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Senate Dems push for end to ‘qualified immunity’ after George Floyd death

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A group of Senate Democrats on Thursday introduced a resolution pushing for an end to “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine created by the Supreme Court with the aim of shielding government employees from frivolous lawsuits, but has been decried in recent years as allowing bad actors to escape accountability for violating peoples’ rights.

The Democrats’ resolution was in reaction to the death of George Floyd while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department, an event that has reignited fury against the doctrine on both sides of the aisle.

“Law enforcement should not be completely shielded from accountability when they violate someone’s civil rights,” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said of the resolution. “It is clear that the Supreme Court’s qualified immunity doctrine is broken and in need of reform. It is time that we say clearly that police officers should be held accountable to the law and to the people they are sworn to protect, period.”

GEORGE FLOYD CASE REVIVES ‘QUALIFIED IMMUNITY’ DEBATE, AS SUPREME COURT COULD SOON TAKE UP ISSUE

Harris was joined by Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

The resolution says that the Senate “recognizes and acknowledges the legal and racial inequities inherent in the judicial doctrine of qualified immunity as that doctrine is applied to law enforcement officers.” It says that qualified immunity is the result of “a mistaken judicial interpretation of a statute enacted by Congress” and concludes that Congress should change the law that is the basis for the doctrine.

The Supreme Court has justified qualified immunity as reflecting “the need to protect officials who are required to exercise discretion and the related public interest in encouraging the vigorous exercise of official authority,” including police officers. It’s said that because of their need to make split-second decisions, officers are protected from being sued for official actions unless their actions very clearly are governed by previous precedent and “any reasonable official in the defendant’s shoes would have understood that he was violating” a person’s rights.

The effect of that doctrine, some say, has often been that egregious conduct by law enforcement goes unpunished, protected by a Supreme Court precedent that the justices have been reluctant to revisit over the years.

OBAMA URGES GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTERS TO PUSH FOR CHANGE, ‘MAKE PEOPLE IN POWER UNCOMFORTABLE’

“To some observers, qualified immunity smacks of unqualified impunity, letting public officials duck consequences for bad behavior—no matter how palpably unreasonable,” Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Don Willett, a quasi-celebrity in conservative legal circles and a member of President Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist, said in a 2018 opinion.

Others on the right have panned the legal doctrine over the years, including the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute.

“Qualified immunity is the cornerstone of America’s near-zero accountability policy for law enforcement,” Clark Neily, the organization’s vice president for criminal justice, said. “It is an illegitimate, judge-made legal doctrine that has systematically undermined our right to be free from the illegitimate use of force by government agents and that helped set the stage for the brutalization of George Floyd and countless others, particularly in communities of color.”

Neily added: “We applaud the efforts of Senators Harris, Markey, and Booker to right this historical wrong and create a culture of genuine accountability for police, prosecutors, and other public officials.”

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The Democrats’ resolution outlines the phenomenon noted by Willett, saying it makes it easy for officials to wriggle out of accountability on technicalities.

“[B]y narrowly construing the ‘clearly established’ standard so that any factual or contextual distinctions between the challenged use of excessive force and the use of excessive force in a prior case, even small or insignificant distinctions, are cause for qualified immunity with respect to the challenged use of excessive force,” the resolution says, the doctrine “unjustly precludes the victims of police violence from vindicating” their rights.

“For too long our courts have closed their doors to people seeking redress when police violate their constitutional rights,” Booker said separately. “We’ve got to ensure that there is access to justice to truly hold police accountable for their misconduct.”

Obama urges George Floyd protesters to push for change, ‘make people in power uncomfortable’

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Former President Barack Obama, in a virtual town hall hosted by his foundation Wednesday, called on demonstrators to channel their anger over George Floyd‘s death into an opportunity to make leaders “uncomfortable” and pressure them into making real policy changes.

