he is there in lafayette park. why are the police now getting closer and closer to the protesters. >> referee: can y >> reporter: can you hear me? >> yes. >> reporter: there has been a significant ramping up of the law enforcement presence in lafayette park. what we have seen in the last few moments is the d.c. national guard moving in. they have in the last few days been supporting the park police which on this park is federal land so these are federal authorities to secure it right in front of the white house. secret service in blue, d.c. national guard in camouflage and you have that in the front row and more d.c. national guard behind them. i do not know why they have felt a need to bring more forces in. it is not as if the protesters here have gotten any more violent. there hasn't been anything thrown in the hours i have been here. it has been an entirely peaceful protest. the only thing i can think of is that in under an hour's time there will be a curfew. the mayor of d.c. announced there will be two days of

john's lafayette square. i appear today to express my deep concern about the events of june 1 when our government resorted to acts of violence against peaceful protesters, and prevented clergy and lay members of the church from exercising their ministry on the grounds of st. john's. we in the episcopal church believe that the issues of racial and social justice are core tenets of the christian faith. the bible teaches all human beings are created in the likeness and image of god. are created in the likeness and image of god. as children of god, all are to be treated with equal dignity and respect. embedded in our nation's history and institutions is a shameful abuse of black americans and other persons of color justified by the sinful notion of white supremacy, that whiteness is the human standard from which all other human beings deviate and are somehow less human, less worthy of equal treatment. and as christians we are called by god to rectify that injustice. our faith compels us to join those around the c

and there had been a riot right along lafayette park. i was called over and asked if i would coordinate federal civil agencies, and that the defense department would provide whatever support i needed or we needed to protect federal property at the white house, federal personnel. the decision was made to have at the ready and on hand in the vicinity some regular troops. but everyone agreed that use of regular troops is a last resort, and that as long as matters can be controlled with other resources they should be. i felt-- and the secretary of defense felt-- we had adequate resources and wouldn't need to use federal troops. but in case we did, we wanted them nearby. there was never-- the president never asked or suggested that we needed to deploy regular troops at that point. it's been done from time to time in our history. we try to avoid it. and i'm happy that we werably to avoid it on this occasion. >> brennan: so there were active-duty troops put on standby. they were not deployed. the 82nd airborne was put on standby, but not sent i

>> he was north of lafayette park. we had a number of officials and officers being attacked with bricks. one of the things we saw in this event that we have not seen in the past as they were throwing incendiary devices at police officers. i think you all captured images of that. to the police officers credit, and i did not mention this earlier, the behavior of our police was incredibly responsible. heroic, in many instances. and i think i could not have been more proud of the folks that were out there. and the one thing everybody has to keep in mind, we will be out there again to ensure our city is safe. and if we have to be out there, we will be out there as long as we need to be to ensure the city is safe. reporter: you've said you guys are respecting -- expecting that to happen tonight. >> we know of some planned demonstrations. our expectations are that people will peacefully assemble in the time,s they do 99% of the and we will not have a repeat of the events last night. >> ok. last two questions. amanda? amanda?

that they clear out a crowd, peaceful demonstrators, lafayette park, lafayette square. they clear them out with gas and go in there with batons and they do so for the simple reason that the president wants to walk across pennsylvania avenue, through lafayette park to go have a photo op over at the st. john's church. >> no, i haven't. and i think it's important to constantly remind our viewers that, you know, those are federal agencies. the u.s. park police, the uniformed secret service, not the metropolitan police, which happens to be the city police, the largest one in the area there. you know, listen, i can't justify it even remotely. people were peaceful and lafayette park, as you well know, is a exon place more people to go and protest. i mean, it's rare to go there and not see anyone who's got a sign. i mean, so, it was highly unusual. i was surprised. it had nothing to do with curfew, because this happened long before the curfew. i thought it was heavy-handed. and earlier today, when you look at that skirmish line now, it's park police. but earlier, it was nationa

