Into American Cities and states to dominate, his words, dominate demonstrators in the wake of the poli killing of george floyd a week ago. What would be comical if it wasnt so dangerous and destructive. The president spoke from the rose garden. Even though he called himself the ally of protesters, troops were moving on what until moments before had been a peaceful crowd at Lafayette Park across from the white house. Youre seeing what happened right there. That was had been a peaceful crowd. Throughout his brief remarks, forces of what he called law and order were creating chaos unlike anything seen in washington in decades. As you listen to what the president said, were going to show you also what was happening at the exact same moment just a couple hundred yards away. I am mobilizing all federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting to end the destruction and arson and protect the rights of law abiding americans, including your Second Amendment rights. Therefore, the following measures are going into effect immediately. First, we are ending the riots and lawlessness na has spread throughout our country. We will end it now. Today i have strongly recommended to every governor to deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers that we dominate the streets. Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming Law Enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled. If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then i will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them. So, a lot to unpack there. The president threatening to use unprecedented military force on u. S. Soil while offering a preview of it on the streets of washington. Now, you might wonder why did the police, why were they ordered to move on protesters at that moment. Obviously the president wanted a photo op. And in a moment right after he spoke, we learned exactly what that photo op would be. The president wanted Peaceful Protesters, the kind he said he just supports, he wanted them out of the way for his photo op. It was simultaneously outrageous and dangerous. Thats the president starting his very short walk to a nearby church. With him were ivanka trump, who youll probably see at one moment. Shes in high heels clutching a white purse. Defense second was there, mark meadows, new chief of staff. All of them in eye very kind of scatter brain way walking to a nearby church foray photo op. Then i want to show you what actually happened once the president got to the church. Even if it meant tear gassing Peaceful Protesters, hitting them with flash bangs, pepper spla and rubber bullets, somebody handed the president that bible, and then he stood there and that was it. That was the photo op. The church itself is shutdown. Were a great country. Thats my thought. That was his photo op. And then really awkwardly, he asked the defense secretary, general, anybody else he could get to come into, Kayleigh Mcenany was dragged into this photo op. Not to pray, the president doesnt do that. He wanted to stand outside, hold up the bible and have photos taken of himself with his cabinet members. It was surreal. A photo op at the church that he rarely attends. His daughter and soninlaw also on hand. Let me just Say Something about what the president has just shown us. The president of law and order as he now calls himself, which is how he pronounced himself, and then he claimed a power he doesnt really have. He cant send the military into every state. Thats not law and order. What the president doesnt seem to know ore care is that the vast majority of those protesting, they, too, are calling for law and order. A black man killed with four Officers Holding him down, a knee to the neck for more than eight minutes, nearly three minutes of which he was no longer conscious for, thats not law and order. Thats murder. Stopping and frisking a young black man simply because hes a black man, thats not lieu and order. The killing of george floyd, erik gar garner, abener luima, the president thinks dominating black people law and order. He calls them thugs. Who is the thug here . Hiding in a bunker, hiding behind a suit, who is the thug . People have waited for days for this wan a be wartime president to Say Something. And this is what he says, and that is what he does. Ive seen societies fall apart as a reporter. Ive seen people dying in the streets while protesting. Ive seen countries ripped apart by hate and misinformation and lies and political demagogues and racism. We cant let that happen here. Of course, violence is no answer, but people protesting deserve answers, and they havent gotten them. No matter how many black men have been murdered, lynched, mistreated, we all know it. People protesting in the streets, they know it and theyre tired of it. And we should be, too. Theres a curfew in new york tonight at 11 00 p. M. , and we remember another curfew. August 1943. That was the last time there was a curfew like this in the city. And you know what that curfew was caused by . 