GOP senators condemn use of tear gas before photo op
Police injustice ‘merits peaceful protest aimed at change,’ lawmaker says
WASHINGTON—Most Republicans continued Tuesday to avoid any criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump, though a handful of GOP senators spoke out against police use of tear gas to clear peaceful demonstrators from a park near the White House so Trump could walk to a nearby church and pose with a Bible.
“There is no right to riot, no right to destroy others’ property ... but there is a fundamental — a constitutional — right to protest, and I’m against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop,” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, said he did not think Trump’s visit to St. John’s Church was helpful. Scott said it was not something he would have done.
“Obviously, if your question is, should you use tear gas to clear a path so the president can go have a photo op, the answer is no,” Scott told Politico Tuesday, while noting he did not personally see the incident.
Sen. Susan Collins said it was “painful to watch peaceful protesters be subjected to tear gas in order for the president to go across the street to a church that I believe he’s attended only once.” While Americans are justifiably upset that the historic church was set on fire and vandalized, “I thought that the president came across as unsympathetic and insensitive,” she said. At a time when a president “ought to be trying to calm the nation,” Trump did not do that, Collins said.
Sasse, who has at times criticized Trump, but won his endorsement for re-election, said public officials countrywide “should be lowering the temperature” over protests and violence following the death in police custody of George Floyd in Minnesota.
“Police injustice — like the evil murder of George Floyd — is repugnant and merits peaceful protest aimed at change,” Sasse said, adding that “riots are abhorrent acts of violence that hurt the innocent.” Both messages should be heard as Americans work to end violence and injustice, Sasse said.
The comments by the three GOP senators were among the strongest by Republicans following Trump’s demand Monday to end the heated protests. Republicans have frequently muted any criticism of Trump, and only GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah voted in favour of Trump’s impeachment in February.
After Trump’s speech Monday in the White House Rose Garden, the president walked to nearby St. John’s Church, where he held up a Bible for photographers. Trump’s actions drew widespread condemnation from Democrats and religious leaders who said he was misusing the Bible and the church where presidents have prayed for more than 150 years.