now i have questions about the statues at lafayette square. it was cleared it was put up as a means to enhance security at the square. in the time how many officers have been injured. >> no injuries sustained by the park police since the fence was put up on june 15. >> once again why does lafayette square remain closed? >> currently it is close due to ongoing restoration efforts and damage assessment due to the damage of the statues and other areas of the park, was burned down in the days proceeding june 1st. >> again. doesn't allow you to desecrate or destroy and defame public property? >> no sir it does not. >> i keep hearing it's a peaceful demonstration. do you hear that also? >> and with that alternative universe what about st. john's church the night before the square was cleared? >> yes there is currently fencing around the front of the church. >> hasn't been any further destruction. >> not to my knowledge. >> according to the written testimony to serve to greatly reduce the violent behavior a bad actors that has dropped dramatically to

park police june 1 attack on the peaceful protesters at lafayette square. under committee rules, oral opening statements and the ranking minority member or his designee. this will allow us to hear from the witnesses sooner and helps members ge keep to the schedule. therefore i ask unanimous consent of the members o memberg statements be made a part of this hearing records submitted by 5 p.m. today. hearing no objection, so ordered. without objection the chair will also declare a recess subject to the call of the chair. as described in the notice of documents and motions will be submitted to the electronic. additionally please note members are responsible for their own microphones and as with the in person meetings members can be muted only to avoid inadvertent background noise. anyone present in the hearing room today must wear a mask covering their mouth and nose. the speaker of the house and sergeant-at-arms acting upon the recommendation require face coverings for old indoor gatherings over 15 minutes in length such as this committee meeting. accordingly

around lafayette square. absolutely nothing to do with giving the president his photo opportunity at the church. based on what you witnessed but you know about that day, your testimony. is this statatisfactory? >> sir, respectfully, i'm not here to hypothesize. i'm just a fact based witness. can't talk about the kcausation or correlation. >> you testify ied that no national guards men had lethal or non lethal munitions at lafayette square. are you aware of any munitions being ready for use by the national guard? >> on the evening of june 1st, the only munitions that i'm aware of is the transfer of weapons from ft. belvoir up to the d.c. armory and that was my unit. >> okay, and what kind of -- >> they were m4 carbons, sir. >> and that's an assault rifle. >> it's of the assault rifle variation. >> and do you know what the reposition was in preparation for? >> i don't know what it was in preparation for. i just know my soldiers executed that movement. >> okay. thank you. the issue that we're confronts across th

the same afternoon overwhelmingly peaceful protesters gathered at lafayette square park at lafayette square park, national guard, law enforcement lined the perimeter of the park. around 6:30, nearly half an hour before dc curfew, the park police and law enforcement partner moved in on the protesters, peaceful protesters and innocent bystanders and members of the press were caught in a chaotic barrage of shields and teargas. the militarized assault, you hit people from historic st. john's church. clergy and church staff, pushed off their own patio by officers and the battle space and even more incredible. donald trump accompanied by the attorney general and white house advisors, the top military brass flowed through the park where he posed with a bible for a brief photo op at st. john's, no idea the president was going to do this. peaceful protesters, church and press look to this administration's violent and senseless operation. to embody our three main treaties protected by the first amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. scr

dean: in lafayette square, peaceful protesters gathered over days and hours to discuss civil rights and the heinous murder of george floyd call for equality and justice. when asked about the use of force displayed in the video against the protesters in lafayette square you stated that your attitude was get it done. let's look at what you got done. if you take a look at the timeline we compiled, we can see that you were spotted in lafayette square that monday evening. the president was scheduled to speak in the rose garden at 6:15. the park police began to disperse protesters at roughly 6:33. president trump started his speech at 6:43 and finished at 6:50. by 7:01, when the president was ready to take a photo in front of st. john's church, the square was cleared and ready for him to go. am i correct? a.g. barr: yes. rep. dean: the timing is clear. multiple local officials also confirmed the point of clearing the square. one safety official said that it plan to movepolice the perimeter had been "hurried up" when the president needed to walk to church and just today we heard testimony from

they call it terraces of lafayette. it's near pleasant hill and deer hill roads. kpix 5's john ramos on why the plan is going forward. >> lafayette has been fighting over what to do. but the planning commission made its decision. not because they wanted to but state law forced their hand. >> mr. majio. >> you could tell by the sound of their voices, they weren't thrilled about it. >> aye. zeke >> so the motion carries. >> after a seven hour meeting the planning commission approved the terraces of lafayette. a 315 unit apartment complex situated on this land over looking highway 24. neighbors complain the project will increase traffic and pollution and hinder evacuation in case of a wildfire. >> so it's become a poster child for nimbism and stuff it's not it's a project in a difficult location with challenges. >> the project has had multiit will hearings a court case, a failed redesign and a public vote. but a recent state law called the housing accountability act or haa makes it harder for cities to reject developments. especially ones that include affordable unit