1943, a white Police Officer shooting a black soldier. The years change, the decades go by, and the sad truth remains. Lets go first right now to cnns Alex Marquart on the street in the crowd as mayhem broke out shouldnt say mayhem broke out. Peaceful protesters were pushed out and that caused mayhem. Alex, explain whucat you ha seen, whats going on now . Reporter im with a few protesters who remain, anderson. The president in his remarks said the 7 00 p. M. Curfew would be strictly enforced, and it has been. This was a curfew that was put down by the mayor of washington, d. C. , not by the federal government, of course. And now the streets, at least around the white house where i have been for most of the day, are predominantly controlled certainly controlled, but predominantly occupied by Law Enforcement. What youre looking at here is a row of d. C. Metropolitan police. We have just been pushed back from the intersection you can see down there where theres a lot more police. They carried out this maneuver, it was almost like a lasso, allowing the press to go out, but wrapping around the remaining protesters and presumably arresting them. They are still up there. Anderson, you were mentioning the made for tv moment that we heard we saw earlier. It was extraordinary in the moments leading up to that speech by the president in which he declared that he was the Law Enforcement president. On cue, the police forcement in the police, d. C. National guard and u. S. Park police along with secret service, they pushed forward and started aggressively pushing the protesters away from the park. They didnt use it wasnt just a, please move away, were getting close to the curfew kind of thing. It was with force. It was with horses, it was with tear gas, it was with pepper spray, it was with rubber bullets. I saw an older man getting corner in an enfriday way fired on with rubber bullets. Protesters going out trying to help him under a hail of rubber bullets. They managed to carry him away. He looked like he was having some heart troubling. Incredibly disturbing scenes playing out here, anderson, tonight. It is the kind of thing you noted in your remarks earlier, its the kind of thing ive seen in places like turkey, like egypt, between israeli and palestinian. These are not countries we should want to be compared to. It was an understatement to say compare the president s remarks i was listening to to the scenes unfolding in front of me was surreal is certainly an understatement, anderson. He is the president s favorite dictator, to ceci. Jim accosta watched this from the rose garden. Jim, have you seen anything like this . Reporter no, anderson. It was an extraordinary moment. , and you know, we were standing there in the rose garden waiting for the president to start speaking and you could hear the explosions coming from this police and military action that was taking place on the streets of the Nations Capital to clear out these protesters from Lafayette Park so the president could have this photo op. Then the president launched into his address. He described himself as a law and order president and threatened to use military force to stop these protests if these governors dont use the National Guard. And we sort of saw that play out in real time just before the president s remarks. There were military vehicles rolling into the white house complex. They unloaded those forces. And then those forces cleared out the park so the president could take this walk. At one point i asked the president , how can you defend clearing out a park of protesters for a photo opportunity . He did not respond. A couple of times i tried to ask that question. He did not respond. But keep in mind, anderson, and youre watching this video now of the president walking through Lafayette Park. You know, this is a park where the protesters have been lined up for days now protesting against the death of george floyd. And it was just completely emptied out. Its just extraordinary what was done here. And just to echo what Alex Marquart was saying, weve had this discussion over the last couple of hours of the president potentially using the insurrection act of 1807 to help quell a domestic disturbance, thats not what occurred here. Jim, the thing reporter create a photo opportunity and hold up the bible. Jim, this photo opportunity, he didnt know what to do once he got there. This thing was so badly thought out reporter no question about it. This was bad reality television. This wasnt even good reality television. And the sad state of affairs that we are dealing with tonight in the Nations Capital, anderson, is that we have now witnessed the president of the United States operating outside the bounds of u. S. Law and the tradition of what we know to be our democracy, which is the United States government does not use the military against civilians in this country unless there is a dam good reason. This just wasnt a dam good reason. All we ended up with was the president of the United States looking like a wanna be dictator so he could walk over to a church and pretend to be concerned about the church. Its just a sad unbelievable thing. Its like in some small country thats taken over by some lowlevel lieutenant, lowlevel colonel who gets on the airway and declaims himself the law and order president. Has a photo op. Theres no there there because the church is closed and hes starndi star standing there with the bible. What does the defense secreta secretary what is barr doing, the attorney general doing walking over with this . Why is there a uniformed military person walking behind the president going over there, like its this mob . Reporter its a very good question, anderson. And the defense secretary mark esper was talking about this earlier today and talking about these protests as battle spaces, as if the people in these areas protesting are enemy targets. Theyre not. Theyre american citizens. And on top of that, you asked about the attorney general. I snapped a picture of the president walking out with jared and ivanka and all of these officials and bill barr, the u. S. Attorney general, had a big smile on his face. Of course. Reporter why is he smiling after they cleared a park of protesters out of there with tear gas . Its just its hard to wrap your head around. But we are descending into something that is not the United States of america tonight. There is just no other way to put it. And at a time when youre trying to reach out to all the people in america, for the