanders winning a small percentage of delegates, and with many states that were scheduled to hold primaries and caucuses in April and May pushing back their contests until June or even later due to health concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, Biden’s timetable to clinch the nomination was delayed.

In April, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hammered out a deal to begin joint fundraising and other partnerships. So Biden’s clinching of the nomination is mostly a formality and doesn’t really alter his relationship with the national party.

“Vice President Biden is our presumptive nominee and we are already coordinating across all areas with his campaign to prepare for the general election,” David Bergstein, DNC director of battleground state communications, told Fox News.

Biden will formally become the party’s standard-bearer when he’s officially nominated in August at the Democratic National Convention.

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Four years ago Hillary Clinton also clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in early June. The former first lady, senator from New York, and secretary of state went over the top on June 6, thanks to a combination of pledged and superdelegates. Sanders – who battled Clinton for the nomination in a bitter and divisive primary process – didn’t endorse his party’s nominee until a month later, at a rally in New Hampshire.

In reforms made by the Democratic Party as a result of the friction in the 2016 primaries, superdelegates – party officials and Democratic governors, senators, and House members – were stripped of their ability to back a presidential candidate in the first round of convention balloting.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

DC readies for Saturday protests as police chief says it may be ‘largest we’ve had in the city’

The nation’s capital is bracing for what could be its largest protest yet on Saturday since the death of George Floyd, expanding a massive fenced perimeter around the White House, even as they send home hundreds of active-duty troops who were stationed outside the city.

Over 10 days of protest, the border outside the White House has progressively been pushed back with extensive fencing and barricades. It now extends to the far outskirts of a park complex known as the Ellipse near the National Mall.

Law enforcement officials said they’d pushed the barrier back even further in anticipation of a major event on Saturday.

“We have a lot of public, open-source information to suggest that the event on this upcoming Saturday may be one of the largest that we’ve had in the city,” Peter Newsham, chief of police of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, said at a press conference on Thursday morning.

It was not clear how many would show up to Saturday’s demonstrations but #1MillionDCSaturday was trending on Twitter in a call for 1 million people to march on the capital in protest of police brutality.

U.S. Park Police told McClatchy DC it was using “intelligence to monitor upcoming events” but would not divulge details that could “pose a hazard to the public and police.”

At the same time, Mayor Muriel Bowser wants all non-D.C.troops out of the city. All 900 active duty military police brought to bases around Washington, D.C., following the civil unrest after Floyd’s death are heading home, the Department of Defense said Friday.

INSURRECTION ACT DEBATE RAGES ON IN CONGRESS OVER USE OF MILITARY FORCE TO QUELL PROTESTS

The troops were staging in the Washington, D.C., area at Maryland’s Andrews Air Force Base and Virginia’s Fort Belvoir as President Trump said he may use the military to help quell violence and looting.

Trump would have to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 in order to take such measures, as military involvement with domestic law enforcement is generally prohibited. The last time the Insurrection Act was used was in 1992 during the riots in Los Angeles that followed the acquittal of four police officers charged in the beating of black motorist Rodney King.

On Thursday, principal deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters that “all options are on the table” for the use of military forces to clamp down on American protesters.

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters this week the president has the “sole authority” to invoke the act, after Defense Secretary Mark Esper said it wouldn’t be necessary at this time.

RUDY GIULIANI: BELIEVING ‘POLICE BRUTALITY’ IS SYSTEMIC IS PROPAGANDA,’ SLAMS BIDEN

Esper said the nationwide protests — which have, in some cases, turned violent and led to property damage and looting — did not warrant the deployment of active-duty military.

“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations,” Esper said Wednesday. “We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”

The active-duty troops were available but were not used in response to the protests.

However, more than 4,500 National Guard troops are still deployed to D.C. and various federal law enforcement officers are also patrolling the city, which has drawn the ire of lawmakers and advocates who are concerned about the militarization of the city and what they consider overzealous policing of peaceful demonstrations.