The town hall was hosted by the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, which supports young men of color. During the event, Obama said he rejected a debate that emerged in “a little bit of chatter on the internet” about “voting versus protests, politics and participation versus civil disobedience and direct action.”

“This is not an either-or. This is a both,” he said. “And to bring about real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make people in power uncomfortable, but we also have to translate that into practical solutions and laws that could be implemented and monitored and make sure we’re following up on.”

ANGELA STANTON-KING SAYS OBAMA, BIDEN SHOULD HAVE DONE ‘MUCH MORE’ TO COMBAT RACISM

Former President Barack Obama speaks June 3, 2020, during virtual town hall event with young people to discuss policing and the civil unrest that has followed the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. (My Brother’s Keeper Alliance and The Obama Foundation via AP)

Obama also urged “every mayor in the country to review your use of force policies” with their communities and “commit to report on planned reforms” before prioritizing their implementation. During a virtual roundtable discussion, he compared current protests to the unrest of the 1960s and said polls show a majority of Americans support the current demonstrations taking place nationwide, despite some “having been marred by the actions of a tiny minority that engaged in violence.”

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Last week, Obama said the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died in Minneapolis police custody May 25 after a white officer kneeled on his neck for more than 8 minutes, “shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America.” He laid out plans for change in a post on Medium and countered the argument made by some protesters that demonstrations will facilitate more societal change than voting.

“I’ve heard some suggest that the recurrent problem of racial bias in our criminal justice system proves that only protests and direct action can bring about change, and that voting and participation in electoral politics is a waste of time,” he wrote. “I couldn’t disagree more.”

While the former president said that the current protests stem from a “legitimate frustration over a decades-long failure to reform police practices,” he condemned the vandalism, looting and violence that has, in part, overshadowed the more peaceful aspects of the protests in many cities.

Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ocasio-Cortez backs Engel’s challenger in primary

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Despite a less-than-stellar record on past endorsements, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Wednesday that she was going to throw her support behind Rep. Eliot Engel’s primary challenger.

“This moment requires renewed and revitalized leadership across the country AND at the ballot box,” she tweeted, as she lent her support to Jamaal Bowman, an educator.

Earlier this year, Ocasio-Cortez announced the Courage to Change PAC, which was seen at the time as a threat to established Democrats. Despite her freshman status in the House, she is popular and her endorsement is seen as a gateway to the younger vote. Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, once called Ocasio-Cortez one of the most powerful politicians in Washington.

She called Bowman, who is African American, “a profound community leader.” Engel’s district has mostly black and Hispanic voters.

Engel has reported raising more than $1.6 million through March, about triple Bowman’s haul. But Engel has been accused of spending insufficient time in his district, and Bowman’s challenge is considered legitimate.

Engel was also caught on a hot mic Tuesday saying he “wouldn’t care” about not being allowed to speak at a news conference about the unrest in his Bronx district following the death of Georg Floyd – if he wasn’t in a competitive Democratic primary.

“If I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care,” Engel can be heard telling Bronx President Ruben Diaz twice, as he asks for a chance to speak at a news conference with city and state officials.

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Engel later explained his comments to an NY1 reporter: “In the context of running for reelection, I thought it was important for people to know where I stand, that’s why I asked to speak. Of course, I care deeply about what’s happening in this country, that’s what I wanted to convey. I love the Bronx, grew up in the Bronx and lived here all my life,” he said. “I would not have tried to impose on the borough president if I didn’t think it was important.”

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Los Angeles to slash up to $150M from LAPD budget, reinvest into communities of color

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LOS ANGELES— Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that he tasked the city to “identify $250 million in cuts” to invest more money into the black community, communities of color,  women and “people who have been left behind.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that the city will try and cut between $100 million to $150 million from its police budget alone. Garcetti said it is incumbent on the city to “step up and say, ‘What can we sacrifice?’”