dean: in lafayette square, peaceful protesters gathered over days and hours to discuss civil rights and the heinous murder of george floyd call for equality and justice. when asked about the use of force displayed in the video against the protesters in lafayette square you stated that your attitude was to get it done . let's look at what you got done. if you take a look at the timeline we compiled, we can see that you were spotted there at 10 p.m. that monday evening. the president was scheduled to speak in the rose garden at 6:15. the park police began to disperse protesters at roughly 6:33. president trump started his speech at 6:43 and finished by 650 -- 6:50. when the president was ready to take a photo in front of st. john's church, the square was cleared and ready for him to go. am i correct? yes.- mr. barr: rep. dean: the timing is clear. one safety official said that it was as if the plan from the park police to move the perimeter had been "hurried up" when the president needed to walk to church and just today we heard testimony from a national guard officer deployed at lafayett

national guard officers says police moved on lafayette square protestors. used excessive force before the president's visit. an officer is contradicting claims by the attorney general and the trump administration that they did not speed up the clearing to make way for the president's photo opportunity minutes later. a new statement by adam demarco who now serves as a major in the d.c. national guard also casts doubt on the claims by acting police chief gregory monahan that violence by protestors spurred park police to clear the area at that time with aggressive tactics. he said that demonstrators were behaving peacefully and the tear gas deployed was excessive use of force. they believe the clearing operation would happen after 7:00 p.m. curfew, but it was accelerated after attorney general william barr and others appeared in the park around 6:00 p.m. the park police chief says that the operation was conducted so that a fence might be erected around the park. demarco said the fencing materials did not arrive after 9:00 p.m. and the fence wasn't built until

sickles lives in a home on the west side of lafayette square. what might be of particular interest to this audience, it is known as the yule house. it was built and originally owned by the father of general yule, it was built by a doctor, a physician who came to the nation's capital when it was new york city, and had big dreams to open up a hospital, fell into alcoholism, some bad financial mismanagement, and ended up having to sell the house. so sickles is in the home in the west side of lafayette square. key goes to the house and waves a handkerchief, using the prearranged signal for sickles' wife to meet him at the rendezvous house. so while sickles is losing his mind, everything he has built up his entire life -- his aspirations as a state senator and a congressman and perhaps a future senator and president, it looks like it is all going up in smoke. this beautiful wife that he had, who was the most popular woman in washington, betrayed him with one of his best friends. she's the mother of his child. he's trying to figure out what to do, and

they did not want to talk about lafayette square. that was very, very clear. lafayette park. and bill barr did everything he could to try to distract us, but we were not going to be distracted. >> i want to ask you about mail-in voting. you have unique familiarity with this given where you are from. bill barr was asked about this today and he continued to parrot the administration's view that mail-in voting is not secure. let's just listen. all right. you know what? i don't have the sound there, but the congressman rich richmond was saying, do you believe as the attorney general that mail-in voting will lead to massive voter fraud? the attorney general responds, i think there is a high risk that it will. he went on about that. tell me how you respond to this because you know mail-in voting better than many americans do. >> yes, i come from the state of washington. we're one of the states that has had mail-in ballots, mail-in voting for almost the long in the history of other states. you know, i think oregon may be a bit longer than us. i have this written down to try to count

sickles lives in a home on the west side of lafayette square. what might be particular interest to this audience, it is known as the go house -- the yule house. doctor, alt by a physician who came to the nation's capital when it was new york city, and had big dreams to open up a hospital, fell into alcoholism, some bad financial mismanagement, and ended up having to sell the house. so sickles is in the west side -- in thete square home in the west side of lafayette square. goes to the house and uses the prearranged signal for sickles' wife to meet him at the rendezvous house. sickles is watching everything he built his entire life -- it looks like it's all going up in smoke. this beautiful wife that he had was the most popular woman in washington betrayed him with one of his best friends. she's the mother of his child. he's trying to figure out what to do, and there is key walking in lafayette park waving the .andkerchief at his house butterworth actually leaves to go visit a sick friend on the east side of lafayette square in a building very im

they did not want to talk about lafayette square. that was very, very clear, lafayette park, and bill barr did everything he could to try to distract us. but we were not going to be distracted. >> i want to ask you about mail-in voting. you have unique familiarity with this given where you are from. bill barr was asked about this today and he continued to parrot the administration's view that mail-in voting is not secure. let's just listen. [ inaudible ] >> all right. you know what? i don't have the sound there. but the congressman, mr. richmond, was saying do you believe as the attorney general of the united states that mail-in voting will lead to massive voter fraud? the attorney general responds, i think there's a high risk that it will. he went on about that. tell me how you respond to this because you know mail-in voting better than many americans do. >> yes. i come from the state of washingt washington. we're one of those states that has had mail-in voting for almost the longest in the history of, you know, other states. i thin

