White House press secretary compares Trump's photo-op outside St. John's Church to Churchill's bunker visits during WWII and Bush's first pitch after 9/11

• White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany compared President Donald Trump's controversial Monday night photo opportunity outside a DC church to world leaders' responses to World War II and the 9/11 terror attacks.
• To facilitate the photo-op, law enforcement violently dispelled peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday evening using tear gas and flash-bang grenades.
• McEnany compared Trump's photo-op to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's visits to WWII bunkers, former President George W. Bush's first baseball pitch following 9/11.
• Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, said Trump's photo-op was an "abuse of sacred symbols" and "antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our churches stand for."

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany compared President Donald Trump's controversial Monday night photo opportunity outside a DC church to world leaders' responses to World War II and the 9/11 terror attacks.

McEnany called the photo-op, during which Trump held a bible while standing in front of St. John's Episcopal church across from the White House, "a very powerful moment" and a "leadership moment."

To facilitate the photo-op, Attorney General William Barr ordered law enforcement to violently dispel peaceful protesters outside the White House on Monday evening using tear gas and flash-bang grenades. Trump then walked across the street to the church.

McEnany compared Trump's move to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's visits to WWII bunkers, former President George W. Bush's first baseball pitch following 9/11, former President Jimmy Carter wearing a sweater to encourage energy savings, and former President George H.W. Bush signing the Americans with Disabilities Act.

She argued that Trump's symbolic act sent "a message of resilience and determination" to Americans.

"Churchill, we saw him inspecting the bombing damage — it sent a powerful message of leadership to the British people, and George W. Bush throwing out the first ceremonial pitch after 9/11," she said during Wednesday's press briefing. "For this president, it was powerful and important to send a message that the rioters, the looters, the anarchists — they will not prevail. That burning churches are not what America's about."

Federal police fired tear gas at peaceful protesters outside the White House at 6:30 pm, just before Trump gave a briefing in the Rose Garden to clear a path for the president to walk to the church after a fire was set in the church's basement Sunday night amid protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

As Trump was photographed holding up a bible his daughter handed to him, he said, "We have a great country. That's my thoughts. Greatest country in the world."

McEnany claimed Trump's photo-op was "widely hailed," and cited support from the conservative evangelical leader Franklin Graham.

But Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, said she was "outraged" by Trump's photo-op.

Budde called it an "abuse of sacred symbols" for Trump to pose with the bible and use the church "as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our churches stand for."

Lauren Frias contributed to this report.