A number of top White House officials have been seen on the streets of Washington DC, making visits to police lines amid intense protests around the capital, apparently hoping to boost officers’ morale after days of unrest.
Attorney General Bill Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley were each spotted in the capital on Monday evening despite ongoing demonstrations and a 7pm curfew imposed in the city.
Though Barr and Esper were merely seen from afar, General Milley stopped to give a brief comment to a reporter on the scene, noting that he was observing the situation and “checking” on DC National Guard troops deployed in the capital, adding that he was “perfectly fine” with peaceful protests.
Echoing the words of US President Donald Trump, Barr earlier on Monday called on law enforcement and the National Guard to “dominate” the streets wherever unrest erupts, after heated demonstrations in dozens of cities escalated into riots, looting and arson over the last several days.
Protests were first sparked last week by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody in Minneapolis, spreading from Minnesota’s Twin Cities to countless other towns across the country in the days that followed.
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