Updated at 3:15 p.m. ET

U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Thursday defended the decision to order that protesters be driven back from a park near the White House this week and said extremist groups were involved in sometimes violent demonstrations in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.

Floyd died on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him down at the neck for nearly nine minutes, prompting massive protests across the country denouncing racial inequality and police brutality. The now-fired officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday with other law enforcement officials, Barr said that it is “undeniable that many African Americans lack confidence in our American criminal justice system,” adding, “This must change.”

He called Thursday a “day of mourning,” referring to Floyd’s memorial service.

Of video showing the police officers’ conduct when arresting Floyd, Barr said, “It is impossible for any normal human being not to be struck to the heart with horror.”

A “witches brew of different organizations”

Barr said the aftermath of Floyd’s death has produced a challenge to the rule of law in the form of “lawlessness, violent rioting, arson, looting of businesses and public property, assaults on law enforcement officers and innocent people.”

“We have evidence that antifa and other similar extremist groups as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity,” Barr said. “And we are also seeing foreign actors playing all sides to exacerbate the violence.”

Barr said the government is dealing with a “witches brew of different organizations” fomenting violence.

Barr said there have been 114 injuries to law enforcement personnel in Washington since Saturday, including 22 that required hospitalization. Donald Washington, director of the U.S. Marshals Service, said 21 U.S. courthouses across the country have been damaged.

Lafayette Square protests

Barr has been leading the federal response to the protests, some of which had been violent. Barr has sent specialized teams of federal agents to help control protests in Washington, D.C., and Miami, and the FBI is setting up command posts in cities across the country.

In particular, Barr defended the federal response to the protest Monday in Lafayette Square in Washington, saying demonstrators had thrown projectiles and the group was “becoming increasingly unruly.”

The actions of police, who aggressively cleared the largely peaceful protesters, have been broadly criticized.

“We asked three times” for the demonstrators to move back one block, Barr said Thursday. When they refused, he said, “We moved our perimeter.”

Barr also defended the large amount of federal law enforcement officers in Washington, saying it was “the federal city” and there was a large-scale disturbance threatening federal property, including government buildings and monuments.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has called for more transparency about who is in charge of law enforcement in the capital.

“We are concerned about the increased militarization and lack of clarity that may increase chaos,” she said in a letter to President Trump, requesting “a full list of the agencies involved and clarifications of the roles and responsibilities of the troops and federal law enforcement resources operating in the city.”

Trump’s walk to the church

Barr also defended the president’s widely criticized visit Monday to St. John’s Church amid the protests. He said the decision to clear Lafayette Square, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, was made before he was aware of Trump’s plans.

The church had been damaged in a fire the previous night. Trump walked to the church and held up a Bible after giving a speech at the White House threatening to use the military to quell protests. The bishop who oversees the church had sharp words for the president.

“He did not offer a word of balm or condolence to those who are grieving,” Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington told NPR.

Barr said Thursday that Trump had the right to go and denied it was a political move.

“The president is the head of the executive branch and the chief executive of the nation and should be able to walk across the street to the church of presidents,” Barr said. “I don’t necessarily view that as a political act.”

Barr said he did not know that the president was visiting the church when the decision was made to clear the protesters. Barr and Defense Secretary Mark Esper accompanied Trump to the church.

“There was no correlation between our tactical plan to clear the perimeter out by one block and the president’s going over to the church,” Barr said. “The president asked members of his Cabinet to go over there with him, the two that were present, and I think it was appropriate for us to go over with him.”

Esper said Wednesday that he was “not aware of exactly where we were going” and has been critical of Trump’s threats to use the military against violent protests.

“Trying to find a way forward”

Barr was joined Thursday by FBI Director Christopher Wray as well as the heads of the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Wray said he was “appalled and profoundly troubled by the video images” of the events that led to Floyd’s death.

He said Floyd’s family as well as the entire country was “trying to find a way forward.”

“That’s because this is not just about George Floyd,” Wray said. “This is about all of those over the years who have been unjustifiably killed or had their rights violated.”

He added, “When law enforcement fails to fulfill its most basic duty to protect and serve its citizens, particularly members of a minority community, it not only tarnishes the badge we all wear but erodes the trust that so many of us in law enforcement have worked so hard to build.”