that area down there, right to the north of lafayette square, was a federal responsibility. reporter: to follow up. today the secret service has closed several district of columbia streets that you normally patrol. under what authority does the secret service have to close, maybe the mayor wants to respond to it, to close city streets that we would normally otherwise use except for this police action by the white house? chief newsham: the secret service has the authority to move the president around the united states. i know that there is presidential movement right now and sometimes they have to close ents streets in order to make those movements. reporter: mayor, can i ask you a question. you have been quite critical of what the white house and the president and federal people have done. you are also aware of the district's 1973 home rule act where the president with the stroke of a pen can essentially take control of the d.c. police department. mayor bowser: not exactly right. reporter: i said essential -- mayor bowser: well, kind of essential. i will regard that as a fig

down to lafayette park across from the white house we go. and correspondent garrett haake, what's going on there? >> reporter: this has all the hallmarks of a protest that's about to turn sideways here any time in the next few minutes. just in the last 30 seconds or so, these police officers, this is u.s. park police, secret service, uniformed police, backed up by national guardsmen, military police, have started moving forward. we knew at some point they were going to make a decision to clear this park. the decision by protesters to be throwing water bottles, rocks, lately fireworks which have been exploding in the ranks of these officers, appear to have moved up that timeline here a little bit. we've seen some version of this back and forth all day long today. this has been a 98% peaceful protest, i would say. periodically someone would jump the barricade or throw something a little too close to the officers for their comfort level, and they would advance. we would see these momentary skirmishes, and then things would resume being calm. as

literally on fire just across lafayette park.as long as you are safe, i want to bring in charles u.s. former secret service agent. welcome, charles. what you make of this scene in washington tonight? >> it is anarchy, nothing short of anarchy. shannon, as you know, both from her time at the white house, the secret service is used to scene organized, peaceful protests and executing the first amendment right to and it is encouraged and this is not that. this is far from that. they have extended the perimeter out to h street as you can tell east and west to 15th and 17th street and that is where they have drawn the line this evening. you made the reference very clearly and i thought very well earlier, shannon, this is not the local cvs that the protests are looking at encroaching into. this is the white house. this has the first family. it will be protected. shannon: charles, -- >> it's dangerous and unfortunate situation. shannon: weaning to stand by. we a quick break but bret baier reports of more than 60 secret agent services hav

they came up madison chose to the east of lafayette park. and a very large contingent of them and they are moving west along eighth street. they have walked ten paces and stop and re-collect. you probably can notice, there is obviously a great deal of smoke in the air appear they have been firing pepper balls at the crowd. i see lots of horses in the second line as they continue to advance. the crowd will run on occasion and retreat and then of course, they come right back and move once the law enforcement officials decide they want to move them out. we were told earlier today that this was a distinct possibility. that they really wanted to funnel this group away from the area as we got close to the curfew. we will try to get a little bit closer and see. as you can see, bret, the crowd is literally right in front of law enforcement. here they come advancing again, we are running. they are on the move. they are jogging backwards to stay out of the way. a moment ago -- >> bret: in a position where you are safe. we just want to get you to a saf

lafayette square should be a symbol of freedom and openness to the world not a place behind which the president cowers in fear of peaceful protesters. moments ago, speaker pelosi and i sent a letter to president trump urging had i am to reopen lafayette square. president trump, tear down these walls, allow the public to gather in front of the white house for you and for all the world to hear their voices. i yield the floor the. >> madam president, over the last few months, america has experienced a trifecta of crises which are reminiscent of some of the most difficult periods in our nation's history. in many ways this feels like we're learning what it was like to live through the spanish flu pandemic, the great depression, and the

president, last night, citizens exercise their constitutional rights of protest in lafayette park across from the white house. federal law enforcement officers were ordered to clear out the crowd with tear gas, and rubber bullets. so that president trump could walk from the white house to a nearby church for a photo off. he did not answer the church, he did not enter it, he did not offer words of prayer. the grounds were dispersed with force. so that he could get his picture taken with the bible that was not his, heldd upside down in front of the church that he never asked to visit. i spoke at length about these events this morning. this abusive law, the force, on law abiding protesters was appalling. it was an abuse off presidential power. it may have been illegal. and it was certainly a violation of the constitutional rights of american citizens. the protesters, some of them chosen and many of them families, their in a public peacefully protesting and they were met with rubber bullets and tear gas. this has no place in american society or any democracy. the president, must cease his be

