The wrongdoers will face up to 10 years in prison, Trump said in a social media statement. Prosecutors can use the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act or other pertinent laws.

“This action is taken effective immediately, but may also be used retroactively for destruction or vandalism already caused. There will be no exceptions!” the president said.

Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt late Monday condemned anarchists and others behind the violence seen in cities across the nation, calling the people who tried toppling a statue of Andrew Jackson near the White House criminals.

The Lincoln and World War II memorials were previously defaced, he said.

“Across the country, some elected leaders of our cities have expressed enthusiasm and support for these criminals, exhibiting an undeniable unwillingness to protect law abiding citizens and their property,” he said on Twitter.

“We live in the greatest country in the world, and I thank our dedicated law enforcement officials who stand tall against these coordinated attacks and seek peace and justice for all.”

Executive Order

Trump’s announcement came hours after he said he was planning to issue an executive order that would force cities to guard statues and other monuments.

“It’s a disgrace. Remember, some of this is great artwork. This is magnificent artwork, as good as there is anywhere in the world, as good as you see in France, as good as you see anywhere. It’s a disgrace. Most of these people don’t even know what they’re taking down,” Trump said.

“We are going to do an executive order and we’re going to make the cities guard their monuments. This is a disgrace,” Trump added.

Trump was speaking to Eternal Word Television Network in an interview broadcast late Monday.

Vandals have torn down statues during protests in recent weeks, including memorials to Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Trump singled out the defacement of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, a nonviolent Indian activist, and the takedown of a statue of Ulysses S. Grant, who played a major role in defeating the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Trump said cities most affected by protests, rioting, and looting are run by Democrats.

“It’s all Democrats, usually liberal Democrats. Take a look. Whether it’s Chicago, it’s Democrat, Seattle, it’s Democrat. The state of Washington. It’s Democrat. Portland, it’s Democrat. All of these places are run by Democrats. Twenty out of 20 are Democrat-run,” the president said.

“They don’t know what they’re doing. And if [Joe] Biden got in, this country would be a disaster.”

“Take a look at the way we’re running things, we’re running them good. And if I weren’t president—talk about the statues—we wouldn’t have any statues standing right now. Because I did things that you don’t know about to save a lot of them,” the president claimed.

Asked earlier Monday about Trump recently decrying the removal of memorials as an assault on “our heritage,” the White House press secretary pointed to polls showing more respondents oppose rather than support taking down the statues.

One of the latest polls, from Morning Consult, found 44 percent support keeping Confederate statues in particular. Thirty-two percent of respondents said the statues should be removed.

The political divide was evident: 71 percent of Republican respondents wanted the statues to remain while 53 percent of Democrats wanted them taken down. The survey was conducted among some 1,900 registered voters and had a two-point margin of error.

A number of polls in 2017 also indicated more of the American public oppose taking down Confederate statues rather than keeping them up. No surveys have asked people about statues of Founding Fathers or other less controversial figures.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-says-hell-issue-order-to-make-the-cities-guard-their-monuments_3398604.html