Trump warns protesters 'will be met with very big force' if they disrupt Army’s 250th anniversary parade
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump is getting ready to throw a massive party for the US Army’s 250th anniversary, which happens to fall on his 79th birthday.
The big bash is going down this Saturday, June 14, in Washington, DC, and Trump made it clear that anyone thinking of raining on his parade better think twice.
Trump warns protesters, needles France
“If there’s any protester that wants to come out, they will be met with very big force,” Trump warned from the Oval Office on Tuesday, June 10. “I haven’t even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”
He continued, “We’re going to have a fantastic June 14 parade, Flag Day. It’s going to be an amazing day. We have tanks, we have planes, we have all sorts of things. And I think it’s going to be great. We’re going to celebrate our country for a change.”
Trump needled France Tuesday, saying they "would be speaking German right now" had it not been for the US's involvement in World War II.
"But we helped them a lot," he said. "As you know, I don't have to get into that, but I called up other countries, they're all celebrating the victory. We're the only country that didn't celebrate the victory, and we're the one that won the war, OK?"
"If it wasn't for us, you would be speaking German right now, OK?" the president continued. "We won the war - you might be speaking Japanese too - you might be speaking a combination of both. We won the war, and we're the only country that didn't celebrate it, and we're going to be celebrating big on Saturday."
Trump calls LA protesters 'paid insurrectionists'
Trump is already sounding off on social media. “IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT, and I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!” he wrote on Truth Social.
The warning comes as tensions flare over immigration protests in Los Angeles. Trump had some choice words about that situation, too, saying the demonstrators were “paid insurrectionists.”
Backing him up was the White House’s “border czar” Tom Homan, who appeared on NBC’s 'Nightly News' with Tom Llamas.
Homan warned that ICE officers in LA will “defend themselves.” He even referenced a violent incident during the protests, when a Molotov cocktail was allegedly thrown at an officer.
According to Homan, the officer would have "all the authority in the world to respond with deadly force" if it had "lit that officer up."
Trump's parade: Military show, checkpoints, and tightened security
Military officials have estimated the whole event could cost around $45 million, including as much as $16 million just to fix up the streets of DC afterward.
Of course, the security will be tight. Matt McCool, the Secret Service’s Washington field office chief, said on Monday that “thousands of agents, officers, and specialists from across the country” will be on duty.
Attendees will have to pass through checkpoints with magnetometers, and the Secret Service is prepping for anything — even scenarios like what's happened in Los Angeles.
“We plan for those things ahead of time,” McCool assured. “We were paying attention, obviously, to what is happening there, and we’ll be ready for that if it were to occur here.”
However, he added, “We have no intelligence of that happening here, but if it does, we have the resources to handle it.”
According to McCool, US Park Police had “several protest permits pending” as of Monday. But he said they "don’t have any significant concerns.”
That said, they’re not sleeping on it either. Officials are keeping tabs on “about nine First Amendment activity demonstrations,” McCool added.
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