rights is blocked off by heavy fencing in the heart of the nation's capital lafayette square should be a symbol of ngtodom

he apologized about having been there on lafayette square with you for the picture. the infamous picture, as he walked to the church. >> president trump: i think it was a bit of a picture. i'll tell you, i think christians think it was a beautiful picture. >> harris: but why do you thinthink you hearing from general milley, from secretary of defense esper? and not why you think you are, but do you think it is significant? >> president trump: no, i don't think so. that's the way they feel, i think that's fine. i have good relationships with the military. i have rebuild our military. i spent $2.5 trillion. nobody else did. when we took over from president obama and biden, the military was a joke. the military was depleted. >> harris: i have one last question that has to do with joe biden. do you hear what he said today? >> president trump: no, i didn't. >> harris: okay. he said that he believes he will steal the election, and if you don't win, he thinks that military will escort you from the white house. >> president trump: look, joe is not all there. everybody knows t

area down there right to the north of lafayette square responsibility. reporter: if i can follow up on that, today the secret service closed several district of columbia streets that you normally patrol. under what authority does the secret service have to close and responde mayor wants to to it, to close city streets that we would normally otherwise except for this police action by the white house? secret service as you know has the authority to move the president around the united states. there is presidential movement right now and sometimes they have to close streets in to make those movements. reporter: mayor, may i ask you a question. mayor: yes. reporter: you have been critical ith the people have done and you are aware of the district's where the ule act resident in a stroke of a pen can essentially take control of police department. mayor: not exactly right. i would regard that as an affront to our home rule and the district of columbia, absolutely. reporter: have you gotten any white house at the is considering doing that and prompted maybe you

there is no universe in which the dynamics of lafayette park, before the president seeks to exit the white house, is a more urgent priority than the shattered glass, destroyed businesses and brutal attacks on law enforcement that are happening nationwide in places like lafayette street in new york city. so i will object to my distinguished colleague's resolution and will offer something more full throated in its place. my resolution would condemn a long pattern of unjust police violence to black americans, it would champion the first amendment and praise the peaceful protest that followed mr. floyd's death and clearly condemn the violent rioting that paralyzed places like new york city and insist local authorities get serious about protecting the innocent. so i hope my distinguished colleague will not object. america is united and outraged at the death of mr. floyd and i hope we can unite to condemn these senseless riots and move forward together as one nation. therefore, mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. mcconnell: as if in legislative session,

you have the white house right there, just across lafayette park. and we've just learned from our team at the pentagon, barbara starr and ryan browne, that 200 to 250 military police have just been deployed to washington, d.c. to help keep the peace here. they will not be involved in normal policing duties like arrests but they will certainly be reinforcing the authorities that are already out in force here, wolf. and really, when it comes to the variety of forces, you name it, fbi is involved, the attorney general said earlier today that riot teams from the bureau the prisons is going to be helping out. we have the metropolitan police department, the u.s. park police. so it really is a huge -- there's a huge number of manpower, of firepower, to help keep the peace in the nation's capital, wolf. that's because over the past few days we have seen a significant amount of violence at night. you have these quiet, peaceful protests during the day, and then as the evening wears on, they have given way to more violent protesters. that happened right here l

your cnet tonight in lafayette park in washington. now, i think it's time that we see americans clean up and say by the way we will have our safe. and that's the angle. joining me now. cofounder of the federalists. this isn't about confederate statues. we are truly seen a fight to heritage and culture of america. >> this is an assault on our deepest convictions. and about scrabbling on human hearts. if you think about what these things represent -- washington, lincoln. they represent our faith, our freedom, the music of the american dream. and i think with the left as looking to test is whether or not there is anyone who's going to -- there's a sense of immunity. and we will do nothing. they can walk into a church and pull down the statue of jesus and we will do nothing. so what's next? mount rushmore, the statue of liberty. are we just going to watch these be torn down? all of this -- this is lawlessness. >> laura: yeah, he tweeted this today. "i think this is -- should also come down." "they should all come down." this isn't some pr

