Pelosi has her own Bible moment a day after Trump's photo-op at St. John's Church

Record ID: 1555234

  • Title: Pelosi has her own Bible moment a day after Trump's photo-op at St. John's Church
  • Date: 2nd June 2020
  • Summary: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (JUNE 2, 2020) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NANCY PELOSI (DEMOCRAT - CALIFORNIA) HOLDING UP BIBLE AND SAYING: "Last night when I saw the President hold up the Bible, I was thinking of so many things that would have been appropriate in terms of humanity of all people in our country . And I was thinking about time. Time is such, the most important commodity, the most finite of all commodities, the time it takes to make the change necessary. And it's long overdue. Time for us to make some of that change that people were calling out for. And I was thinking of the book of Ecclesiastes, and in it, they talk about, there's an appointed time for everything. Ecclesiastes says, in 3:1, a time to eat, a time for every event under heaven. He talks about a time to heal, talks about a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. How bout that for today? A time for peace. Let's focus on a time to heal. A time to heal. We have had as a role of President of the United States, role of commander in chief, president of the United States, a person who has a responsibility to heal. President George Herbert Walker Bush spoke out under circumstances similar to now, when he said this was after the Rodney King beating. President George Herbert Walker Bush said the following: "Those terrible scenes stories ought to demand an end to gratuitous violence and brutality. Law enforcement officials cannot place themselves above the law that they are sworn to defend. It was sickening to see the beating that was rendered. And there's no way, no way, in my view, to explain that away. It was heartbreaking" George Herbert Walker Bush after the Rodney King beating. President Obama said after the murder of Eric Garner. "Right now, unfortunately, we are seeing too many instances where people just do not have confidence that folks are being treated fairly. In some cases, there may be misperceptions, but in some cases that's a reality. And it's incumbent upon all of us as Americans, regardless of race, religion, region, faith, that we recognize this is an American problem and not just a black problem or a brown problem or a Native American problem. This is an American problem when anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law, that is a problem."
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2020 17:54
  • Keywords: Bible Chuck Schumer Democrats Donald Trump Minneapolis Nancy Pelosi police rubber bullets tear gas violence
  • Location: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
  • Reuters ID: LVA001CGOHV7R
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Democrats rained criticism on President Trump, accusing him of behaving like a dictator on Tuesday (June 2), a day after law enforcement officers used teargas and rubber bullets to clear protesters so the president could pose in front of a church clutching a Bible.
    "The president's relentless need to make a weak man feel strong led him to order federal law enforcement officers to gas peacefully assembled Americans so he could sneak his way to a church photo op. It led him to order federal officers to gas peacefully assembled Americans so that he could sneak his way to a church for a photo op," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
    On Tuesday, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi also held a Bible, reading a passage from Ecclesiastes.
    One of the president's role is to act to "heal" rifts and divides, Pelosi said before reading remarks from former president George H. Bush after the beating of Rodney King, and Barack Obama after the death of Eric Garner.
    After his address, Trump posed for pictures with his daughter, Ivanka, and U.S. Attorney General William Barr at St. John's Episcopal Church near the White House.
    The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church diocese in Washington D. C., Michael Curry, was among those who criticized Trump's use of the historic church for a photo opportunity.
    "In so doing, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes," he said on Twitter. The church suffered minor fire damage during protests on Sunday night.
    On Tuesday, Trump visited the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington.
    (Production: Deborah Gembara)
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