Donald Trump’s former defence secretary James Mattis has broken his silence, calling the President a threat to the Constitution and saying he is “angry and appalled” by the use of troops to put down protests.
Earlier, a Pentagon plan to withdraw troops from Washington DC was reversed after a White House meeting.
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By Peter Marsh
Walmart removes guns from display in some stores
Walmart says it’s temporarily taking guns off the shelves in some of its stores and keeping them in a secure room in the wake of the unrest in the United States.
“As a responsible seller of hunting and sporting firearms, we have temporarily removed firearms and ammunition from the sales floor in some stores out of an abundance of caution,” said Walmart in a statement.
There are more than 4,700 Walmart stores across America, but the company didn’t say how many would be moving the guns behind closed doors.
By Peter Marsh
Texas city council member resigns
A member of the Paris City Council in Texas has resigned after a social media post mocking a protester.
Paris City Council member Benny Plata submitted his resignation at a special meeting Tuesday, which was called to censure him after he messaged a protester with “Why don’t you leave America if it’s so bad.”
By Peter Marsh
Big, but peaceful, protests in Washington DC
Here’s the scene right now in Washington DC, according to Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson:
A big section of the protest in DC seems to have shifted from outside the White House to outside the Trump Hotel.
By Peter Marsh
America right now, in pictures
Let’s start in New York City:
In West Hollywood, Califonia:
In Boston, Massachusetts:
And in Batavia, Illinois:
Key Event
General James Mattis speaks out
General James Mattis (pictured, left) was one of Donald Trump’s most high-profile appointments. Mattis resigned as Trump’s secretary of defence in December of 2018, but has largely kept quiet about his former boss … until today.
Mattis has issued a pretty extraordinary statement just now, saying Mr Trump makes a “mockery of the Constitution”:
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society,” Mr Mattis said in a statement to the Atlantic Magazine.
Mr Mattis said he was “angry and appalled” by what he had watched this week, and threw his support behind those at peaceful protests:
It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.
When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside.
Key Event