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WASHINGTON — On Monday, federal officers detained a man near the White House after he set fire to an American flag. This event occurred on the same day President Donald Trump executed an executive order aimed at curbing flag burning.
A video shared by The Bulwark news outlet showed the man, claiming to be a 20-year combat veteran, declaring, “I’m burning this flag as a protest to that illegal fascist president that sits in that House,” while indicating the White House from Lafayette Square.
The Secret Service released a statement indicating the man’s detention took place around 6:15 p.m. ET “for igniting an object,” and he was subsequently handed over to the U.S. Park Police.
Park Police said they arrested the man for violating a statute that prohibits lighting a fire in a public park.
This incident followed shortly after Trump signed an executive order targeting the “desecration” of the American flag when it corresponds with inciting violence or law violations.
The directive tasks Attorney General Pam Bondi with aggressively prosecuting individuals who burn the American flag alongside committing other offenses. It also mentions she “may pursue litigation to clarify the scope of the First Amendment exceptions in this area.”
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in 1989 that the Constitution protects burning the American flag.
Trump’s order does not criminalize flag burning or impose penalties, but it posits that flag burning likely to “incite imminent lawless action” or that can be considered “fighting words” isn’t protected by the Constitution.
When he signed the order, Trump said: “When you burn the American flag, it incites riots at levels that we’ve never seen before. People go crazy.”
The U.S. attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, has played a key role in the Trump administration’s efforts to exert federal control over parts of Washington and shown a willingness to aggressively go after low-level transgressions. She said this month that her office had charged a man accused of tossing a sandwich at a federal agent in D.C. with felony assault.