>>a major adam dimarco of the dc national guard says he still can't believe what he saw in lafayette park on june 1st it was my observation that the use of force against demonstrators in the clearing operation was an unnecessary escalation, but acting chief of the u.s. park police gregory monahan said violent protesters forced his agency to act 50 u us park police officers were injured between may 29th and june 1st california democratic representative tj cox said tuesday's hearing was about more than just a violent end to a single protest is whether or that the park place yourself really have a duty and obligation of fealty to the constitution but republicans like arkansas representative bruce westerman called the hearing a political show i wish that. >>congress could work. renewing hope in america rather than continuing to drag issues like this through the mud lawmakers also wanted to know the park was cleared out specifically so president trump can walk through the area. >>to get to a photo op at a nearby church. there is 100% 0 okay relation between our operation and the president

bernard lafayette -- for those who don't know who dr. lafayette is, he is also an icon in the civil rights movement out of tennessee. american baptist college. but he described john lewis -- again, bernard lafayette was his roommate in college. he described him as a mountain of a man, which is saying something for his contemporary to say that. he also described him as ultimately resistant, improvable, unbreakable. he described a moment during the freedom rides, during many times when john lewis was attacked. someone taking a soda crate and cracking him over the skull with it. the metal binding on it opened up his skull, and he didn't even move. he said, that was his character. he'd stand in the face of great violence for the mission, right? we always talk about the kind of king and nonviolence. they harnessed the violence of evil and heaped it upon themselves, to reveal more about the flaws in the system. that's the part that i think can't be lost. this idea that it wasn't out of hate. it wasn't out of anger. it was out of great love. th

lafayette? >> well, it was kind of different, because he wanted to talk to me, john lewis, and he had his assistant there, michael, to give me a call. so i said, okay. so i talked to john, it was very interesting, because he didn't have anything particularly to request of me, or any particular things he wanted to share. so i later surmised that what he wanted to do was just to hear my voice. but i want to emphasize that john was always the person who could predict things. that was one of the advantages he had. so he kind of looked ahead in the future, probably realized that what the impending situation was, and decided that he wanted to prepare himself for it. so our conversation was very interesting to that extent. >> he just wanted to hear his friend's voice one last time. mr. lafayette, how did he convince you to get more involved in the fight for civil rights? as i understand it, you said that you were a bit reluctant as first? >> ah, yes. not so much as getting involved in the civil rights,

i'm ken wayne and i'm palmore that fire is burning right next to lafayette park kron four's justine waltman in the newsroom tonight with the latest just a plus san francisco fire just upgraded this to a 3 alarm fire and it's burning on washington street which is you mentioned is right near lafayette park. >>and the fire so big we actually were smelling the smoke here in our newsroom or on the embarcadero about 2 miles away from where this fire is burning right now, san francisco fire saying the flames are coming from a garage and i want to show you what crews are dealing with right now this is video just in to the kron 4 news room that a viewer posted on twitter you can see huge amounts of black smoke filling the sky and kron four's taylor sackey also nearby in the area and she shared this video on twitter as well we can see flames coming from behind those 2 victorian buildings and firefighters there on the stairs trying to lift that hose going into the back of the building actually gets stuck to sort of on the tire of the car that's parked there. the firefighter than us to go lifted up. th

andrew: they saved lafayette square as we know it. if you can see lafayette square today and are able to walk there, and i understand the barricades prevent you from entering the president's park, as it was called. it is a very elegant, 19th-century array of townhouses. head of thee general services administration tells jfk, we need to build new office buildings for the growing federal government and we will put them in lafayette square. kennedy says really? jackie says really? that means you will have to tear down these townhouses. the way kennedy did things, he sibley intervenes -- he simply intervenes. as the story goes, a friend of his who was an architect happened to be visiting washington around this time. he was brought to jfk's attention. he said what you think of the plans? this was an architect of some renowned at that time. he goes to the library and meets jfk the next day and places in the cabinet room an array of visuals and shows jfk what the square was, what it could be, and what the plans are to turn it into pure jfk t

