Trump Vows To Punish Washington Square Arch Paint Vandals

GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — President Donald Trump vowed to use his new executive order on statues and monuments against two suspects accused of throwing paint-filled balloons at the arch in Washington Square Park.

The president said in a tweet Tuesday that "we are tracking down the two anarchists" who, cops say, threw red paint onto the George Washington statues that adorn the park's namesake arch early Monday morning.

"We have them on tape. They will be prosecuted and face 10 years in Prison based on the Monuments and Statues Act. Turn yourselves in now!," Trump tweeted, referring to an executive order he signed late last week.

The order instructs the attorney general to prioritize vandalism of monuments, referring to existing laws that threaten up to 10 years in prison for defacing government property or monuments that honor military veterans.

The tweet is Trump's latest rallying cry against ongoing police brutality protesters who have taken to toppling, beheading and throwing paint onto statues deemed racist or offensive.

The paint thrown on the statues of George Washington, the first president and a slave owner, comes as protesters rally against other New York City monuments, including the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle and the Teddy Roosevelt statue at the American Museum of Natural History, which is slated to be removed.

Police said the suspects in the Washington Square Park incident threw paint-filled balloons at the statues around 3:20 a.m. on Monday. They released video of them on Tuesday.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, on Twitter @NYPDTips.