Letter from veteran lawyer and former Trump lawyer John Dowd appears to be addressed to former Defense Secretary James Mattis and refutes Mattis statement on Wednesday criticizing Trump's response to nationwide protests after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
"The false protesters near Lafayette were not peaceful and are not real," said the letter, without citing any evidence. "They are terrorists who use students full of idle hatred to burn and destroy them. They abused and disrespected the police when they were preparing the area for the 1900 curfew."
CNN asked the White House to comment on the description of the protesters as "terrorists".
The President's decision to share the letter and his shocking description of Americans exercising their constitutional rights comes as he continues to rely on his strongman approach to the protests underway. On Monday, he declared himself "your president of law and order" when peaceful protesters outside the doors of the White House were dispersed with gas, lightning and rubber bullets, apparently to be able to visit a nearby church.
He stayed in the barricaded building, brandishing a Bible for the cameras, for only a few minutes before returning to the White House.
The letter was condemned by the Modern Military Association of America, a non-profit organization for the military and veteran LGBTQ community.
"Donald Trump has just crossed a very serious line that requires a swift and energetic condemnation of all members of Congress," said the group's acting executive director, Air Force veteran Jennifer Dane. "Promoting a letter that qualifies American citizens to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights as" terrorists "is a gross violation of his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. More than ever, it is absolutely crucial let Trump be held accountable for his reckless actions. "
The episode followed almost a week of protests across the country that sometimes turned violent following the death of Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.
In response to the president's approach, Mattis issued a statement on Wednesday warning that the United States "must reject any conception of our cities as a" battle space "that our uniformed soldiers are called upon to" dominate "."
"At home, we should only use our armed forces when it is very rarely requested by state governors. The militarization of our response, as we saw in Washington, DC, sets up a conflict - a false conflict - between the military and civil society, "wrote Mattis.
The president repeatedly defended his response to the protests and even tweeted later Thursday night that he had no problem with the National Guard helicopter which was seen flying low over the demonstrators in Washington Monday evening.
The District of Columbia National Guard is investigating the matter and an investigation has also been requested by Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
"The problem is not the very talented helicopter pilots at low altitude who want to save our city, the problem is the arsonists, looters, criminals and anarchists, who want to destroy it (and our country)!" Trump tweeted.
The helicopter had a "declared mission" in part to "deter" criminal activity, including riots and looting, by keeping a presence above it, according to a defense official who has direct knowledge of the orders given to the 'crew. The official refused to be identified because the Washington National Guard is currently investigating the conduct of the flights.
The Lakota UH-72 was also to deter "illegal gatherings", provide medical evacuation of the crowd if necessary and monitor the command and control of force protection, the official said.
The investigation, said the official, focuses on how these orders resulted in low-level flights, which caused debris to fly and intimidated civilians, said the official.