today regarding recent incident in washington dc's lafayette square. where protesters were forcefully removed prior to president trump's follow-up in a church. watch the entire hearing tonight nine eastern, on "c-span2". reaction to the 1 trillion-dollar senate republican coronavirus response plan continued on the senate floor this morning. the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell calling on depressed to start negotiating with them. yesterday senate republicans look forward to the heels act, our framework for another round of historic relief for american workers and families. our nation stands in a challenging crossroads. we have 1 foot in this pandemic and 1 foot in the recovery. we've kids to go back to april and until we have a vaccine, we cannot go back to normal either. what the american people need is smart, safe and sustainable middleground and may congress help to construct it. that is exactly what our merger proposal would do. everyoneou knows that another rescue package will need to be bipartisan to pass the senate. so the question before

guard. >> just specific to lafayette square? gen. milley: cell phone or coal co-located face-to-face. one guy would have the radio for his agency. >> the national guard, when we were commuting with the national guard, that was done over radio? gen. milley: it was a combination. >> can we figure that out also? gen. milley: yes. especially if there was any communication over radio through the national guard, that the national guard used, i assume we have a transcript of the conversations that were happening? gen. milley: that i am not so sure. >> could you check on that also? >> if it is a military communication, i doubt there is a transcript. if it is a radio. i may be wrong but i doubt it. gen. milley: can you check to see if there are recordings specific to the date of june 1 or any other recordings? >> the police force would normally do that, but we can find out. >> i yield back. >> i do have one follow-up question. do either of you know who specifically gave the order to clear the protesters out of lafayette square ahead of the pr

>> on lafayette, on lafayette -- >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> can i ask for a brief recess? >> madam chair, the witness would like a break. >> mr. barr, ten minutes? >> five. >> okay. the committee will stand in recess for five minutes. >> good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. you have been watching a contentious hearing. democrats on the house judiciary committee trying to grill attorney general bill barr after more than a year of his refusing to appear before them on big issues like his characterization, they say inaccurate, of the russia probe, the mueller probe, his order of federal agents into portland and lafayette square and whether he's independent of political influence from president trump, after ranking republican jim jordan showed a graphic, selectively edited nearly eight-minute montage of protests around the country which he claimed were anything but peaceful including sound bites from democrats biden and obama, clearly very political and highly edited. our team is in place, msnbc's garrett haake on capitol hill, former federal prosecutor and house inte

this is a block and a half north of lafayette park. if you go to i and a right and go have a block up that is what we are looking at and there is still a large contingent of law enforcement officers and officials just along h street if you follow the alphabet, they are there right along the park and as you see the famous st. john's episcopal church, right now we know that auto traffic is being impeded by protesters. as we get more details i will pass them along. shannon: you were down there is the church was set ablaze by protesters. the fourth of july weekend in atlanta was violent and deadly, 31 people shot, five killed including an 8-year-old girl. brian kemp declaring a state of emergency in deploying the national guard to the state capital saying peaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous destructive agenda. lawlessness must be stopped and order restored in our capital city. numerous of these facing explosion of crime. we discuss with police commissioner bernard carried and us attorney and fox news contributor a

none of them had weapons downtown or at lafayette square. they are trained on all of that stuff and they are the military force that we would first call for civil unrest national guard military police. esper, i want to .sk you about the 1033 program it gets a lot of attention with the equipment that is used by the military that would be available to civilian law enforcement. does that militarize the police force? the questions always surround the central point of, do civilian forces needed that and what connection is there to the military requesting that equipment? the determination as to whether or not it is apple for that to be sent to the civilian police force? can you tell us what happens with the tender to three program and does that include the big equipment or is it things like protective equipment like vests and those sorts of things? sec. esper: it is a congressional program. it is not something i have studied in much detail and i don't think i could speak to what law enforcement deems as requirements. i spoke with a general about i

do you believe that william barr lied to you under oath about what happened in lafayette park? >> he not only lied. he doubled back. he did a backflip. i quoted him where he said it was not chemical, that the pepper balls used against peaceful protesters. this was a peaceful protest. if there was any kind of rioting, of course this is not the way you would deal with rioting. this was peaceful protests. that's what everybody has said. the attorney general said it was not chemical. no, it was chemical. he did a double back flip. he used pepper ball agents against peaceful protesters. and what i showed him was that the beauty of pepper balls is not only the chemical irritant but the blunt force trauma. that's what he directed when he stood in that square at 6:10 and said get it done. and there's no coincidence between the president finishing a law and order statement in the rose garden and walking across. what i compare him to, the attorney general worked as an advance man on the campaign. can you imagine the secret service would have thought there's some disturbance in lafayette