The Justice Department officials reiterated the right of Americans to exercise their First Amendment right to protest peacefully but called out the smaller group of people who have “hijacked” those efforts.

Updated at 1:40 p.m. ET

Virginia will remove a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the city of Richmond “as soon as possible,” Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.

“Today, we’re here to be honest about our past and talk about our future,” Northam said, adding: “We have to confront where we’ve been in order to shape where we’re going.”

The statue will be placed into storage, where it will remain until government leaders and the community can discuss its future, according to the governor.

“In Virginia, for more than 400 years, we have set high ideals about freedom and equality,” Northam said, “but we have fallen short of many of them.”

The statue will be removed from Richmond’s Monument Avenue, which is lined with effigies of Confederate generals. Of all the monuments, Lee’s looms the largest — and unlike the others, it is owned by the state, a six-story monument on a 100-foot island of land that the state also owns.

It’s up to Richmond, the Confederacy’s former capital, to decide what to do with the other statues; the city is in the process of determining what their fates will be.

“I know Richmond is going to do the right thing,” Northam said — prompting Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who was standing near Northam, to nod his head vigorously.

“It’s time to put an end to the Lost Cause and fully embrace the righteous cause,” Stoney said at Thursday’s news conference. “It’s time to replace the racist symbols of oppression and inequality — symbols that have literally dominated our landscape.”

“It’s time to heal, ladies and gentlemen,” he added.

The Confederate statues stoked anger over the weekend in Richmond, where there were large protests following the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for an extended period of time. Protesters covered many of the statues’ bases with graffiti. Last night, an image of Floyd’s face was projected onto Lee’s statue.

“They represent a history of racism. They represent a history of sexism. They represent exactly what we’re fighting against. Why keep them up?” protester O.J. Knight, 25, told reporter Ben Paviour of member station VPM.

“Some conservatives condemned Northam’s plans,” Paviour says. “GOP state Sen. Amanda Chase — who is also running for governor — said this in a Facebook video posted last night: ‘It’s all about shoving this down people’s throats and erasing the history of the white people.’ “

In response to news of the statue’s imminent removal, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus called it “a step in the right direction” in the fight to roll back systemic racism and the “remaining vestiges of Jim Crow in our Commonwealth.”

The caucus also said the removal was long overdue.

“The Lee statue was a constant reminder to Black Virginians of racism, dehumanization, and hate that exists and was prevalent throughout our history,” said Caucus Chairman Lamont Bagby.

As he discussed the landmark moment, Northam noted the symbolism of putting Lee on a pedestal and the message it sends to African Americans.

He also acknowledged that the decision to dismantle the monument will be criticized by some, in Virginia and elsewhere, who say Lee was an honorable man and that the statue is part of history.

“Yes, that statue has been there for a long time. But it was wrong then, and it is wrong now — so we’re taking it down,” Northam said. “I know some will protest … I know many people will be angry.”

But he noted that when Virginians look at the state’s past, “We must do more than just talk about the future. We must take action. So I am directing the Department of General Services to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee as soon as possible.”

Northam also cited Virginia’s historic role in the American Revolution, including the famous cry, “Give me liberty, or give me death,” from Patrick Henry — who also served as a governor of Virginia.

“But there’s a whole lot more to the story,” Northam said, adding that the ideals of freedom and liberty “did not apply to everyone — not then, and not now.”

The Democratic governor noted that as the new country was taking shape, one of its largest slave markets was operating in Richmond, where men, women and children were sold for profit.

Northam survived calls for his resignation last year after a photo of a person wearing blackface standing next to another person wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe was spotted on his page in a medical school yearbook. The governor later told The Washington Post that he intended to make racial justice a focus of the rest of his term.

The monument to Lee is the latest controversial statue to be taken down during the furor over police brutality and racial injustice that is playing out in dozens of U.S. cities.

The city of Birmingham, Ala., took down an obelisk to Confederate troops earlier this week that had stood for more than a century. Philadelphia’s mayor also ordered the swift removal of a statue honoring Frank Rizzo, the former police commissioner and mayor — a divisive figure who rose to prominence during the late 1960s.

