- Attorney General William Barr contradicted President Donald Trump's claim that he was taken to the White House security bunker for an "inspection" on May 29, rather than for safety reasons.
- Barr said the Secret Service advised the president to take shelter in the bunker because the anti-racism protests outside the White House posed a security threat.
- "Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker," Barr told Fox News' Bret Baier in an interview aired Monday. "We can't have that in our country."
- The Washington Post reported last week that the president, First Lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron were all rushed to the secure bunker after several protesters breached a barricade outside the White House.
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Attorney General William Barr undermined President Donald Trump's claim that he was taken to the White House security bunker for an "inspection" on May 29, rather than for safety reasons amid a protest.
Barr said the Secret Service advised the president to take shelter in the bunker because the protests against police brutality taking place in downtown Washington posed a security threat.
"Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker," Barr told Fox News in an interview released Monday. "We can't have that in our country."
Trump has claimed that he visited the bunker during the day on May 29 simply for an "inspection" and called media reports that he was taken there for safety "false."
"I was there for a tiny, short little period of time," Trump said in a Fox News Radio interview last week. "They said it would be a good time to go down and take a look because maybe sometime you're going to need it."
But The Washington Post reported last week that the president, First Lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron were all rushed to the secure bunker after several protesters breached the barricades near the White House lawn on May 29.
Four individuals involved in the ongoing demonstrations hopped over the temporary fences near the border between the White House lawn and Treasury Department and were detained by the Secret Service, according to arrest records reviewed by The Post.
The barricade breach raised the alert level at the White House from "yellow" to "red," prompting the first family to be escorted to the bunker by Secret Service, according to people familiar with the incident.
Multiple news outlets reported that Trump was kept in the bunker for just under an hour during Friday night's protests. Officials told The Times that they never believed the president was in danger but took the precaution as tensions escalated.
In the following days, Trump tweeted out a string of attacks on the protesters, warning the Secret Service was "just waiting for action."
"Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen," Trump wrote on Saturday.
Attorney General Bill Barr tells Fox News’ Brett Baier that Pres. Trump went to the bunker because of protests outside the White House:
— Alex Salvi (@alexsalvinews) June 8, 2020
"Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker." pic.twitter.com/Ps9EQBCV5g
Lauren Frias contributed to this report.
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