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“I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues - and combating recent Criminal Violence,” Trump tweeted. “Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!”
In another move, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito was appointed to co-lead a task force to counter anti-government extremists – specifically, Antifa and those supporting the far-right “boogaloo” movement.
The group will be comprised of members of U.S. attorney’s offices and FBI offices throughout the country who will share information with local and state law enforcement and provide training on identifying anti-government extremists, the Justice Department said.
Attorney General William P. Barr also reportedly told U.S. marshals nationwide on Friday to prepare to protect the monuments from harm.
“This is a challenging assignment due to the breadth of possible targets for criminal activity,” Marshals Service Assistant Director Andrew C. Smith wrote in an email obtained by The Washington Post.
A joint operations center will be up and running in Springfield, VA, with days, said Smith, who asked for volunteers from the service’s districts and divisions.
Marshals ordinarily capture fugitive, protect witnesses, transfer prisoners and provide courthouse security.
Trump earlier this week wrote that he’d authorized the Justice Department – which oversees the Marshals Service -- to “arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.”
The president followed that with Friday’s announcement of the executive order, which prohibits the desecration of public monuments, vandalizing government property and other acts of violence.
These include Confederate statues, his administration said.
The order also not only withholds federal support tied to public spaces from those state and local governments that don’t enforce their own measures to protect public monuments – it withdraws grants from those who don’t take the necessary measures to stop it.
Federal assistance is available to help pay for that protection, under the order.
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