POLICE WORK ANOTHER NIGHT ON PROTESTS ACROSS COUNTRY

The mayor said that the city will not increase its police budget of $1.8 billion. Deadline reported that Garcetti said that he will offer more specifics at a later press conference but said the money will be distributed “now, not years from now.”

“It’s time to move our rhetoric towards action to end racism in our city,” he said, according to Deadline. “Prejudice can never be part of police work…It takes bravery to save lives, too.”

Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, told  a reporter at the paper that the city needs to go further with pulling money from police and “need to know that we’re fighting for truly transformative change here and won’t be bought off with just this minimal amount of money.”

Police departments across the country have had to respond to looting and arson in the wake of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis last week. One former city police officer faces second-degree murder charges and the three others were charged with aiding and abetting murder.

More than 3,000 people have been arrested in Los Angeles County since protests began last week, most accused of curfew violations. Los Angeles District District Attorney Jackie Lacey has been criticized for reluctance to bring charges against police officers for misconduct. At some Los Angeles protests, demonstrators have chanted for her to be removed.

She said she supports peaceful protests “that already have brought needed attention to racial inequality throughout our society, including in the criminal justice system” but has a duty to “prosecute people who loot and vandalize our community.”

Garcetti has been the focus of some criticism by protesters in the city who are unhappy with the handling of his own police chief, Michel Moore, who said earlier this week that Floyd’s death was on the hands of those who committed criminal acts at protests “as much as it is on those officers.”

“And that is a strong statement but I must say that this civil unrest that we are in the midst of, we must turn a corner from people who are involved in violence, people who are involved in preying on others,” he continued.

Garcetti, who was next to Moore when he made the remarks, said that he has “known this man’s heart for decades.”

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“When I heard him say what he said, I knew that he did not mean that, and I know that he corrected it right away. He continued, “If I believe for a moment that the chief believes that in his heart, he would no longer be our chief of police,” he said, according to Fox 11.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Obama-era ex-intel official secures bail for NYC lawyer suspected of hurling Molotov cocktail in George Floyd unrest

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A former high-level Obama administration intelligence official has guaranteed the $250,000 bail for the New York City lawyer who allegedly firebombed an unoccupied NYPD police cruiser early Saturday, calling the suspect her “best friend,” Fox News has confirmed.

The Washington Free Beacon first reported that Salmah Rizvi, who served in the Defense Department and State Department during the Obama administration, went to bat for Urooj Rahman, who was arrested this weekend alongside Pryor Cashman associate Colinford Mattis.

Rizvi, an associate at the law firm Ropes & Gray, told the court: “Urooj Rahman is my best friend and I am an associate at the law firm Ropes & Gray in Washington, D.C. … I earn $255,000 a year.”

The Free Beacon noted that, according to her biography at the Islamic Scholarship Fund, Rizvi’s “high-value work would often inform the president’s daily briefs.” Rahman’s biography on Ropes & Gray’s website states that she was an analyst “focusing primarily on sanctioned finance operations.”

Rizvi also received a scholarship supported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a radical anti-Israel group, and was a fellow at a legal organization that supports boycotting Israel. In 2009, the FBI severed its once-close ties to CAIR amid mounting evidence that the group had links to a support network for Hamas.

Rizvi additionally received scholarship funds from the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, founded by the brother of left-wing megadonor George Soros.

Urooj Rahman after her arrest on Saturday. (COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK)

Rahman and Mattis are charged with intentionally torching a police cruiser, and could each face up to 20 years in prison. Mattis had been furloughed amid the coronavirus pandemic and is currently suspended without pay from Pryor Cashman, Fox News was told. Both have now made bail.

Evidence in the case appeared strong, the judge overseeing the case acknowledged. Prosecutors presented the court a photograph appearing to show Mattis driving a van from which Rahman allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail at the police cruiser. Authorities said they later found additional incendiary devices in the car.

