Schumer Floor Remarks On President Trump’s Unconstitutional Order To Tear Gas Peaceful Protesters For Photo-Op, Demanding Leader McConnell Put Law Enforcement Reform Legislation On Senate Floor Before Fourth Of July, And Calling For The DOD IG To Investigate The Use Of Military Resources Against American Citizens

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today spoke on the Senate floor regarding President Trump’s unconstitutional order to tear gas peaceful protesters for a photo-op and called for the Defense Department’s Inspector General to investigate the use of military resources against American citizens. Senator Schumer also demanded Leader McConnell to put a law enforcement reform bill on the Senate floor before the Fourth of July. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

I just finished watching Joe Biden's speech to the nation. President Trump, watch Vice President Joe Biden's speech. That's what real leadership looks like.

Now, it is difficult to express the moment we find ourselves in. Our country has been hit by a strange and contagious disease, infecting millions, killing over 100,000 of our people. Our economy was put on ice for several months, shuttering scores of small businesses, casting 40 million Americans on the unemployment rolls and, according to government estimates, taking $16 trillion out of our economy over the long term. And then this nation suffered another trauma; the deeply personal and wrenching pain of another African American senselessly killed in police custody; another reminder of the racism that can infect not only our law enforcement and our criminal justice system but our entire society.

George Floyd’s killing spurred justified and overwhelmingly peaceful protests from Minneapolis to New York, from Atlanta to right here in the nation’s capital. Americans are frustrated. Americans are angry. Americans are upset at the country they see and want to change it. Can you blame them?

It is a good thing that people protest and want to make our country better, especially when it comes to the scourge of racism, the poison that's been in American bones for far too long.

The millions of Americans of all races and backgrounds who have taken to the streets in peaceful protest are doing something noble: reminding the powers that be that the decades-long failure to reform police departments is unacceptable, that systemic racism is a knee pressing on the necks of tens of millions of African Americans. They are reminding the country that Black Lives Matter–holding their arms up in silence for two minutes and fifty three seconds, the length of time that George Floyd was unresponsive while the police officer continued to press him into the hard pavement of that Minneapolis street.

The small minority who have exploited the protests to wreak havoc and violence are wrong. They are not taking part in the grand American tradition of First Amendment protests. They are not peacefully assembling. They are breaking laws, destroying businesses already struggling to recover, and putting their fellow citizens in danger. They do a great disservice to themselves, their country, and the righteous cause that so many Americans are now engaged in.

But while over 4,000 protestors have been arrested over the past week, only 1 of the 4 police officers involved in George Floyd’s death has been arrested. It does not excuse the violence in any way, but explains in part why so many Americans are angry. There is accountability for everyday citizens and protestors when they violate the law, but there isn’t always accountability for law enforcement when it does the same. Violence wherever it occurs is wrong. But not prosecuting law enforcement when they break the law with the same intensity as protesters when they break the law is wrong as well.

The first year of this new decade has brought plague and economic disaster and a vivid reminder of racial injustice, testing—testing—the capacity of our country to endure what only a few months ago would have been considered an unimaginable series of challenges.

We need leaders who will pull us together and help us heal and turn the righteous anger in the land into action and progress. Senate Democrats are not going to wait to take action on law enforcement reform.

We are going to confront and address these issues right now. Several of my colleagues are working on legislation, including Senators Booker and Harris, Cardin, Duckworth, Schatz and many others. As a caucus, we are going to listen to experts on racial justice like Brian Stevenson, and hear from our constituents who suffer racial discrimination and bias on a daily basis. And we are going to propose and push for bold action. What matters is that we respond to the national wave of unrest with action. I am repeating my call to Leader McConnell. Leader McConnell: commit to putting law enforcement reform legislation on the floor before July 4th. A divided nation cannot wait. For healing. For solutions.

At the same time, our nation needs calm and steady leadership. A sure hand and a big heart—qualities that President Trump has never displayed in office. I repeat my request to President Trump. President Trump, watch Vice President Joe Biden's speech that he gave this morning. That's what leadership is, not what you're doing.

We are living through a tale of two crises—COVID and racial justice—and President Trump has been a miserable failure at handling both of them.

Last night, the scene in Washington D.C. may have provided the enduring portrait of the Trump presidency. While peaceful, law-abiding citizens were exercising their constitutional right to protest in a public park across from the White House, President Trump ordered federal law enforcement officers to clear those peaceful crowds with tear gas and rubber bullets so that he could trudge a few blocks from the White House to stand in front of a church, not to go inside, but for a photo-op.

The president’s relentless need to make a weak man feel strong led him to order federal law enforcement officers to gas peacefully assembled Americans so he could sneak his way to a church photo op. It led him to order federal officers to gas peacefully assembled Americans so that he could sneak his way to a church for a photo op.

After the gas, came the horses, a modern day cavalry tasked with clearing the battlefield. The purpose? So President Trump, could wave a Bible—not read a Bible, not even his Bible—as a prop.

It was appalling. It was an abuse of presidential power. It may well have been illegal and it was blatantly unconstitutional. The President of the United States ordered federal officers to attack peaceful American citizens exercising their constitutional rights by tear-gassing them in a public park while military helicopters flew overhead.

The president must immediately cease this behavior. Secretary Esper and General Milley should not allow the U.S. Military to come within a country mile of these ugly stunts. Let me say that again: the president must cease this behavior immediately. Secretary Esper, General Milley should not allow the U.S. military to come within a country mile of these ugly stunts. This administration is using the military as a tool to intimidate American citizens. And the Department of Defense IG must immediately launch an investigation into how the U.S. military was used and whether it was consistent with the laws of our nation.

Republicans on both sides of the Capitol should be as outraged as we are. The last time we had a president who wantonly disobeyed the laws, there were Republicans in Congress who stood up to him. Not so much this time. Not so much this president.

Leader McConnell just spoke here on the floor and we didn’t hear a word from him about the president’s disgraceful use of force on non-violent protesters last night. Senate Republicans who remain silent about the president’s abuses are once again betraying the rule of law and the constitutional basis of this country and the reason, fear of a vindictive president who demands they never criticize him.

After the president’s reality show ended last night, while the nation nervously watched the chaos that engulfs us, President Trump probably laid in bed, pleased with himself for descending another rung on the dictatorial ladder. He probably wore out his remote control watching the clips of General Barr’s victory over the unarmed in the Battle of Lafayette Square. Then he reveled in the sounds of Blackhawks flying overhead and joyously retweeted scores of preening sycophants.

It is all so sad, so pathetic, and so weak.

The president could have led during the COVID crisis (which still looms over us). He could have led an economic recovery, providing realistic hope to the people.

Even now, he could be spending his time decrying the absence of justice for George Floyd, calling for the investigation or prosecution of the other three officers who were involved. Or for Breonna Taylor, or for the countless other African Americans who have been killed – extra-judicially – because of the color of their skin.

Our nation is desperate for real leadership, but there is no one home at the White House and the lights are off.

I fear for the future of our country that in this time of immense difficulty, our president is only capable of contributing more violence and fear and chaos. 

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