Attorney General Barr was asked today in his DOJ presser about the clearing of Lafayette Park and why he ordered it. You can listen to his full answer below, which runs about 7 minutes starting at 33:40 (it’s cued up):
I’m not going to transcribe his entire answer to this question, but Barr essentially pointed out that it was the rioting that took place over the weekend with one historic building burned down, St. John’s church being set on fire and a Treasury building being broken into that culminated in his decision to move the parameter one block north.
He also described many head and other injuries to law enforcement who had to deal with the rioters right around the White House. He said there were a total of 114 injuries, the lionshare of which came over the weekend, and 22 officers required hospitalization because most of them had serious head injuries that required monitoring.
He noted that protesters were given the option to move a block up three different times, but they refused. He also said they were becoming more and more unruly.
In an answer to a separate question later in the presser, AG Barr said that he didn’t find out about Trump’s plan to walk to St. John’s church until the afternoon, well after he had already ordered the clearing of Lafayette Park.
Lastly, when asked even later in the presser about the appropriateness of Trump’s visit to the church of presidents and his attendance, Barr said he felt it was entirely appropriate and had nothing negative to say about it.
The question about Lafayette Park that Barr answered above was the first of the questions he took. You can keep listening from that point on to hear him answer all of these and more questions.