NY POST: PHOTO SHOWS WOMAN HOLDING MOLOTOV

As a result, prosecutors strenuously objected to the decision by U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie to grant bail and release the attorneys on home detention with GPS monitoring devices. Prosecutors said Mattis, for example, has “not demonstrated himself to be a rational person” and that “bomb-throwers” should not be released back onto the streets amid continuing demonstrations.

“The conduct was reckless, it was violent, it was completely lawless,” the judge said, before noting that the pair had a stable social circle and would be confined to their homes. The government has said it will appeal the judge’s decision to release the suspects.

Colinford Mattis

The news that highly educated attorneys were participating in violent protests has stunned the legal community and New Yorkers in general. The development raised questions as to how attorneys with promising futures became interested in pursuing violent forms of protest.

Fox News has obtained and reviewed communications from Yale Law School’s internal message board, known as “The Wall,” which seemingly indicate that disdain for American institutions isn’t uncommon among elite legal programs. Yale Law School is one of the nation’s most prestigious professional schools, and routinely sends apparently anti-American alumni into prominent positions in government and private practice.

For example, Ropes & Gray, the firm where Rizvi currently works, also employs Jordan Bryant — an associate who previously declared on “The Wall” that she hopes America is burned “to the ground.”

“F–k the United States,” Bryant wrote to the internal message board available to all of her Yale Law School classmates in 2014, amid the protests surrounding Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo.

WSJ OPINION: THE MYTH OF SYSTEMIC POLICE RACISM

Bryant continued: “A system cannot fail those it was not meant to protect. We came here as slave labor upon which the glittering promise of this land was built, and it will never grow to accommodate us as anything but a dehumanized other. The stench of the putrefaction of poorly-buried bodies murdered in the name of freedom (read white freedom) has not dissipated in 400 years.”

“Why do we remain here, where we are so clearly unwanted?” Bryant added. “It’s time for a mass exodus. I am a citizen of this place name only; my nationality is not American as far as I am concerned. Black people, use the US for a passport and nothing else. Mine this den of hypocrisy for the privileges it can afford you, and shun it otherwise. I pray for Michael Brown’s family, but do not pray for this country. Indeed, I hope we burn it to the ground.”

Bryant’s biography on Ropes & Gray’s website states that she was a “Fox Fellow” at Moscow State University, where she studied “race relations.”

A handful of Yale classmates attempted to challenge Bryant’s comments on “The Wall,” and were immediately rebuffed en masse by multiple other students for committing “microaggressions” against a “person of color,” documents reviewed by Fox News showed.

Presented with Bryant’s comments on Wednesday, Ropes & Gray said they don’t reflect the firm’s values.

“Ropes & Gray was built on the foundation of human rights, dignity and equality,” a firm spokesperson told Fox News. “We continue to maintain those core values and our commitment to freedom, justice and equality under the laws of the United States. Acts of racism, violence and hatred have no place in our society — and we strongly condemn them.  The statements made are inconsistent with our values as a firm.  Words that might incite others to violence have no place in our civil discourse.”

COLUMBIA LAW FACULTY LASH OUT AS BIDEN SPEAKS AT COMMENCEMENT AMID SEX ASSAULT ALLEGATION

Police ride their scooters through the East Village neighborhood of New York, patrolling the streets during an imposed curfew on Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in New York. Thousands of demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd remained on New York City streets on Tuesday after an 8 p.m. curfew put in place by officials struggling to stanch destruction and growing complaints that the nation’s biggest city was reeling out of control night after night. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Over the weekend, New York University Law School, where both Rizvi and Mattis received their law degrees, issued a statement through its dean, Trevor Morrison. Morrison condemned systemic violence against black Americans and suggested ways that students could help them: “Change will not come easily, but problems of criminal justice, racial justice, and fair policing are deep societal problems that demand attention,” Morrison wrote.

“As lawyers, professors, students, and citizens of the world, we all have both an opportunity and an obligation to seek solutions,” Morrison continued. “We stand together. And together we can help make real and lasting change.”

