WASHINGTON –Heritage Foundation President Kay C. James released the following statement Friday in response to the White House issuing an executive order on “Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence”:

“Americans everywhere should condemn the indiscriminate and criminal destruction of statues and monuments across our country,” said Heritage Foundation president Kay C. James. “These lawless attacks are mob rule and an assault on the values upon which this great nation stands. If the rioters are allowed to topple statues today, there is no end to the scale of destruction we’ll see on America’s streets tomorrow. They have already torn down or defaced statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, abolitionists, priests, and other great heroes of freedom. Some have promised to target private property next, including churches. President Trump’s executive order is a strong message to these criminals that their lawlessness will not be permitted to continue unpunished.”