Updated at 1:40 p.m. ET

The Justice Department held a press conference Thursday amid nationwide protests over racial inequality and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Floyd died after being pinned down at the neck by a police officer, prompting massive protests across the country. The now-fired officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder.

Attorney General William Barr said that it is “undeniable that many African Americans lack confidence in our American criminal justice system,” adding, “This must change.”

He called Thursday a “day of mourning,” referring to the memorial for Floyd scheduled for later in the day.

Of video showing the police officers’ conduct when arresting Floyd, Barr said, “It is impossible for any normal human being not to be struck to the heart with horror.”

Barr said the aftermath of Floyd’s death has produced a challenge to the rule of law in the form of “lawlessness, violent rioting, arson, looting of businesses and public property, assaults on law enforcement officers and innocent people.”

“We have evidence that Antifa and other similar extremist groups, as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity,” Barr said. “And we are also seeing foreign actors playing all sides to exacerbate the violence.”

Barr says the government is dealing with a “witches brew of different organizations” fomenting violence.

Barr defended the federal response to the protest in Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., on Monday, saying demonstrators had thrown projectiles and the group was “becoming increasingly unruly.”

“We asked three times” for the demonstrators to move back one block, he said. When they refused, he said, “We moved our perimeter.”

Barr also defended the large amount of federal law enforcement officers in Washington, saying it was “the federal city” and there was a large scale disturbance that was threatening federal property including federal buildings and monuments.

Barr was joined Thursday by FBI Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Marshals Director Donald Washington, Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal; Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Regina Lombardo; and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Timothy Shea.

Wray said he was “appalled and profoundly troubled by the video images” of the events that led to George Floyd’s death.

He said both Floyd’s family, as well as the entire country was “trying to find a way forward.”

“That’s because this is not just about George Floyd,” Wray said. “This is about all of those over the years who have been on justifiably killed or had their rights violated.”

He added, “When law enforcement fails to fulfill its most basic duty to protect and serve its citizens, particularly members of a minority community, it not only tarnishes the badge we all wear, but erodes the trust that so many of us in law enforcement have worked so hard to build.”

The Justice Department leaders reiterated the right of Americans to exercise their First Amendment right to peacefully protest but called out the smaller group of people who have “hijacked” those efforts.

Barr has been leading the federal response to the protests, some of which had been violent. Barr has sent specialized teams of federal agents to help control protests in Washington, D.C., and Miami, and the FBI is setting up command posts in cities across the country.

In D.C., Barr was on the scene Monday night ahead of the largely peaceful protest in Lafayette Square that was broken up by law enforcement. His presence came in advance of President Trump walking over to St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Trump posed with a Bible. The church had been damaged in a fire the night before.

The actions of police, who aggressively cleared the protesters, have been criticized. The U.S. Park Police announced it had assigned to administrative duties two officers who were seen assaulting a TV news crew from Australia.

The Park Police says it “will always support peaceful assembly but cannot tolerate violence to citizens or officers or damage to our nation’s resources that we are entrusted to protect.” It says officers had been assaulted with bottles of frozen water and other projectiles.

Retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, who resigned as President Trump’s defense secretary nearly a year-and-a-half ago over policy differences, has issued an extraordinary critique of the White House’s handling of nationwide unrest, saying Trump has sought to divide Americans, and warning against “militarizing our response” to the protests.

“When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution,” Mattis said in a statement published in The Atlantic.

“Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens—much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside,” Mattis wrote, referring to a series of events on Monday in which peaceful protesters were cleared from around the White House to make way for an impromptu appearance by the president, Bible in hand, outside a historic church.

Mattis called Monday’s actions “an abuse of executive authority.”

The broadside came on the same day that current Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at a Pentagon briefing that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act — which allows the president to deploy the military within the United States — something Trump had threatened to do in a televised speech on Monday.

Earlier this week, Esper had referred to unrest in the streets as a “battle space” and Trump urged state governors to use law enforcement and the National Guard to “dominate” the protesters.

“We must reject any thinking of our cities as a ‘battlespace’ that our uniformed military is called upon to ‘dominate,’ ” Mattis wrote. “At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors.”

It is extraordinarily rare for military leadership to speak out against a sitting president, though Trump has come in for implicit criticism from senior ranks.