The statement did not mention violence against police or store owners. When pressed by Fox News on the omission, the law school eventually issued a new statement that included a condemnation of violence against police and protesters.

“It is deeply regrettable that, amidst the peaceful demonstrations of the past week, some have resorted to violence, but it would be inappropriate for the Law School to comment on allegations against specific individuals,” the law school responded.

For his part, Obama has praised the “transformative” protests in the wake of Floyd’s death.

DC Mayor Bowser vows to ‘push back’ on federal presence in wake of George Floyd unrest

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Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser made it clear Wednesday that the Metropolitan Police report to her, and that she does not believe additional National Guardsmen are needed in the nation’s capital to assist in maintaining order during the George Floyd protests.

“We are examining every legal question about the president’s authority to send troops, even National Guard, to the District of Columbia,” Bowser said during a news conference.

“Another way to put it is, does the President have the legal authority to request [National] Guard from other states?” Bowser asked reporters. “I have the authority to request guards from other states.”

Bowser said she has not asked any National Guardsmen from other states to assist in the capital, but she has requested 100 D.C. National Guardsmen to line the perimeter of the White House, in a limited role and unarmed.

The mayor’s comments come after President Trump announced from the White House Monday that he has suggested every governor “deploy the National Guard in sufficient numbers… [to] dominate the streets.”

TRUMP SLAMS DE BLASIO, LIBERAL MAYORS FOR REJECTING NATIONAL GUARD HELP TO STOP RIOTING

“If a city or a state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them,” Trump said.

“We think that the federal purposes are being stretched,” Bowser said Wednesday. “And that’s what we will continue to examine and push back on.”

Trump also said that he would invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy the U.S. military to suppress civil unrest.

ESPER SAYS HE OPPOSES USING INSURRECTION ACT TO SEND MILITARY TO QUELL UNREST

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Wednesday that he does not support invoking this law.

“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations,” Esper said during a news briefing. “We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”

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The D.C. mayor has been critical of Trump’s response to the protests, and called the president’s actions on Monday “shameful” when he used Metro Police to break up a peaceful protest to take photos in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church while holding a Bible.

Bowser said the president’s actions would make the job of the D.C. police more difficult.

GOP convention site in limbo: Here’s where party could go

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The search is on as the Republican National Committee (RNC) begins to scout out new locations to hold its August presidential convention.

Hours after President Trump tweeted that the GOP is “now forced to seek another” location other than Charlotte, N.C., to host this summer’s Republican National Convention, party officials said Thursday that the event, indeed, “will be held in another city.”

RNC SAYS CONVENTION TO BE HELD IN ‘ANOTHER CITY’ AFTER TRUMP NIXES CHARLOTTE AFTER  CLASH WITH DEM. GOVERNOR

The decision comes after North Carolina‘s Democratic governor said GOP leaders needed to provide plans for a scaled-down event due to coronavirus pandemic health concerns. The party pressed for a full in-person convention, which Gov. Roy Cooper essentially said they could not accommodate.

“Due to the directive from the governor that our convention cannot go on as planned as required by our rules, the celebration of the president’s acceptance of the Republican nomination will be held in another city,” an RNC official told Fox News.

What other places could be considered?

The search for a new city to host the convention is now underway. Among the locations that could land the event is Nashville, Tenn. Republican party officials are heading to Nashville later this week.

Other places in contention to grab the convention are Orlando and Jacksonville, Fla., as well as sites in Georgia. Republican governors in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee have all said in recent days that they would welcome the GOP convention.

The governor of Nevada is a Democrat, but GOP sources say Las Vegas is another city that Republican Party officials may scout out in the coming days.

