Sen. Kaine: Amendment Blocks Trump From Using Military on Protesters

Sen. Tim Kaine said Tuesday he plans to introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act when the Senate Armed Services Committee takes up the measure next week to block President Donald Trump from deploying the military against protesters. 

“I never thought we would have to use the NDAA to make clear that the U.S. military shouldn’t be used as an agent of force against American citizens who are lawfully assembling,” the Virginia Democrat said in a statement Tuesday, reports The Hill. “I thought that would seem obvious to everyone. But as we take up the NDAA next week, I’m going to be pushing to ensure the president can’t treat the U.S. military as his personal palace guard to try to ward off peaceful protests.”

Kaine, a committee member, made his decision after Trump threatened Monday that he'd deploy troops in response to violent acts during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

Kaine's amendment would block funding that would be used to "marshal forces against protesters or American citizens, he said in a video along with his statement, as "we essentially can defund activities like that and if you do, they don’t happen."

Kaine added that as a Armed Services Committee member, the father of a U.S. Marine, a proud military supporter, and a senator who represents Virginia, a state closely connected to the military "I can tell you this is not what the United States military is for."

“The president is trying to turn the American military against American citizens who are peacefully protesting on domestic soil, which they have every right to do," he added. "I’m not going to stand for it."

Trump said Monday he will deploy troops if governors don't "dominate" protesters, and while he was speaking, federal law enforcement officers, using tear gas and flash bangs, cleared peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park so he could walk to St. John's Episcopal Church for a photograph. 

"These were not military, but federal law enforcement officials," said Kaine. "The thought that we would go beyond that, and now have it be the military who might have to do that, I’m not going to stand for it.”

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