andrew: they saved lafayette square as we know it. if you can see lafayette square today and are able to walk there, and i understand the barricades prevent you from entering the president's park, as it was called. it is a very elegant, 19th-century array of townhouses. in 1962, the head of the general services administration tells jfk, we need to build new office buildings for the growing federal government and we will put them in lafayette square. kennedy says really? jackie says really? that means you will have to tear down these townhouses. and the way kennedy did things, he simply intervenes. as the story goes, a friend of his who was an architect happened to be visiting washington around this time. he was brought to jfk's attention. he said what you think of the plans? this was an architect of some renowned at that time. he goes to the library and meets jfk the next day and places in the cabinet room an array of visuals and shows jfk what the square was, what it could be, and what the plans are to turn it into pure jfk thanks hi

they saved lafayette square as we know it. if you can see lafayette square today and are able to walk there, and i understand the barricades prevent you from entering the president's park, as it was called. it is a very elegant, 19th-century array of townhouses. in 1962, the head of the general services administration tells jfk, we need to build new office buildings for the growing federal government and we will put them in lafayette square. kennedy says really? jackie says really? that means you will have to tear down these townhouses. and the way kennedy did things, he simply intervenes. as the story goes, a friend of his who was an architect happened to be visiting washington around this time. a friend of jfk's brought him to jfk's attention. he said what you think of the plans? this was an architect of some renowned at that time. he goes to the library and meets jfk the next day and places in the cabinet room an array of visuals, and shows jfk what the square was, what it could be, and what the plans are to turn it into. j

john's lafayette square. it was my ministry that brought me to lafayette square. in the afternoon of june 1st. the day before during my sermon, i looked directly into the camera my laptop because that house how i was speaking a date. and he called the church, the church as a whole to account for the lack of courage and leadership in dismantling systemic racism. and when christians celebrate the gift of the holy spirit and i that literally for centuries, the church has squandered this mighty gift. does not have the courage to stand up and cast out that evil of systemic and institutional racism. her civic body in the name of love. racial justice, in scripture is his rooted, is now critical ministry of the episcopal church. and it was that ministry at the invitation of my mission. my colleagues, lafayette square. the money i was there on behalf of the church to provide comfort and support to the peaceful protesters and a standard in solidarity with them and the cause of racial justice. i was there in support of people who were testing the governments use and brutalit

john's episcopal church near lafayette square. secret service and park police appropriate use of safe, restorative force actually cleared that up. in total, however, 15 u.s. park police officers were injured during the weekend leading up to the perimeter expansion. do you want to expand on the actions at lafayette park? >> for the 29th, 30th, and 31st, there was unprecedented rioting right around the white house. very violent. during that time, as you say, about 50 park police -- and a comparable number, is my election, of secret service. we had around 90 officers injured. i'm talking about things like concussions, one was operated on, and so forth. it was so bad that it's been reported the secret service recommended the president go down to the shelter. we had a breach of the treasury department, the historical building on lafayette park was burned down. the lodge. st. john's was set on fire. bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly, they took crowbars and pried up the pavers at lafayette park and through those at the police.

bernard lafayette, now a professor at auburn university, welcome to democracy now! we last spoke to you when freedom riders the documentary by stanley nelson came out at the sundance film festival. to how you first met jojohn lewis andnd to the st ins and freedom m rides. >> thank you. i want to say that i a appreciae whatat you are doing in terms of documenting history. our young people can take thevantage e of understanding particulars and how things change so they can maintaiain those changes and make even more. what youou are doioing is exexty important, and i'm happy to join you. when i was a studentnt at amerin babaptist collegege, john lewisd i were roommatates. we decided we were going to participate in the wororkshops that jim lawson was conducting in nashvhville focused on the et ins. it w was j john who persuadededo go to o the workshohops. i had so many jobsbs on campus,i did not have time. as john has s always been,n, hes very persuasive and persistent. j just tothe wororkshops stop hearing john talk.k. byo and behold, i w was consumd the information an

>> on lafayette. smacked the gentleman time is expired. >> could i ask for brief recess? >> and share with the witness would like to recess. >> mr. bar. ten minutes? >> nus?five. >> okay. the committee will stand in recess for five minutes. so coming up tonight on cspan2 , next to joe biden delivers remarks on his field back better plan to advance racial equity in america's economy than acting u.s. park police chief gregory monahan testifies on the agency's role in clearing protesters in lafayette square back in june for presidential photo up at st. john's church nearby. after that reaction to the 1 trillion-dollar senate republican coronavirus response plan from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell : : : >>

talking about lafayette park. that is fine. but there were other law deployed who were non-d.c.y nonlocal, also deployed to take action of the he boundaries district of columbia. i'm asking if you know yet actions r not those were coordinated with the d.c. not.onal guard or sec. esper: my understanding is because i was with secretary of mccarthy, the chairman, we were at the f.b.i. joint center monday evening with representatives from a funnel of agencies. agencies, i r of can't list them all so i know it coordinated.ll secretary mccarthy did an utstanding job with regard to working that out and major general walker was by his side time.of the i will see if chairman milley has thinking to add on that. about 30 seconds. gen. milley: congressman, i an't confirm or deny that all of those federal law enforcement agencies were tied into the d.c. personally.rd for walker, i would have to talk to walker specifically about that. all the federal agencies came underneath the department f justice except for the park police who were under