Mattis ‘angry and appalled’ as he unloads on Trump, says president ‘does not try to unite the American people’

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James Mattis, who served as President Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, excoriated the president in a statement to The Atlantic published on Wednesday — urging Americans to “reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”

Mattis has largely stayed out of the public eye since resigning in December 2018, when he opposed Trump’s abrupt troop pullout from Syria. The retired Marine Corps general had said he wanted to give the administration an “opportunity” to govern, rather than criticize the president in the press.

On Wednesday, though, Mattis made clear that Trump’s response to the nationwide protests over the in-custody death of George Floyd had spurred him to act.

Specifically, Mattis appeared to object to authorites’ decision to clear away protesters in Washington D.C.’s Lafayette Park on Monday before Trump’s visit to the historic St. John’s Church, which rioters had burned the previous night. The United States Park Police denied using tear gas to disperse the protesters, despite various media reports, and authorities have said they cleared the park because of violent outbursts and not to make room for Trump.

“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago,” Mattis wrote, “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.”

President Donald Trump walks past police in Lafayette Park after visiting outside St. John’s Church across from the White House Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington. Part of the church was set on fire during protests on Sunday night. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

More generally, Mattis took issue with Trump’s efforts as a statesman and leader.

“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis wrote to the outlet. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. 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.”

Mattis continued: “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. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”

Mattis’ remarks were published hours after dissent appeared to be brewing anew in the Pentagon. Defense Secretary Mark Esper flatly told reporters that despite Trump’s remarks earlier this week, he is not in favor of the president invoking the Insurrection Act in order to send the U.S. military to quell violent protests. Some top Republicans have also said the military should become involved given the scale of the riots overtaking major U.S. cities.

“The option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire situations,” Esper said. “We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”

In his statement to The Atlantic, Mattis also took aim at Esper, directly criticizing Esper’s recent call for governors to “dominate the battlespace.”

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis listens to a question during his appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

“We must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate,'” Mattis wrote. “At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society. It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and of which they themselves are a part. Keeping public order rests with civilian state and local leaders who best understand their communities and are answerable to them.”

Mattis’ remarks drew mixed reactions. Former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill tweeted: “Mattis. Finally. But with eloquence that should wake up many who are in a political coma. He was a warrior for our nation. This will have a big impact on our military. And hopefully on Republican elected officials who have mountains of respect for him.”

SECRET SERVICES AGENTS WOUNDED; TRUMP RUSHED TO BUNKER UNDERNEATH WHITE HOUSE

“Mattis resigned in protest because Trump wanted to withdraw troops from Syria,” countered journalist Michael Tracey. “He has no moral high ground.”

“It is a good time to recall, as well, that pretty much our entire media and military pundit class pushed to keep troops in Syria on the grounds that their withdrawal would lead to the *immediate* genocide of Kurds,” wrote The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway. “That didn’t happen. A few days later, they dropped the story.”

Trump has not yet responded, via tweet or otherwise, to Mattis’ remarks.

Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.

Obama ‘heartened’ to see police march alongside protesters, says ‘vast majority’ want to protect and serve

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Former President Barack Obama said Wednesday he was “heartened” to see law enforcement marching alongside protesters and showing restraint, adding that a “vast majority” of them want to protect and serve.

“I want to acknowledge the folks in law enforcement that share the goals of reimagining policing,” Obama said in his first on-camera comments after the death of George Floyd. “Because there are folks out there who took the oath to serve your communities, your countries, have a tough job, and I know you’re just as outraged by the tragedies in recent weeks as are many of the protesters.”

“So we’re grateful for the vast majority of you who protect and serve. I’ve been heartened to see those in law enforcement who recognize let me march along with these protesters, let me stand side by side and recognize that I want to be part of the solution, who show restraint, and volunteer, and engage and listen, because you’re a vital part of the conversation,” the former president continued in a town hall hosted by the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.

Obama said that while he was in office, he created a task force on 21st century policing. But still, most reforms need to happen on the local level, he said. “I urge every mayor to review your use-of-force policies with members of your community.”

