Donald Trump

Trump Signs Executive Order to Punish Vandalism Against Federal Monuments

Earlier this week, protesters defaced a statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square outside the White House

The base of the statue of former president Andrew Jackson is power washed inside a newly closed Lafayette Park, Wednesday, June 24, 2020, in Washington.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to protect federal monuments after a rash of recent incidents involving the vandalism of statues memorializing the Confederacy and some of the nation's Founding Fathers.

Earlier this week, protesters defaced a statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square outside the White House and tried to topple it, but police pepper-sprayed demonstrators to protect the monument.

Protesters used a rope to pull down a 10-foot bronze statue of Christopher Columbus outside the Minnesota State Capitol on Wednesday.

Jackson was a slaveholder and oversaw the expulsion of Native Americans in which they were forcibly moved further west by the federal government. 

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

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