peaceful the protestors meat with state violence, tear gas, rubber bullets and lafayette square, being the emblematic case where people are peaceful, and the images for the people who are watching from afar really tell the story what's the issue here. is the issue crime or is the issue classic redress of grievances in a grand american tradition. and either of the stories might carry the day. what we're seeing now, they really are emphasizing peaceful protest and violent state repression. that's hard to sustain but good

service telling reporters to leave the white house grounds they pushed the protesters out of the lafayette park who tried to topple the statue of andrew jackson. we will have more on that in just a moment. 23 states are see ago rise in coronavirus cases as opposed to last week. the hot spots are states across the south and west. there are more than 2.3 million confirmed cases in the u.s. more than 120,000 americans have died from the disease. president trump claiming tonight that too much coronavirus testing is putting the united states at a disadvantage. and the white house officials now claiming that the president was joking when he said at his rally on saturday that he asked his staff to slow down the rate of testing. also, the press secretary trying to defend trump's use of a racist slur at his rally when describing coronavirus saying that the president was pointing out that china is responsible for the virus spread. kaitlyn collins is on the scene there tonight where all of it is happening and they are trying to topple the statue. kaitlyn, reporters were told to leave the white house

they understood the context of the movement to lafayette square. i think it's important what we heard from the secretary is primarily the use of the word battle space. that's part of the doctoral language that is just engrained in everything you say. it's like saying please pass the salt and pepper. i mean, we need to give him a pass on that. inartful, but i get it. and he raised a hand. what i think really probably -- i think he didn't have a swing and a miss here. but i think what he could have done is say look, the professionalism of the military is not at question here. we have been in combat for over 19 years. this is the most professional military we have seen ever in our history. let's just put that on the table. mea culpa. i made a mistake. i walked with the president. we had to clear crowds. i shouldn't have been a part of that. we politicized something that has the military written all over it. you have my apologies. period, what are your questions? could have been a little more abrupt. i think it would have gotten to the point far better

you can see lafayette park and our kaitlan collins getting into place for a report for us. reporters told by the secret service to immediately leave the white house property. all that happening in the wake of protests that began with confederate statues, and are now spreading all across this country. it is a fast-moving situation, and we're going to have a lot more tonight, live, from the scene. but in a nation that has been tone deaf, really, about why these statues were erected and why many want them taken down, it is no surprise, today, that even in washington, at the white house, that kind of attitude still persists. i want you to see what happened during the white house briefing today. when the press secretary, kayleigh mcenany, dodged the truth about, again, and again, refusing to admit that the president's use of the phrase kung flu is racist. you really need to hear this whole thing, as cbs white house correspondent ouija jiang questions her. >> last july, president trump declared himself the least racist person there is, anywhere in the world. why does he use racis

and a majority in lafayette park. once the national guard came in, d.c. was secure. the monday decision by the president of encouraging governors to search national guard made the difference and the president has recognized now the protests are peaceful and has recommended a winding down of the national guard, very peaceful protest over the weekend. with regard to security of the building, not a decision for the white house. we would refer you to the secret service and park services. the president has recognized the peaceful protest thing and is encouraged by that. can we say when will the administration revoke hong kong's trade status? and do you think that move would be the only thing the administration does? is there something else planned? do you think that china will listen? are you seeing any signs of china china relenting on hong kong? sec. mcenany: we have not seen any updates from china thus far. no announcements with regard to the timing of that but the president has been clear that china has replaced its promise of one country, two systems with one country

we saw what happened in lafayette park last night. we saw peaceful protesters being gassed so the president could take a stroll. and so he could pose for the cameras because he was apparently upset according to our reporting that there was -- that he had been spirited away to the bunker the other night because of the demonstrates in lafayette park. he didn't like that imagery, so he had to create the strongman image of himself, marching across the park, no masks in the middle of a pandemic, of course, and then just holding up that bible rather than reading from it, rather than quoting scripture, rather than praying. but just holding it up as of to send some kind of signal maybe to his evangelical supporters, i'm with you. everything this president does have a meaning insofar as his own political fortune come november. it is about uniting his base behind him. >> and it is a symbol. we know he's not well-versed in the bible. we've seen that in the past when he's addressed religious crowds and talked about the bible. so just to be clear

