President Donald Trump holds a Bible as he visits outside St. John's Church across Lafayette Park from the White House Monday, June 1, 2020, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington sharply criticized President Donald Trump on Monday for staging a visit to the historic St. John's Church across from the White House, where he held up a Bible after authorities had cleared the area of peaceful protesters.
In order to facilitate Trump's statement there, she said, she believed tear gas was used in the area between the White House and the church.
As protests nationwide flared following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, St. John's suffered minor damage Sunday night from a fire in the church basement.
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, issued his own statement saying that Trump had used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes."