"They’re tearing down statues, desecrating monuments, and purging dissenters. It’s not the behavior of a peaceful political movement; it’s the behavior of totalitarians and tyrants and people that don’t love our country."
DEFENDING OUR SHARED HISTORY: President Donald J. Trump is taking action to defend our Nation’s historical monuments, statues, and memorials.
- President Trump has signed an Executive Order that ensures that any person or group that destroys or vandalizes a monument, memorial, or statue is prosecuted to the fullest extent.
- United States law authorizes a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment for the willful injury of Federal property.
- The Executive Order also directs that those who incite violence and illegal activity are prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.
- State and local law enforcement agencies that fail to protect monuments, memorials, and statues will be subject to the withholding of Federal support.
- The Attorney General will take all appropriate action against individuals and organizations found to have participated in unlawful acts—related to rioting and the destruction of Federal property.
- The Federal Government will ensure personnel are available across the Nation to assist with the protection of Federal monuments, memorials, statues, and property.
COMBATING VIOLENT EXTREMISM: The President is fulfilling his duty to defend the life, property, and rights of the American people.
- President Trump will not tolerate the rampant violence and destruction that has occurred over the last 5 weeks.
- Left-wing extremists are rioting, looting, and calling for the destruction of the United States system of government.
- Through mob intimidation, these violent extremists are attempting to impose their ideology on the law-abiding citizens of this country.
- Some State and local governments are failing their citizens by not distinguishing between peaceful protest and violent chaos.
STANDING UP TO SENSELESS DESTRUCTION: In recent weeks we have seen rioters senselessly deface and destroy historical sites, monuments, and statues.
- Rioters have defaced and torn down monuments and statues honoring some of the most important figures in our Nation’s storied history.
- In Portland, mobs tore down statues of our Founding Fathers–George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
- In San Francisco, rioters tore down a statue honoring Ulysses S. Grant.
- There are even calls to remove statues of Abraham Lincoln in Boston and Washington, D.C.
- A statue of Hans Christian Heg, who died fighting for the Union Army during the civil war, was torn down in Wisconsin.
- These monuments memorialize the history we all share as Americans, and they deserve to be defended for future generations.
