WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr says law enforcement officers were already moving to push back protesters from a park in front of the White House when he arrived there Monday evening, and he says he did not give a command to disperse the crowd.
Barr’s comments in an interview Friday with The Associated Press were his most detailed explanation yet of what unfolded outside the White House earlier this week.
They come after the White House and others said repeatedly that the attorney general ordered officers to clear the park.
Shortly after officers aggressively pushed back demonstrators, President Donald Trump and others walked through Lafayette Park to pose for a photo at a nearby church damaged during the protests.