. >> reporter: meet the dugans, a san francisco family eagerly seeking a new home in lafayette. and with inventory scarce, steve decided to take a novel approach, introducing his family to prospective sellers via u.s. mail. >> we thought we could unlock maybe some inventory that won't coming out as quickly as it would otherwise because of the covid epidemic. >> reporter: their agent said the mailing was targeted to 500 addresses in two lafayette neighborhoods. >> i think there's definitely more land out there and potential for really good schools especially in the higher grades. >> i like the trails there, and i like to bike ride. >> the weather is hotter there. and in san francisco the weather is good, but usually i'm kind of cold. >> reporter: ultimately the goal is to attract a seller that is yet to put their home on the market. >> and let them know we have an easy process for them and a ready buyer. we can take away the fear about having too many people in the house or the process of staging and painting and doing that stuff and offer them a simple sale. >> reporter: twhil t

. >> the events i witnessed at lafayette square on the evening of june 1 were deeply disturbing to me and fellow national guardsmen. >> o'donnell: campaign 2020, america decides. joe biden says he'll pick his running mate next week. so who is on the short list? deadly shark attack. a 63-year-old woman killed by a great white shark as shark sightings in new york force popular beaches to close along the coast. two fatal accidents brought new york city to shut down a popular moped-sharing company. could other cities do the same? and tonight, military history: the woman now in charge of the u.s. army reserve, shattering a glass ceiling more than 100 this is the "cbs evening news" th norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west. thank you for joining us tonight. with the death toll from coronavirus closing in on 150,000 americans, it now appears the outbreak is growing so rapidly nationwide, nearly half of all states are in what the white house calls the red zone. in a new report given to governors this week, but not released p

. >> the events i witnessed at lafayette square on the evening of june 1 were deeply disturbing to me and fellow national guardsmen. >> o'donnell: campaign 2020, america decides. joe biden says he'll pick his running mate next week. so who is on the short list? deadly shark attack. a 63-year-old woman killed by a great white shark as shark sightings in new york force popular beaches to close along the coast. two fatal accidents brought neww york city to shut down a popular moped-sharing company. could other cities do the same? and tonight, military history: the woman now in charge of the u.s. army reserve, shattering a glass ceiling more than 100 years old. this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donnell: good evening to our viewers in the west. thank you for joining us tonight. with the death toll from coronavirus closing in on 150,000 americans, it now appears the outbreak is growing so rapidly nationwide, nearly half of all states are in what the white house calls the red zone. in a new report given to governors this week, but

here's what he said about the june 1st protest at lafayette square. he said that demonstrators were behaving peacefully and that tear gas was deployed in an excessive use of force. and i guess the point of this body of reporting and this important new development from carol leonnig is that this is a playbook revealed, right? >> well, i think the big question for most voters, nicole, is whether or not donald trump is bringing federal troops to actually try to quell violence or if he's using it as a political weapon. and that kind of reporting just suggest that it's being used for politics. and i think the big question that most people have when they look at portland or other areas, where there's some conflicts and protests is the question of whether or not bringing in federal law enforcement is making the situation better. it's really just throwing gasoline on a fire. just making the problem worse. >> cornell, my last question goes to you. and it's almost like the opening of a bad joke. how bad is donald trump? he's so bad that the ronald reagan founda

president trump got in trouble for one incident in lafayette park where he tear gassed peaceful protesters for a photo op. well, every night in portland he's tear gassing peaceful protesters for a photo op. >> laurence tribe, help me understand this. i will be talking to a number of senators who put forward legislation to prevent federal troops from going in. i certainly do not understand the constitution the way you do. but it does actually -- our first amendment does give us a right to protest. the president is criminalizing protesting in general rather than arresting people who set fires to things and threaten public buildings. >> you're clearly right. and in fact just listening to nick reminds all of us that the destruction of america is underway in the hands of this tyrannical president. there is no ill legality except occasional minor offenses that the police of oregon can take care of themselves. and the homeland security acting director chad wolf and the attorney general are deploying para militaries on the streets of america sweeping up lawful protesters, targeting the press, esse

