President Donald Trump on Friday announced that he had signed an executive order to protect American monuments.
“I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues – and combatting recent Criminal Violence,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!”
The president did not open the signing ceremony to press or immediately release the text of the order.
Trump canceled his weekend trip to his club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Friday, saying he did so to maintain “LAW & ORDER” in the country. He wrote on Twitter:
I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced. The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped. I am doing what is necessary to keep our communities safe — and these people will be brought to Justice!
Earlier in the week, Trump said that the order would streamline existing law to prosecute those guilty of criminal vandalism.
“I think that we’re going to have a very strong executive order, but we already have very strong,” he said. “We have the monuments act already, which means ten years in jail. But I think we’re going to consolidate various things.”
The president recently called on Republicans to be stronger against the violent leftist mobs tearing down and vandalizing statues and monuments and unleashing physical violence on people recording them on camera.
“Republicans have to get tougher, and I’m telling them all the time because they’re sitting back. They want to be politically correct. They think it’s terrible to say something bad,” he said during a town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday.
The president recently expressed surprise that the mobs were targeting statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson, and even threatened to tear down statues of Jesus Christ.
“Not going to happen,” he said Wednesday. “Not as long as I’m here.”
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