Violence Forced Trump Move to Bunker, Barr Revelation Contradicts President's Claim

According to U.S. Attorney General (AG) William Barr, the Secret Service briefly moved President Donald Trump last week to an underground bunker at their recommendation as violent riots were ongoing near the White House over the killing of George Floyd.

Trump’s version of his visit to the bunker belies any urgency as he claims he was there for an inspection.

On Monday (June 8) evening, Bret Baier of Fox News interviewed the AG, who said, “On Monday, we were reacting to three days of extremely violent demonstrations right across from the White House, a lot of injuries to police officers, arson. Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker.”

Barr went on to explain the forcible clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square outside the White House and added, “We can’t have that in our country. So, the decision was made. We had to move the perimeter one block. That is what we were doing.”

Last Wednesday, during an interview with Fox News Radio, Trump disputed the reports that he fled to the bunker, claiming he visited the bunker during the day just to inspect it. Trump said, “I went down during the day, and I was there for a tiny, little, short period of time, and it was much more for inspection. These problems are during the night, not during the day.”

Instead of the Secret Service recommending that he move to the bunker for safety, Trump claimed that “they said it would be a good time to go down, take a look, because maybe sometime you’re going to need it.”

The scrutiny over what seems like a minor discrepancy between the president and his AG likely stems from the presidential election, just over 146 days away. Another reason might be the investigation by Barr and U.S Attorney John H. Durham over “troubling issues” related to FBI investigations and the Mueller report that resulted in the failed impeachment attempt.

Trump has endured nearly four years of a non-stop assault from his critics that have included charges of collusion with Russia and Ukraine, the impeachment trial, charges of racism, sexism, abuse of power and behaving in an unpresidential manner.

The bunker’s official name is the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, where Trump was reportedly taken. It is thought to be underneath or adjacent to the East Wing of the White House. It has several large conference meeting rooms for urgent meetings to take place, as well as other facilities. Originally built during World War 2, the bunker has had some upgrades over the years, the last one after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 after the vice president at the time, Dick Cheney, complained about the communications technology.