Trump Ordered Staff to ‘Bust Some Heads’ at Black Lives Matter Protest, Meadows Book Reveals

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Correction: A previous version of this story, based on reporting from The Independent, inaccurately stated that Donald Trump’s call to “bust some heads and make some arrests” referred to protests in Lafayette Square in June 1, 2020. A review of Mark Meadows’s book revealed Trump’s comment referred to different protests on June 22.

Former President Donald Trump ordered his staff to “bust some heads and make some arrests” in order to clear out Black Lives Matter protesters surrounding the White House in summer 2020, according to a book by his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Trump reportedly gave the order on June 22, as Black Lives Matter protesters attempted to tear down a statue of President Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park.

“Back in my office on June 22, I was watching rioters climbing on Lafayette Park’s famous statue of Andrew Jackson, tearing at the legs and throwing ropes around the head in an apparent attempt to bring the whole thing down,” Meadows wrote his new memoir The Chief’s Chief. “It had been less than three weeks since they had tried to burn down St. John’s Church, and the violence, although it never reached the White House again, was still raging outside.”

“During the middle of it, a message came over the radio letting everyone in the building know that we were officially at ‘Code Orange,’ a designation of danger that sat right below Code Red,” he continued. “‘Don’t worry,’ [Molly Michaels] said. ‘That happens every day now.’

Meadows added that Trump was “growing anxious” while “upstairs in the Residence” that day, adding, “He had given an order for the park to be cleared, and it was not being followed.”

“The various law enforcement agencies that were supposed to be under the command of [former Attorney General] Bill Barr were clearly not communicating with one another, and it did not seem that a single arrest had yet been made,” added the former chief of staff.

Meadows went on to reveal that he called Trump to alert him of a “situation” near the White House, telling the former president that protesters were “trying to tear down statues and vandalizing the park.”

“I assume that we have the authority to deploy whatever law enforcement is necessary to fix this?’” Meadows asked Trump, recounting the conversation. “President Trump had had enough. ‘Not only do you have the authority,’ he said. ‘I want you to go out there and bust some heads and make some arrests. We need to restore order.'”

Meadows admitted he was “not quite prepared to crack anything,” adding that he “went to the front door of the White House and spoke with the head of the Secret Service.”

“I pointed out that we had orders from President Trump to open up Pennsylvania Avenue,” he added. “The leaders of these forces were resisting, but it was clear that the officers on the ground felt the same way President Trump did.”