we have heard these chance before, but tonight too there massive crowd here just to the north of lafayette park in the shadow of the white house and the washington monument, and of course the mall. we see a massive crowd at the intersection in part because a huge fence has been erected just along the north side of lafayette park. this particular fence is about eight, may be eight and a half feet high. it is black and stretches not to the entire length of the complex, but if you are familiar, and i know you are, but for the folks at home, stretching from nearly the treasury all the way back to beyond the northwest gate. the crowd has been patient and walking down. i actually walked here from logan circle. and walking along with hundreds you can tell that they are calm and passionate and so far nonviolent. >> bret: kevin couric with the protesters just outside lafayette park, six atlanta police officers have been charged after a dramatic video showed authorities pulling two young people from a car saturday. four are charged with advocated assault, one charged with advocated battery. two were

president walking on the very same spot towards lafayette park. and again this is remarkable the u.s. president reportedly headed to st john's episcopal church a church that is known and has served presidents dating back hundreds of years where they go often before inauguration during their terms in order to get solace comfort guidance they have had there been many church leaders that have advised presidents president sitting on those pews and it outraged this president reportedly that protesters said it ablaze. so the president walking there to see that for himself i can tell you all of the shouting that we were hearing earlier it is now completely silent soon the president will be approaching the area where our colleague my colleague she had her tons he was standing however i think he has been pushed back by the sound of gunfire earlier rubber bullets also a flash. of tear gas pepper balls pushing the protesters back making way for the president again we have to underscore this is a president that likes to show and that is exactly what he's doin

in washington dc, there may be more than 100 of them out here not just along the line separating lafayette park from black lives matter protest but all the way down as you go all the way down each street. i wanted to show you this because we been here just a few hours and in our time here you've seen the historic church, black house autonomous zone. and the reason that is there is to create their own autonomous zone in the nation's capital. earlier we had a chance to see what was happening. i mentioned that because there are a lot of barriers and other things in the street, those barriers were left here thanks to the dc mayor who cordoned this area off as the black lives matter plaza. these folks, some of them are separatists who want their own country, their own zone, they've been here but they've also been hit by a massive law enforcement presence. it's unclear how much autonomy they will be able to secure if at all. we've seen the police not only cordoned off in this area but seen them put on trucks and take away a number of the barriers we saw earlier. also this evening we saw authorit

historical building on lafayette park, which is federal property, was burned down. fire set at the istorical st. john's church right there, across from the white house. an old church that goes back to the 18th century and is referred to as the church of presidents. crow bars to ed dig out the pavers at lafayette and used them as secret les, thrown at service and other federal agents. were numerous head injuries among the federal personnel whose responsibility protect the white house. you an indication, from saturday until today and lion's share of these injuries came over the there were 114 injuries to law enforcement. those to federal agents and most of those inflicted right around the white house. there were 22 hospitalizations, most of those were serious ead injuries or concussions hat required monitoring and treatment. on monday, the president asked coordinate the various federal law enforcement agencies, not only the multiple agencies, of justice but also other agencies such as in the department of homeland security, so we had a response and worked national gua

and a majority in lafayette park. once the national guard came in, d.c. was secure. the monday decision by the president of encouraging governors to search national guard made the difference and the president has recognized now the protests are peaceful and has recommended a winding down of the national guard, very peaceful protest over the weekend. with regard to security of the building, not a decision for the white house. we would refer you to the secret service and park services. the president has recognized the peaceful protest thing and is encouraged by that. can we say when will the administration revoke hong kong's trade status? and do you think that move would be the only thing the administration does? is there something else planned? do you think that china will listen? are you seeing any signs of china china relenting on hong kong? sec. mcenany: we have not seen any updates from china thus far. no announcements with regard to the timing of that but the president has been clear that china has replaced its promise of one country, two systems with one country

