Fact Sheet - President Donald J. Trump Is Combating Violence and Protecting America's Monuments, Memorials, and Statues

DEFENDING OUR SHARED HISTORY: President Donald J. Trump is taking action to defend our Nation's historical monuments, statues, and memorials.

• President Trump has signed an Executive Order that ensures that any person or group that destroys or vandalizes a monument, memorial, or statue is prosecuted to the fullest extent.
• United States law authorizes a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment for the willful injury of Federal property.
• The Executive Order also directs that those who incite violence and illegal activity are prosecuted to the fullest extent under the law.
• State and local law enforcement agencies that fail to protect monuments, memorials, and statues will be subject to the withholding of Federal support.
• The Attorney General will take all appropriate action against individuals and organizations found to have participated in unlawful acts—related to rioting and the destruction of Federal property.
• The Federal Government will ensure personnel are available across the Nation to assist with the protection of Federal monuments, memorials, statues, and property.

COMBATING VIOLENT EXTREMISM: The President is fulfilling his duty to defend the life, property, and rights of the American people.

• President Trump will not tolerate the rampant violence and destruction that has occurred over the last 5 weeks.
• Left-wing extremists are rioting, looting, and calling for the destruction of the United States system of government.
• Through mob intimidation, these violent extremists are attempting to impose their ideology on the law-abiding citizens of this country.
• Some State and local governments are failing their citizens by not distinguishing between peaceful protest and violent chaos.

STANDING UP TO SENSELESS DESTRUCTION: In recent weeks we have seen rioters senselessly deface and destroy historical sites, monuments, and statues.

• Rioters have defaced and torn down monuments and statues honoring some of the most important figures in our Nation's storied history.
• In Portland, mobs tore down statues of our Founding Fathers–George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
• In San Francisco, rioters tore down a statue honoring Ulysses S. Grant.
• There are even calls to remove statues of Abraham Lincoln in Boston and Washington, D.C.
• A statue of Hans Christian Heg, who died fighting for the Union Army during the civil war, was torn down in Wisconsin.
• These monuments memorialize the history we all share as Americans, and they deserve to be defended for future generations.