After Trump said of a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, which turned violent, that there were “very fine people on both sides,” each of the military service chiefs — as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – issued statements condemning bigotry.

“I can absolutely and unambiguously tell you there is no place — no place — for racism and bigotry in the U.S. military or in the United States as a whole,” said Gen. Joe Dunford, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman at the time.

Just this week, two former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmen, Gen. Martin Dempsey and Adm. Mike Mullen, condemned the use of the military to quash the demonstrations on Monday. In a tweet, Dempsey said, “America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy.”

In an opinion piece in The Atlantic titled “I Cannot Remain Silent,” Mullen wrote regarding Trump’s photo-op at St. John’s Church, “Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces.”

Mattis, who resigned and was then fired by Trump in December 2018 over disagreements with the White House’s Syria policy, has remained largely silent about the president’s job performance since leaving the defense post, telling NPR last year: “I don’t discuss sitting presidents.” He said he thought that Trump deserved “a period of quiet.”

However, days of nationwide protest over the death of George Floyd in police custody and the use of National Guard troops in Washington to disperse peaceful demonstrators, have led Mattis — “angry and appalled” — to speak up.

He said the protesters were only demanding equal justice under the law.

“It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind,” he wrote.

“We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers,” Mattis wrote, referring to the vandalism and looting that have sometimes occurred along with the largely peaceful protests. “The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.”

Mattis accused the president of pursuing a divisive strategy. “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try.”

“Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership,” he said.

The president responded to the criticism in a tweet, calling Mattis “the world’s most overrated General,” an insult Trump has fired off in the past.

In Wednesday’s statement, Mattis said the country’s response to the pandemic showed that “it is not only our troops who are willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice for the safety of the community. Americans in hospitals, grocery stores, post offices, and elsewhere have put their lives on the line in order to serve their fellow citizens and their country.”

“We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution. At the same time, we must remember Lincoln’s ‘better angels,’ and listen to them, as we work to unite,” he said.

Some of Facebook’s earliest employees are condemning CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s hands-off approach to President Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric about protests over police brutality.

In an open letter to their former boss, nearly three dozen ex-staffers said the company’s policy of allowing political speech to go largely unchecked was a “betrayal of the ideals Facebook claims.” They urged their former boss to reconsider his stance, “beginning by fact-checking politicians and explicitly labeling harmful posts.” The letter was first reported by the New York Times.

Facebook has come under attack by current employees, civil rights groups and Democratic politicians for not taking action on posts by the president that critics say break Facebook’s own rules against inciting violence and spreading misinformation.

That includes a post about the protests over George Floyd, the black man in Minneapolis who died last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. It also includes a Trump post claiming falsely that California is sending mail-in ballots to all residents.

In contrast, Twitter has begun adding labels to the president’s tweets containing the same false and aggressive statements. Snapchat on Wednesday said it would no longer promote the president’s account in its app, because of concerns over tweets in which he threatened protesters with “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons”.

In response to Twitter’s actions, Trump last week signed an executive order attempting to strip online platforms of long-standing legal protections. And on Wednesday, the president’s 2020 campaign manager responded to Snapchat by accusing the company of political bias and trying to rig the election.

Zuckerberg has said he does not believe that Facebook or any private company should be the “arbiter of truth” or restrict political speech, which he says is already highly scrutinized.

In both a company-wide meeting on Tuesday and a public Facebook post last week, he said he had struggled with how to respond to Trump’s “divisive and inflammatory” posts, but decided to leave them up in the interest of letting people see what the president had to say.

Facebook declined to comment on the former staffers’ letter to Zuckerberg.

It was signed by some influential early employees, including Dave Willner, who helped write the company’s original rules about what users were allowed to post, and Brandee Barker, its first head of global communications and public policy.

In the letter, they wrote that Facebook’s reluctance to limit what politicians can say creates a double standard.

“They have decided that elected officials should be held to a lower standard than those they govern. One set of rules for you, and another for any politician, from your local mayor to the President of the United States,” they wrote. “Facebook should be holding politicians to a higher standard than their constituents.”

The former employees said they support current staffers who have challenged the company’s lack of action on Trump’s post. Some employees held a virtual walkout on Monday, and one engineer has publicly resigned over the issue.

Editor’s note: Facebook is among NPR’s financial supporters.