DHS' Wolf: Teams Being Sent to Protect Federal Statues, Buildings

The Department of Homeland Security is deploying teams in the nation's capital and across the country to protect federal property from being attacked by violent protesters over the July Fourth weekend, acting Secretary Chad Wolf said Wednesday. 

"We want to make sure that we have the personnel there and ready, so we are pre-deploying teams to certain areas and we will continue to make sure that we have personnel ready to go," Wolf said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."

When asked if there have been any specific threats, Wolf said that there has been a great deal of "lawlessness" over the past month in many cities, and President Donald Trump and the administration have already taken strong action. 

"What the department is doing as we go into this July Fourth holiday, we want to make sure that federal properties, federal facilities, buildings, statues, monuments, that the Department of Homeland Security protects," said Wolf. 

The Department of Justice has already arrested "over about 100" violent protesters and looters, said Wolf, and "we have seen them charge four individuals in federal court for attempting to tear down a statue here in D.C."

He added that his department is working with the Department of Justice and the Department of Interior, who also have similar properties, so there is a coordinated government response for the July Fourth weekend and beyond that to make sure the properties and people who work in the federal buildings are protected. 

Meanwhile, Wolf said, the United States must remain aware of foreign adversaries, such as Al Qaeda or ISIS, who might try to take advantage of what they see going on in the United States, even though no specific intelligence along those lines has been seen yet. 

"We are, again, very, very focused on what we see is really violent extremists and violent anarchists here in the country," said Wolf. "We are not going to let these individuals who clearly hate this country continue to terrorize and go after the destruction of federal property, federal monuments."

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