Following reports that President Trump took shelter in the fortified bunker under the White House amid protests in Lafayette Park last month, Trump claimed he went down for an "inspection," but Attorney General Bill Barr now says Trump went for his safety.
Demonstrators protests the death of George Floyd near Lafayette Square across the White House on ... [+] 
The demonstrations in front of the White House in the week following George Floyd's death were some of the most tumultuous outside of Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed.
The New York Times reported that Trump had been taken to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a bunker beneath the White House, but noted "It was not clear what specifically prompted the Secret Service to whisk Mr. Trump" to the bunker."
Trump denied but then confirmed the report, claiming he went down for an "inspection" of the bunker for a "tiny" amount of time.
"They said it would be a good time to go down and take a look because maybe sometime you're going to need it," Trump said.
But Barr contradicted that claim on Monday, telling Fox News' Bret Baier that Trump went down in reaction to "extremely violent demonstrations," including "a lot of injuries to police officers, arson."
"Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker," Barr said. "We can't have that in our country."
Protests erupted across the country after Floyd was killed in police custody last month. Floyd, a black man, was seen on video pleading, "I can't breathe," as officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while three other officers stood by passively. The protests have been a mix of peaceful and violent, but D.C. was one place hit hard early, with numerous fires lit near the White House.
33%. Trump's handling of the protests has garnered dismal marks from the American public, even compared to his fairly poor overall job approval rating. A Reuters poll last week found that just 33% of Americans approve of his response to Floyd's death and the ensuing protests, including just 28% of independents.
Trump has gone to great lengths to project an image of strength and resolve amid an increasingly fraught and chaotic national environment. He has refused to wear a mask throughout the coronavirus pandemic out of fear it would make him look weak. But the strategy seems to be failing; former Vice President Joe Biden, who has worn a mask, and also attended a protest in Delaware, has been gaining steadily in the polls. A new CNN poll has him up 14 points over Trump nationally.
I am a news desk reporter covering politics and the 2020 election. I have previously worked for MSNBC and Chronogram Magazine. I attended Vassar College and the London
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