TOPLINE
After President Trump posted a pair of tweets Tuesday morning that “authorized” arresting people who have torn down monuments in recent weeks under a 2003 federal law, reports have emerged that Trump will sign an executive order that allows the arrest of that same group of people, after protesters attempted to remove a statue of his favorite former commander-in-chief, Andrew Jackson, from the area outside the White House Monday night.
The statue of former President Andrew Jackson has ropes and chains dangling from it, protesters … [+] tried to topple the monument Monday night in Washington, D.C.
Photo by ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images
KEY FACTS
CNN reported that Trump said he plans to issue the executive order to prevent further removal or defacement of statues, and it’s unclear if his earlier Tuesday tweets contain the substance of what will be included in the executive order.
In his tweets, Trump vowed to arrest “anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the US with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act.”
Trump added that his authorization is “effective immediately” but also can be applied “retroactively” to cover other monuments toppled in recent weeks.
“There will be no exceptions!” Trump tweeted.
Trump earlier on Tuesday tweeted about the Jackson memorial removal attempt, calling it “disgraceful vandalism,” and mentioned the Act as well as the potential prison time for violators.
Before Trump posted his tweets, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote in a Monday letter to Attorney General Bill Barr that federal charges should be brought against people tearing down statues, citing the Act as well as the 1968 Anti-Riot Act.
News peg
Nationwide civil unrest is entering its fourth week since the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd, a Black man, while being arrested by Minneapolis police, sparking massive protests and reigniting the Black Lives Matter movement. Part of the unrest has been the toppling of Confederate monuments by protesters, who see the memorials as a perpetuation of racist beliefs and a reminder of slavery. Supporters of the monuments say their removal erases history.
BIG NUMBER
Over 70. That’s how many Confederate monuments have been removed across the country since the 2015 church shooting in Charleston, S.C., in which a white supremacist opened fire on a Black congregation. The tally, kept by the Washington Post, says about 24 of those monuments—or one-third—have come down since Floyd’s killing.
Key background
The Veterans Memorial Preservation Act states that anyone who “willfully injures or destroys, or attempts to injure or destroy, any structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces of the United States shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.” The text of the law is quite short, clocking in at around 130 words. Trump’s tweets failed to include that anyone charged under the Act would first need to be convicted or plead guilty before serving prison time; the Act also permits fining offenders.
Further reading
Police Use Pepper Spray To Clear Protesters Who Tried To Topple Andrew Jackson Statue (Forbes)
Here Are All The Confederate Monuments Now Coming Down (Forbes)
Confederate monuments are falling, but hundreds still stand. Here’s where. (Washington Post)
Whose Heritage? Public Symbols of the Confederacy (Southern Poverty Law Center)
