...
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Federal officials on Thursday vowed to arrest and prosecute the vandal who defaced a patch of grass on the National Mall with an oversized "8647," an apparent reference to President Donald Trump.
Department of Interior officials confirmed to Newsweek in a statement that an investigation had been launched.
"The deranged vandalism on our National Mall will not be tolerated," department officials said. "Any threat against the President is taken very seriously by the Department, and our U.S. Park Police will investigate this incident and hold those responsible accountable."
Read More on U.S.
...
U.S. Park Police responded to a report of vandalism on the west lawn of the Washington Monument at about 11:30 a.m., department officials said.
"The numbers '8647' were marked in the grass," the agency said. "The cause of the discoloration has not yet been determined. Grass samples have been collected for testing. The investigation is ongoing."
Photos of the etching posted online clearly showed three of the digits, although the "4" did not appear to be clearly defined.
...
White House officials admonished the alleged threat against Trump, who has survived multiple prior assassination attempts.
"Anyone who engages in or endorses political violence or assassination culture must be condemned in the harshest terms possible," White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Newsweek in a statement. "They should also immediately seek psychiatric help to treat their severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has warped their brains and made them sick in the head."
The apparent reference to Trump appeared just days ahead of massive crowds expected in Washington for a UFC card on Sunday coinciding with the president's 80th birthday. The numbers have been publicly cited by critics, including former FBI Director James Comey, who was indicted by the Department of Justice in April after posting a photograph on social media depicting "8647" in seashells on a beach last year.
...
"Threatening the life of the President of the United States is a grave violation of our nation’s laws," acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement in April. "The grand jury returned an indictment alleging James Comey did just that, at a time when this country has witnessed violent incitement followed by deadly actions against President Trump and other elected officials. The temperature needs to be turned down, and anyone who dials it up and threatens the life of the President will be held accountable."
Other Trump administration officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel, insisted in April that Comey's actions "disgracefully encouraged" a threat by circulating the term "86," which typically refers to getting rid of something. The former FBI director, a vocal critic of the 47th president, later deleted the Instagram post—insisting that he didn't realize "some folks associate those numbers with violence."
Comey, 65, who was charged with threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. He has denied wrongdoing ahead of his trial set for October.
The numbers "8647" were also found spray-painted in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool amid renovations in early May, National Park Service officials said last month.
The damage to the grass spotted Thursday shows "people are just frustrated because the Mall is being remade, I think," Judy Scott Feldman, who heads the National Mall Coalition's board of directors, told the New York Times.
A federal judge, meanwhile, ruled last week that the NPS cannot block protesters from displaying an "86-47" flag near the National Mall, determining that the symbol could not be reasonably seen as a call for political violence.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss pertaining to a flag outside a federal courthouse near the National Mall, where it first appeared in early May, restricted the NPS officials from removing the banner for 14 days under a temporary restraining order.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines