President Trump said his recent visit to a bunker underneath the White House was part of an inspection.
During a Wednesday interview with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, Trump disputed reports that Secret Service agents rushed him to the underground bunker as protesters clashed with law enforcement outside of the White House on Friday. He asserted that he visited the Presidential Emergency Operations Center during the day as part of an “inspection” for a “very short period of time.”
The president said it was a “false report” that he was taken into the bunker that night, adding that he’s only visited the area “two and a half times” for inspections just in case he were ever required to go there for security purposes.
Reports that Trump was taken into the White House bunker, which has previously been used during terrorist attacks, during the first night of the George Floyd protests in Washington broke on Sunday. According to outlets who spoke with administration officials, the president spent approximately one hour in the bunker as hundreds of protesters gathered outside, with some throwing bricks and bottles.
Officials claimed the first family was not in danger, but violent protests concerned the Secret Service.
The National Guard has been deployed to Washington in an effort to prevent criminal activity amid nationwide protests over the death of Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis police custody last week, that in some cases have turned violent. Buildings, including the basement of the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church, have been set ablaze, while others have been damaged and looted.
