Federal law enforcement officials have arrested a man they say organized an attempt to take down a statue of former President Andrew Jackson outside the White House last month, according to a new report.
Jason Charter was arrested at his residence Thursday morning, Fox News reported, citing unnamed law enforcement sources. Charter has been charged with destruction of federal property, the sources said.
“They were very organized,” a law enforcement official said. “Charter was on top of the statue and directing people … they had acid, chisels, straps and a human chain preventing police from getting to the statue.”
Last week, four other men were arrested and charged in connection with the June 22 incident, according to the Justice Department.
“The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will not stand idly by and allow our national monuments to be vandalized and destroyed,” acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin said following the arrests. “This Office remains steadfast in its commitment to protect the sacred First Amendment right of individuals to peacefully protest, but these charges should serve as a warning to those who choose to desecrate the statues and monuments that adorn our nation’s capital: your violent behavior and criminal conduct will not be tolerated.”
Social justice activists say the Jackson statue must come down because it glorifies a man who, at one point in his life, owned slaves. Demonstrators have expressed similar feelings about monuments of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C.
President Trump has vowed to keep monuments of America’s former leaders erect and threatened anyone who attempts to take them down with jail time.
“We are looking at long-term jail sentences for these vandals, hoodlums, anarchists, and agitators. Some people don’t like that language, but that’s what they are: Bad people. They don’t love our country, and they’re not taking down our monuments,” Trump told reporters last week. “I just want that to be clear.”
