patrick.net

WASHINGTON – A government report concludes that federal police did not clear protesters from Lafayette Park near the White House last summer so then-President Donald Trump could walk to a nearby church for a photo op.

The report, released Wednesday by Interior Department Inspector General Mark Lee Greenblatt, says U.S. Park Police and the U.S. Secret Service determined it was necessary to remove protesters from the area in and around the park last June 1, so contractors could install security fencing.

Federal police didn't learn of Trump's plans to walk through the park and examine damage from a fire at St. John's Episcopal Church until mid- to late afternoon – hours after they had begun planning for the security fencing and the contractor had arrived in the park, the report says.

"The evidence we obtained did not support a finding that the USPP cleared the park to allow the president to survey the damage and walk to St. John’s Church,” the report said.