president trump got in trouble for one incident in lafayette park where he tear gassed peaceful protesters for a photo op. well, every night in portland he's tear gassing peaceful protesters for a photo op. >> lawrence, help me understand that. i will be talking to a number of senator who is put forward legislation to prevent federal troops from going in. i certainly do not understand the constitution the way you do. but it does actually -- our first amendment does give us a right to protest. the president is criminalizing protesting in general rather than arresting people who set fires to things and threaten public buildings. >> you're clearly right. and in fact just listening to nick reminds all of us that the destruction of america is underway in the hands of this tyrannical president. there is no ill legality except occasional minor offenses that the police of oregon can take care of themselves. and the homeland security acting director chad wolf and the attorney general are deploying paramilitaries on the streets of america sweeping up lawful protesters, targeting the press, essential

as you know this is just north of lafayette park, which is itself just north of the white house. if you're familiar with the address 1600 pennsylvania avenue, we'll 16th street in the nation's capital, dead ends literally right there at lafayette park. we have seen protesters and demonstrators and others -- and i always add that, because not everyone is there to protest and demonstrate, some are actually there to do other things and create lots of trouble. we'd seen a collection of folks on different nights in that area. this evening, as you can see once again from these latest pictures, there is a large contingent of law enforcement officials and not just the d.c. police. we also understand, and this is fairly similar protocol to what you and i saw over the past couple of weeks when i was actually out there. the capitol police, the park police and others are also moving in and out of this particular area throughout the evening, just to make sure that things are safe. unfortunately tonight, i can tell you that there has been a few things that would really disturb the folks who li

. >> the events i saw at lafayette park. >> o'donnell: campaign 2020, america decides. joe biden says he'll pick his running mate next week. so who is on the short list? deadly shark attack. a 63-year-old woman killed by a great white shark as shark sightings in new york force popular beaches to close along the coast. two fatal accidents brought new york city to shut down a popular moped-sharing company. could other cities do the same? and tonight, military history: the woman now in charge of the u.s. army reserve, shattering a glass ceiling more than 100 years this is the "cbs evening news" with norah o'donnell, reporting from the nation's capital. >> o'donneodning and thank you for joining u deam coronavirus closing in on 150,000 americans, it now,a peers the outbreak is growing so rapidly nationwide, nearly half of all states are in what the white house calls the red zone. in a new report given to governors this week, but not released publicly, the president's coronavirus task force says the infection rate in 21 states is so high that they should begin reimposing res

we ask about the protesters forcibly cleared from lafayette park. was it for that presidential photo-op? also tonight, the a.g. on black lives matter an on allegations of racial profiling by police. and amid this pandemic, should americans, concerned about their health, be allowed to vote in the presidential election by mail? what the attorney general says. >>> after that confrontation in new york's central park ignittrn calling police on a black man, a bird watcher, falsely claiming he was threatening her. the surprising turn tonight. what he's now saying to prosecutors. >>> the racist rant against asian-americans inside this restaurant. a tech ceo on video lashing out. the waitress defending the families and what's happened now. >>> the teacher who made international headlines has died. mary kay letourneau, convicted of raping a 12-year-old student, later marrying him. he was by her side as she died. deborah roberts on that tonight. >>> and the tropical threat we're watching along the east coast this evening as it closes in on the carolinas and th

do you think that was appropriate at lafayette park to pepper spray tear gas and beat protesters and injure american citizens? >> well, i don't accept your characterization of what happened. but as i explained, the effort there was -- >> mr. barr, just answer yes or no. so let me just tell you, i'm starting to lose my temper. according to sworn testimony before the house natural resources committee by adam demarco who was there, this was, quote, an unprovoked escalation and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, numerous media reports. >> i don't remember demarco as being involved in the decision-making. >> sir, sir, the president told governors on a telephone call that the way to deal with the protesters of police brutality and systemic racism like in lafayette square is that, quote, you have to get much tougher. you have to dominate. if you don't dominate, you're wasting your time. these are terrorists. and he also talked about you on that call, sir. here is what he said. he said, the attorney general is here, bill barr, and we will activate bill barr and activate him

john lafayette square. at the corner of 18th street so we were passing out water and snacks hand sanitizer masks of peace where they gathered so to holy ground and while you may not think episcopalians do this we were laying hands on people and playing with them people sat on the shade is a place of respite i would venture into the crowd you could hear people with megaphones inside the park leading the protest police. or racist and then things changed in an instant. suddenly i saw and heard protesters running from lafayette park and trails of smoke billowing from the crowd. running north on 16th street to pile onto the patio some crying and asking for help and paper towels or water a because there eyes were stinging and eyes were streaming with water. sounding like gunfire. and then dropping to the ground in fear it was gunfire. i couldn't understand what had happened with that sudden change of the behavior of the police. it was 6:36 p.m. before the 7:00 o'clock curfew i was on the patio and right across th

