Trump face backlash for church photo amid protests

Donald Trump faced a rebuke from some Senate Republicans after police used tear gas on peaceful protesters to clear the way for the president to briefly leave the White House and pose for a photo holding a Bible in front of a nearby church.

"I'm against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop," Ben Sasse, a Republican senator for Nebraska, said.

After threatening to deploy soldiers on US streets on Monday, Mr Trump walked from the White House to St John's Episcopalian church. He held up a copy of the Bible for the cameras, but did not open the book or cite any verses, in what was widely panned as an orchestrated publicity stunt.

The president was joined by top officials, including William Barr, attorney-general, and General Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who was wearing combat fatigues. Critics castigated the president because police had used tear gas to disperse the protesters who were demonstrating peacefully over the death of George Floyd before a 7pm curfew.

Tim Scott, the only African-American Republican in the US Senate, told Politico that he disagreed with the move. "Should you use tear gas to clear a path so the president can go have a photo op? The answer is no," he said.

Brendan Buck, a Republican who served as a top aide to former House Speaker Paul Ryan, called on people to recognise that even in an era of outrages, what Mr Trump had done on Monday was "immoral".

"We should really stop to recognise that what he did tonight, to innocent people . . . should not happen in this country," Mr Buck tweeted. "Immoral and abusive."

Mariann Budde, the Episcopalian bishop for Washington, criticised the move, saying Mr Trump did not pray outside the church, which was been historically attended by many Democratic and Republican presidents.

"He used violent means to ask to be escorted across the park into the courtyard of the church," she told NPR.

The Washington Post reported Mr Barr had personally ordered law enforcement to extend the perimeter around the park before Mr Trump spoke. The justice department did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr Barr on Tuesday praised law enforcement officials for making "significant progress in restoring order" to Washington, and said there would be "even greater law enforcement resources and support in the region tonight".

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While Mr Barr embraced the approach, the Pentagon distanced Gen Milley and Mark Esper, the defence secretary, from the episode, saying they were not aware what Mr Trump had planned when he left the White House.

Joe Biden, the former Democratic vice-president who will run against Mr Trump in November, criticised the president, saying he would not "traffic in fear and division" and would not "fan the flames of hate".

"I will seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued this country - not use them for political gain," Mr Biden said.

Democrats in conservative districts Mr Trump won in the 2016 election also lambasted the episode. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA operative who represents a Virginia district, said he was engaging in behaviour common in authoritarian regimes, including with his threat to deploy the military.

"If there were any doubt that the president's intentions are not meant to unite . . . we need look no further than to the fact that the president then ordered tear gas and rubber bullets fired at peaceful protesters and members of the free press for the sake of a photo op," she said.