president to do this, you know, and his allwhite coatery hanging outside him with this closed down church, i dont know what message hes sending. But its clear hes sending it to and what voters he thinks hes sending it to. It seems this is based on, you know, he talked about the Second Amendment. Thats the right he is talking about protecting, as opposed to talking about protecting peoples civil rights, about protecting the rights of everyday americans, you know, to not be killed or not be suspected of a crime just because of the color of their skin. Reporter the right of george floyd not to be killed by the police, absolutely, no question about it. I think, anderson, one of the things that has to be remembered in all of this is that President Trump, donald trump did not do this by himself tonight. There were other white house officials, military officials, federal employees paid for with our tax dollars and our tax dollars were used to tear gas fellow americans. Thats what happened tonight in the nation capital and the entire world was watching. Jim accosta, thanks. Cnns kaitlan collins. You have some reporting about why President Trump pulled this stunt. Reporter yeah, were learning more about what was behind this lastminute photo op. So last minute, we should note, that secret service rushed up here on this balcony where im standing right now where cnn has been broadcasting without any heads up they were coming up here. Of course, they wanted to have eyes on the president and now sources are telling my colleague kevin, in part, the reason the president made the trip outside the gates of the white house, a really rare trip where you do not often see the president walk out of the door of the white house, walk across Lafayette Square and come over here to saint johns was driven in part, that he was upset by coverage of the fact that he had been rushed to the underground bunker on friday night during the protest that you saw breaking out here. Wow. Reporter in front of the white house. That is what sources are saying, anderson. What part of the decision. We are in trouble. This country is being led by a man reporter he wanted to be seen outside the gates. Of course he did. He was taken to a bunker and, you know, hes hiding in a bunker and hes embarrassed that people know that. So what does he have to do . He has to sick police on Peaceful Protesters so he can make a big show of being, you know, the Little Big Man walking to a closeddown church. He always talks about the world laughing, laughing at the governors right now. Theyre not laughing at the governors. Theyre in horror of what is happening. The only people they are laughing at is the president of the United States. And this event, if it wasnt so dangerous and disgusting, it would be funny because it is so low rent and just sad. I plan to come tonight and trying to be as calm and reasonable as, you know, and straightforward and doing this hour of news, and this happened. And i just cant believe this is what we have. This is the United States of america. This is the president we have that. They wanted a disrupter. Well, yeah, thats what a disrupter thats what disruption is. Reporter its so notable. In the rose garden when the president first came out, he said i am an ally of peaceful protests. These Peaceful Protesters had been out here eight hours, the eight hours weve been up here. They got three really short warnings. Within ten minutes, it was crowded down here, and then all of the protesters had been moved down the street for the president to come out, walk across Lafayette Square, and go do this church that hes visited a handful of times during his presidency. Now we know that was driven, in part theyre all for peaceful protests, except never the peaceful protest thats happening. Colin kaepernick, people taking a knee during a sporting event. No, no, no, thats completely inappropriate. Thats not the right kind of peaceful protest. A peaceful protest across from the white house, Lafayette Park. Federal land, he can use federal sources. No, thats not appropriate. I mean, im mystified by all these people who say theyre for peaceful protests. They dont im not sure what a peaceful protest is supposed to look like given everyone ive seen so far hesaasnt ended up well. Go ahead. Sorry. Reporter we should note who was missing from this photo opportunity the president did. He came out here, posed with the bible. You saw the attorney general, the National Security advisor, the defense secretary. The Vice President mike pence was not here. He did not make this trip with the president. Neither did the first lady, melania trump. Really notable not to see either of those figures come with the president over here to this church where the basement was caught on fire, famous president ial church. Ivanka trump was no fool. She didnt get sucked up into lining up with the president unless that happened when the cameras had moved or something. From what i saw it was only Kayleigh Mcenany who got dragged into that. The rest was just the defense secretary. I mean, again, what a day. Kaitlan collins, thank you. More now on the mechanics, in a moment, the constitutionality of not of threatening martial law in states across the country. Thats a sentence i didnt think id be ever saying. Cnn penta gon barbara starr. What power does the president have . Reporter its a confusing picture tonight. We need to start with the troops you are seeing on the streets of washington, d. C. Tonight are National Guard, also federal Law Enforcement. Civilian Law Enforcement from the National Capital region. We know that about 200 to 250 active duty military are on stand by and could be brought onto the streets at the president s those are military police. Is that correct . Reporter thats