{"id":50688,"date":"2020-06-23T13:54:04","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T13:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/23\/trump-threatens-10-years-in-prison-for-protesters-toppling-statues-citing-veterans-memorial-protections\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:25:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:25:34","slug":"trump-threatens-10-years-in-prison-for-protesters-toppling-statues-citing-veterans-memorial-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2020\/06\/23\/trump-threatens-10-years-in-prison-for-protesters-toppling-statues-citing-veterans-memorial-protections\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump threatens 10 years in prison for protesters toppling statues, citing veterans memorial protections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/06\/01\/trump-plans-to-use-active-duty-military-forces-to-deal-with-growing-protests\/\" target=_blank>President Donald Trump<\/a> this week threatened a decade of jail time for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/06\/22\/after-covid-19-and-protest-response-the-national-guard-is-gearing-up-for-a-rough-hurricane-season\/\" target=_blank>protesters defacing and toppling statues<\/a> on federal lands, citing a little known law designed to punish vandalism at American veteran cemeteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday morning, Trump tweeted that he had authorized federal officials to \u201carrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/108\/plaws\/publ29\/PLAW-108publ29.pdf\" target=_blank>Veterans\u2019 Memorial Preservation Act<\/a>, or such other laws that may be pertinent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But no presidential authorization is necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/06\/20\/congressman-remove-confederate-traces-from-west-point\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/West-Point-cadet.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Congressman: Remove Confederate traces from West Point<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A letter, signed by 22 members of Congress, to the Army and Defense secretaries Thursday, argues there shouldn\u2019t be facilities at West Point named for those who \u201cbetrayed their Country during the Civil War.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Veterans\u2019 Memorial Preservation Act allows for fines and a prison term of up to 10 years for \u201cattempts to injure or destroy, any structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The memorial preservation act is already existing regulation, and does not need any special authorization to be enforced. Other federal laws also prohibit trespassing and vandalism on federal lands, although they do not specifically focus on memorials and grave sites. Protesters in recent weeks have also been charged with local crimes related to attacks on the statues, including disobeying police orders and unlawful assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s tweet comes amid nationwide protests of racial inequality that have led to the destruction of dozens of statues \u2014 mostly depicting Confederate leaders or historic U.S. figures with ties to past racist policies \u2014 on state and federal grounds in recent weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump said the law will be used for past and future attacks on the statues, and that \u201cthere will be no exceptions!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Veterans\u2019 Memorial Preservation Act was passed in 2003 in response to a series of vandalism incidents at veterans cemeteries. The issue had prompted a broader conversation about how to protect such sites, since existing law contained only loosely-connected provisions for grave desecration and destruction of federal property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Debate over the measure at the time did not discuss the issue of memorials to Confederate leaders. It passed Congress without any significant opposition, and was signed into law by then President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, bill sponsor Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, D-Colo., told local media that he was worried the proposal would face some resistance because of the \u201cunprecedented penalties\u201d it contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/06\/01\/nazi-headstones-will-be-removed-from-us-veterans-cemeteries-va-leaders-say\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"241\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Gravestone.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Nazi headstones will be removed from US veterans cemeteries, VA leaders say<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The headstones are engraved with a swastika, an iron cross and inscription in German that reads \u201cHe died far from his home for the F\u00fchrer, people and fatherland.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, lawmakers in their legislative statements said the changes were needed because &#8221; attacks against federal cemeteries and veterans memorials uniquely affront the memory of those who sacrificed for our freedom and undermine our collective commitment to honor their service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Department of Justice officials did not offer an immediate response to Trump\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Members of Congress have been divided over the issue of protesters damaging statues. Democratic leaders have pushed for portraits and statues of Confederate leaders within the Capitol to be removed, while a number of prominent Republicans have defended those memorials and questioned the usefulness of destroying historic artifacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">White House officials said that the president plans to sign an executive order in coming days to provide additional protections for statues on federal lands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Veterans&#8217; Memorial Preservation Act passed 17 years ago in response to vandalism at U.S. veterans cemeteries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":89736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-50688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IAV6VKYMHVCDNL6UM6XEBTPE4Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/06\/23\/trump-threatens-10-years-in-prison-for-protesters-toppling-statues-citing-veterans-memorial-protections\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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