park, lafayette square, posing in a richer with president trump. he wants to stay -- posing in a picture with president. he wants to stay out of things. you saw this during the rodney king riots. what do you think about politics? do you think you are being too political by standing with the president in front of the church? what do you think about what secretary esper said? atty. gen. barr: i don't know what he was conveying their. i am interested in carrying out the law enforcement functions of the federal government and to protect federal facilities and federal addressl and also to interferingthat was with the governments function. that was what we were doing. is the the president head of the executive branch and the chief executive of the nation and should be able to walk outside the white house and walk across the street to the church of presidents. i don't necessarily view that as a political act. i think it was entirely appropriate for him to do. i did not know that he was going to do that until later in the day after our plans were well unde

he remembered it before he -- before the lafayette square was cleared out. governors for not looking strong. for looking weak. for failing to have the strong presence. if we go back to ferguson, if you recall. one of the lessons in response to protests is that the response led to an even greater problem than even existed before. and there was an effort across the country at police stations to deescalate and not to have a militerized response to the protest. you had the police response that encouraged more interactions. once the curfews were lengthened or dropped, you saw that the protests get more peaceful. the protests. the curfews set up a law for the protesters to break when you encourage police interaction and mayors and police chiefs are learning in real time that deescalation i was the best way to go and you can see the president wants to see troops in the streets and a federalized force like during his campaign. he threatened to send federal police to cities like chicago which was a law and order approach and also a bit of dog whistle. he is doubling

so interestingly this is only on one side of lafayette park. i would say it is to the west -- to the eastern side of lafayette park. and military police isn't lined up completely through the park, just in one section. i'm not sure what precipitated that and it escalated in the last 10 minutes and some folks are pushing on the fence but it doesn't look like the fence will give. [ crowd chanting ] >> reporter: and the chanting continues. no real movement in the last few seconds from police. we'll keep an eye on it and let you know what happens next. >> i'm going to stay with you, boris, just because of the pictures and the protesters and the chanting. i'm sure just given what happened yesterday at the white house, right, having the president walk out among several other advisers and essentially having law enforcement, having military police, the national guard firing the rubber bullets, emitting the teargas against the peaceful protesters as he walked over to the church nearby for what was literally a photo op. that is the back drop for folks of

there were secret service, military, park police in lafayette park. does he think he is in charge of those agencies as well? let's get this worked out. if he has a case to make let's hear it. right now we demand answers and the inspector general specifically that is what we are asking for is inspector general inquiry, his job? ferret out waste, fraud, and abuse and i think all three elements are there. we also need answers on how this attorney general could have declared the drug enforcement administration, the d.e.a., some kind of secret agency to monitor and sur vail protesters throughout the country and gave them broad federal authority to do so. let's get some answers on that. we're going to set a precedent moving forward for the future and before we do that let's call time-out. >> if reasonable people agree this a.g.'s greatest act of sum education thus far was to act as human kevlar and shield the blast of the mueller report, from his boss, as a.g. barr is remembered years after he serves, where will this act in lafayette park rank do you think?

john's lafayette square. it was my ministry that brought me to lafayette square on the afternoon of june 1st. the day before, during my sermon, i looked directly into the camera on my laptop, because that's how i was preaching that day, and i called the church, the church as a whole, to account for its lack of courage and leadership in dismantling systemic racism. that sunday was the feast of pentecost, when christians celebrate receiving the gift of the holy spirit. and i lamented that literally for centuries the church has squandered this mighty gift and has not had the courage to stand up and cast out the evil of systemic and institutional racism from our civic body in the name of love. racial justice rooted in scripture is now a critical ministry of the episcopal church in the diocese of washington. and it was that ministry at the invitation of my bishop that drew me and my colleagues to st. john's lafayette square. that monday, i was there on behalf of the church to provide comfort and support to the pea

square -- lafayette square park has -- that's been cleared?tors. >> yeah. there is no one -- there is no one in lafayette park that is not a police officer, at this moment. we're at this barrier. it's exactly where you saw the protestors standing when they forced them out, so aggressively. of course, that infamous monday. and so now, police have come here. you can see these concrete barriers here. in front of it. and it is police officer on bikes. you can see a few more. but the park, right now, has been cleared. >> and -- and do you -- approximately, how many protestors would you say there are? obviously, it's always hard in a situation like this. but -- >> it's always hard, especially if you're on the ground. but we, actually, have been reporting over here a lot. so we have a pretty good idea when it's a lot of protestors. this is certainly -- it's somewhere in the medium range, i would say. it's not as many as we have seen on some days, where they fill this. this is of course -- the street i'm standing on is where the d.c. mayor renamed it

beginning with garrett haake, who remains down in washington just off lafayette square. and garrett, what's the attitude of the crowd tonight? i know no two evenings have been alike. >> reporter: yeah, that's true, brian. today was another enormous protest here out in the streets near the white house. and today was the first day that i detected a certain element of joy perhaps coming from that arrest today. there was very much a block party vibe here in d.c. during the afternoon and evening. as i think we saw a different set of protesters. a lot of folks coming out they said for the first time, in many cases brought out by the federal government's treatment of the folks who are in lafayette park on monday night. tonight we are officially under a curfew, have been for a few minutes. as you can see, there are still i would say several hundred protesters out here. they have been faced off in this way, and i don't mean that to sound particularly aggressive, but lined up sort of face to face with federal law enforcement officials including national guardsmen from as far away

just off the lafayette square, the border of lafayette square, near the white house. also, moving to another square from lafayette square to union square here in new york, chris is stangding by there and there was a crowd across the manhattan bridge, toward the plaza and the municipal complex in downtown new york. what's going on right now. >> reporter: we see a lot of the same things that garrett was talking about, which is a lot of protesters, thousands of them, i walked with, from barclay's over the manhattan bridge, to lower manhattan, and started to splinter off. and into smaller groups. what you're seeing now is a large gathering of police officers, many of them have been at various intersections throughout the night, because what had been largely peaceful, especially around lower manhattan and barclay's as well, turned into some confrontations with police. people throwing bottles at police. pem throwing garbage at police. police using their baton to make an arrest. we don't have numbers but we personally witnessed a couple of arrests tonight. we witnessed peopl

square, in lafayette park over here. if you look a little through this fence, it's hard to see because of the lighting, but you will see a line of officers in riot gear just past those trees back here. for the most part in this area, we have seen park police in the last few days, but at times it's been very difficult to identify exactly who the federal law enforcement officers are out in d.c. we know that the atf, dea, u.s. marshals, the bureau of prison, as well as the fbi, they have sent federal law enforcement officers on the ground to assist at the direction, at the request of the attorney general. but all of this -- this has been a source of tinension, increasingly a source of tension among protesters as well as lngted officials here in d.c. because so many of the federal officers that are interacting with crowds and forcing crowd control, they often to do not identifying markers to say what group they are in. we have announced legislation today to try to make it mandatory that we know exactly who all of those offic

that's what we saw today in lafayette square. you talked about the suddenness of it. i can't overstate how sudden it was to have that entirely peaceful protest be run down essentially with officers with shields and batons, with mounted officers, flash bangs and tear gas used. still, a good 20 minutes before the start of any curfew in washington, d.c. and without any provocation from the protesters, all of them forced out of eighth street here, the northern end of lafayette square behind me where we've been reporting so much the last couple of days. tonight in d.c., things are largely quiet. the protesters that are still out on the streets now in defiance of a curfew that went into effect around 7:00 this morning, are in much smaller groups. there's one group that has progressed north from where i'm standing now. we've got another camera crew keeping an eye on that in columbia heights, a much more residential area of washington, d.c. there there are metropolitan police, d.c. local police, who have made some arrests there. but there are still dozens of protesters on the

just off the lafayette square, the border of lafayette square, near the white house. also, moving to another square from lafayette square to union square here in new york, chris jansing is standing by there. there was a crowd that moved across manhattan brinl, toward the plaza and the municipal complex in downtown new york. what's going on right now. >> reporter: we see a lot of the same things that garrett was talking about, which is a lot of protesters, thousands of them, i walked with, from barclay's over the manhattan bridge, to lower manhattan, and started to splinter off. and into smaller groups. what you're seeing now is a large gathering of police officers, many of them have been at various intersections throughout the night, because what had been largely peaceful, especially around lower manhattan and barclay's as well, turned into some confrontations with police. people throwing bottles at police. people throwing garbage at police. police using their baton to make an arrest. we don't have numbers but we personally witnessed a couple of arrests tonight. we wi