Meanwhile, Bowser fought the president on the deployment of National Guard troops from different states to the city. She said she only requested the 100 D.C. National Guard troops to line the perimeter of the White House, in a limited role and unarmed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Trump Thursday asking for a full list of agencies involved and clarifications of the roles and responsibilities of the soldiers and federal law enforcement resources operating in the city. Democratic leaders were aghast by the use of force and chemical agents to clear a park Monday of peaceful demonstrators shortly before Trump left the White House for a photo op with a Bible in front of St. John’s Church, which had been damaged by fire.

“We are concerned about the increased militarization and lack of clarity that may increase chaos,” Pelosi’s letter said.

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Insurrection Act debate rages on in Congress over use of military force to quell protests

Democratic lawmakers in both chambers are sounding alarms about President Trump’s continued threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to deal with the protests over the death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of police while in custody in Minneapolis. The centuries-old law allows the president to deploy U.S. military domestically to suppress civil disorder.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced legislation to rein in the president’s authority when implementing the Insurrection Act after a heavy militarized presence was seen in Washington, D.C., to control protestors around Lafayette Park near the White House. Blumenthal sees the action at the park as a threat to freedom of assembly.

The bill would require Congress to be consulted before a president can use the law and would limit the use of it to 14 days unless lawmakers agreed to extend it.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., wants Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley to testify in front of his committee to explain their recent moves and actions. Today, Fox confirmed that Esper and Milley are refusing to appear before the committee next week.

“I remain gravely concerned about President Trump’s seemingly autocratic rule and how it affects the judgment of our military leadership. I have called for Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, to testify before our committee to explain this domestic engagement to the American people. The fate of our democracy depends on how we navigate this time of crisis,” Smith’s office said in a statement.

But under the 1807 law, signed by President Thomas Jefferson, the president does have the authority to call in federal troops to quell riots, according to those who study the ramifications and interpretations of the law.

WHAT IS THE INSURRECTION ACT?

“The way the act is supposed to work is the president has to issue an order to the rioters to stand down. If they don’t stand down, then he can use troops to suppress it,” Peter Feaver, a specialist in civil-military relations at Duke University, told Fox News.

The law was last put into place by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 after parts of Los Angeles were looted and burned over the beating of Rodney King. Then-California governor Pete Wilson requested additional military support from the federal government at the time. However, that isn’t the case with the Floyd protests. No governor has requested such assistance.

Feaver says even then it was considered controversial and the military and subsequent administrations have been reluctant to use the law since.

“I remember that the military was mobilized but received criticism for whether there was excessive use of force and there was grave concern at the time that this would not be a good core mission for the military going forward.”

White House officials didn’t immediately shoot down the consideration to call in armed forces. Speaking to reporters on Thursday deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said “all options are on the table” when dealing with the protestors.

The debate has caused a rift with defense officials, including the president’s relationship with Secretary Mark Esper, who publicly threw cold water on the need for the Insurrection Act, telling reporters in a press conference, “The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”

But some staunch supporters of the president within his own party backed up the consideration. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., penned a full-throated defense to use the military to control the looting and rioting going on, writing in a highly controversial New York Times opinion column titled, “Send in the Military.”

“There is both a legal basis and a long historical precedent for using our National Guard and, if necessary, federal troops to put down domestic violence. And in fact, it is the constitutional duty of the federal government to protect the states from this kind of insurrectionist violence,” Cotton told Fox News in an interview with “America’s Newsroom.”

Protests, for now, have been relatively peaceful compared with earlier in the week, and looting and fires are not as prevalent as they once were last weekend.

Esper ordered active-duty Army units to go back home after he put them on alert in case they would be necessary to respond to the unrest in the D.C. metro area.

But domestic political consequences are playing out just at the mere mention of invoking the law.

“When you use military forces to do law enforcement it’s always politically fraught, there’s always a political price to pay and it’s not the optimal use of the military,” Feaver said. “Yes, they’re there to defend enemies foreign and domestic, but it’s a politically fraught one.”

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