Thread by @TheViewFromLL2

The report says that the U.S. Park Police didn't learn of Trump's plan to walk to the church until shortly before 3pm that day...

But the report also notes USPP made its decision about when and how to clear to park at around 5pm.

USPP was informed that Trump would make a visit of Lafayette Park "after protesters had been removed from the area."

And yet the report guilelessly concludes that the manner of timing of how the protesters were cleared had nothing to do with Trump's plans for a photo op.

There are not many redactions in the report, but this section here was redacted. An unnamed (but presumably WH) official made some kind of undisclosed request regarding the operation to clear the protesters – a request that the USPP acting chief rejected, for unspecified reasons.

Also redacted is what appears to be a description of statements made by AG Barr during a meeting at 2pm that day. The purpose of the meeting is conspicuously omitted, but from context, it was at least in part about how to handle the protesters at Lafayette.

At 6:10pm, shortly before Trump's speech, Barr arrived at the WH and asked USPP operations commander why the Lafayette protesters had not ALREADY been cleared out.

During the convo with Barr, the op commander is on video "hanging his head" & being consoled by another official.

In sum, USPP launched its operation to clear Lafayette just two minutes after Barr had arrived at the WH and expressed his displeasure that the protesters had not yet been removed, and demanded to know if "those people" would still be there when Trump came out for his speech.

Yet the OIG report concludes that this is merely a coincidence, and there is no connection between the Attorney General asking why the protesters had not yet been cleared from the park, and the USPP's decision to immediately launch an operation to clear protesters from the park.

The OIG's report does not dispute, though, that the USPP's operation to clear Lafayette was a total clusterfuck.

The OIG concluded that the clearing of Lafayette was a chaotic, uncoordinated mess that failed to follow the operational plan.

But OIG says USPP officials botched the operation all on their own, and their poor choices were not influenced by Trump's imminent plans for a photo op.