NANCY PELOSI WIELDS BIBLE, QUOTES BUSH, OBAMA IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP 

The former commander in chief encouraged local officials to “do something” about implicit bias in the training of police officers.

He again emphasized the importance of voting, adding that it is mayors and county executives who appoint police chiefs and negotiate collective bargaining with the force. He said it is up to local leaders to establish police community review boards.

OBAMA LAYS OUT IDEAS FOR ‘REAL CHANGE’ FOLLOWING GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS, CRITICIZES LOOTING

“I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter on the internet about voting versus protests, politics versus civil disobedience,” Obama said. “This is not an ‘either/or,’ this is a ‘both/and.’ We both have to highlight a problem that makes people feel uncomfortable and translate that into solutions.”

Obama last week said the death of Floyd while in Minnesota police custody “shouldn’t be ‘normal’ in 2020 America,” and later called out those who say protesting is more effective than participation in electoral politics.

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Obama also said: “The point of protest is to raise public awareness, to put a spotlight on injustice, and to make the powers that be uncomfortable… But eventually, aspirations have to be translated into specific laws and institutional practices — and in a democracy, that only happens when we elect government officials who are responsive to our demands.”

Virginia Gov. Northam to order removal of Robert E. Lee statue in Richmond

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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to announce Thursday that the state will remove an iconic statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s prominent Monument Avenue.

Northam, a Democrat, plans to have the statute moved off its massive pedestal and placed in storage while his administration seeks input on a new location, The Associated Press reported.

The move by Northam comes amid turmoil across the nation and around the world over the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody on May 25 after a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes in moments captured on cellphone footage.

Floyd’s death has sparked protests and outrage over issues of racism and police brutality and prompted renewed calls for the removal of Confederate memorials across the country.

MINNEAPOLIS OFFICER FACES UPGRADED MURDER CHARGE IN GEORGE FLOYD DEATH 

The statue in Richmond — the former capital of the Confederacy — has become a frequent target of vandalism during the protests, with demonstrators chanting “tear it down” on Tuesday. The Lee monument was erected in 1890, decades after the end of the Civil War.

The Lee statue is one of five Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue in Richmond. It has been the target of vandalism during protests in recent days over Floyd’s death. The base of it was covered this week with graffiti, including messages that say “end police brutality” and “stop white supremacy.”

It was not immediately clear when the statue would be removed.

FILE – This Tuesday, June 2, 2020 file photo shows a large group of protesters gather around the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue near downtown in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Also on Wednesday, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced plans to remove the other Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue, which include statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate Gens. Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart. Those statues sit on city land, unlike the Lee statue, which is on state property.

Stoney said he would introduce an ordinance July 1 to have the statues removed. That’s when a new law goes into effect, which was signed earlier this year by Northam, that undoes an existing state law protecting Confederate monuments and instead lets local governments decide their fate.

Earlier this week, work crews in Alexandria, Va., took down a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier named “Appomattox” after years of calls for its removal, while in Birmingham, Ala., authorities began pulling down a five-story-tall obelisk to Confederate troops that has stood for more than a century.

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The obelisk has also been vandalized by protestors and another monument to the Confederacy — a statue of former Confederate officer Charles Linn — was toppled during the protests over the weekend.

The death of Floyd has sparked nationwide furor over police brutality and racial injustice, and has also sparked a renewed demand for the removal of statues and monuments to the Confederacy.

That movement to remove them first entered the national consciousness following the violent clash between white supremacists and counter-protestors over the planned removal of a different Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, but cities and states have long been struggling about what to do with the monuments.

Following the 2015 massacre on nine people in Charleston, S.C., by white supremacist Dylan Roof, Maryland’s Montgomery County executive decided to remove a Confederate monument in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Rockville. The 13-ton statue of the Confederate soldier, which had stood in the town since 1913, was transferred to White’s Ferry, a privately run Potomac River ferry named after a Confederate general.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.