we ask about the protesters forcibly cleared from lafayette park. was it for that presidential photo-op? what barr now says. also tonight, the a.g. on black lives matter and on allegations of racial profiling by police. and amid this pandemic, should americans, concerned about their health, be allowed to vote in the presidential election by mail? what the attorney general says. >>> after that confrontation in new york's central park ignited outrage, the woman charged, calling police on a black man, a bird watcher, falsely claiming he was threatening her. the surprising turn tonight. what he's now saying to prosecutors. >>> the racist rant against asian-americans inside this restaurant. a tech ceo on video lashing out. the waitress defending the families and what's happened now. >>> the teacher who made international headlines has died. mary kay letourneau, convicted of raping a 12-year-old student, later marrying him. he was by her side as she died. deborah roberts on that tonight. >>> and the tropical threat we're watching along the east coast this

lafayette park was also lit on fire, directly in lafayette park, looking for people, the person responsible for setting that fire as well. >> others who participated in the attempted disruption of the andrew jackson statue are already in custody including 37-year-old graeme lloyd who turned himself over to authorities in portland, maine, and made his first court appearance yesterday. the judge in that case transferred the case to here in washington, d.c. by the way, bill, the bureau of alcoholic, tobacco, and firearms is opening up to team is offering a $15,000 reward for anybody who can identify leading to charges and conviction of people who are send the church and the related structures. tremendous amount of money involved for people willing to talk about that. >> we are on it. we will bring you back. thank you, doug. hearing from lawmakers after intel chiefs a moment ago brief congressional leaders, live in capitol hill to find out what happened behind closed doors. a record 10,000 new coronavirus cases in one day, dr. marc siegel, what you need to know heading into the weeke weekend. c

john's episcopal church near lafayette square. secret service and park police appropriate use of safe restorative force actually cleared that up. in total, however, 51 u.s. park police officers were injured during the weekend leading up to the perimeter expansion. do you want to expand on the actions with lafayette park? >> for the 29th, 30th and 31st there was unprecedented rioting right around the white house. very violent. during that time, as you say, about 50 park police and a comparable number of secret service. so we had about -- i think around 90 officers injured. i'm talking about things like concussions. one was operated on and so forth. we had the president -- it was so bad that it's been reported the secret service recommended the president go down to the shelter. we had a breach of the treasury department. the historical building on lafayette park was burned down, the lodge. st. john's was set on fire. bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly. they took crow bars and pried up the pavers on lafayette park and threw

lafayette park comfort station was also lit on fire, directly in lafayette park. it will look for people -- the person responsible for setting that fire as well. >> and here in new york, the two lawyers accused of throwing a molotov cocktail inside a police van in brooklyn during the george floyd protests were finally released from jail and $250,000 bond after spending weeks in solitary confinement isolated to protect them from catching covid-19. police say cameras outside the 88 precinct clearly show them throwing a torch fashion from above light bottle to the broken windows and nypd vehicle, then jumping into a car to try and get away. the pair were quickly arrested and charged with a laundry list of serious federal crimes. use of explosives, arson, using an explosive to commit a felony, arson conspiracy, use of a destructive device, civil disorder and possessing and making a destructive device. if convicted, the pair could face a mandatory minimum of decades behind bars, mike, but they have both pleaded not guilty. mike. >> mike: serious charges, rick leventhal

john's episcopal church near lafayette square. secret service and park police use of force cleared that up. 51 u.s. park police officers were injured during the perimeter expansion. do you want to expand on the actions? a.g. barr: for those days there was unprecedented riding right around the white house. around 90 officers were injured. it has been so bad that it was reported that the secret service recommended the president go into shelter. we had a breach of the treasury department. st. john's was on fire. bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly. they took crowbars to lafayette park and through them at the police. balloons of caustic liquid were thrown at the police. there was total consensus that we could not allow that to happen. that kind of rioting. perimeter out the one block and push it up toward another street. being that plan and the park police and secret service have worked out the night before. put the perimeter further away and give them time to put a non-scalable fence around the northern part of the part. ther

a lot of question as to whether he gave directions to the federal preps that was at lafayette square in washington, d.c. when they released pepper balls and what was perceived as tear gas to that crowd. so there's questions about that. there's questions about an authorization that the justice department provided to the dea, the drug enforcement administration, to authorize surveillance activities relating to protesting activity, so there's some really substantive questions that need to be asked at this hearing today, and they are pertain to whether or not the justice department and the department of homeland security under an acting cev right now, whether they are being used as, a, a police force, a federal policing force throughout the country or, b, as an internal security service. >> yeah. >> and these are things that congress needs to wrestle with. i wonder if we'll really get to those substantive questions or if this is just going to be political banter back and forth >> yeah. >> can i just add a c to carrie's list. are these justice department officials in portland and elsewher