CNA Staff, Jun 2, 2020 / 15:00 pm
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) issued a strongly-worded statement on Tuesday condemning President Donald Trump's brief appearance in front of an historic church in Washington, D.C., Monday, during which the president held up a Bible.
Trump posed for pictures Monday evening in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, walking to the building from the White House Rose Garden after protestors were cleared from Lafayette Park.
"There is no right to riot, no right to destroy others' property, and no right to throw rocks at police," said Sasse on Tuesday. "But there is a fundamental--a Constitutional--right to protest, and I'm against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop."
On Monday, Trump walked from the Rose Garden to St. John's Episcopal Church, which sustained damage in the riots. A fire broke out in the church's basement nursery, but the flames were quickly extinguished before they could spread throughout the building.