(CNN) The Trump administration is preparing a major effort to protect national monuments that President Donald Trump has described as part of the country's heritage, including assigning US Marshals to oversee them and signing an executive order meant to protect them, people familiar with the plan say. He later instructed Bernhardt to put the statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike back up, as first reported by NBC. Meanwhile, the White House expects US Marshals to help protect national monuments as early as this week, officials said, after Trump publicly stated he would take steps to ensure monuments aren't torn down and those who do suffer long jail sentences. The marshals' help in protecting monuments thought to be racist or problematic is a stark contrast to when marshals protected James Meredith, the first black man to attend the University of Mississippi, at the direction of President John F. Kennedy. That moment in 1962 is thought to be one of the proudest in US Marshals history.

Source: CNN June 25, 2020 02:41 UTC