Flashback: Hillary Clinton once called for flag-burning ban as Trump’s order ignites backlash

As some Democrats mock President Donald Trump for signing an executive order cracking down on burning the American flag, a clip has resurfaced of then-New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton calling for a very similar prohibition against flag desecration. 

In a resurfaced clip from 2006, Clinton took to the Senate floor to advocate on behalf of a bill titled the “Flag Protection Act” that she said would make it a crime to desecrate the American flag. 

Addressing the Senate president, Clinton said, “I hope, Mr. President, that we can pass a law that criminalizes flag burning and desecration.” 

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Clinton said, “I agree wholeheartedly that maliciously burning or destroying an American flag is a deeply offensive and despicable act,” adding that it “disrespects our nation, it belittles the sacrifices of our brave veterans, it even sends a message to the soldiers who fight today protecting our freedom that their service is in some way to be disrespected and discounted.”

She drew a comparison to the 2003 Supreme Court case Virginia v. Black that clarified the burning of crosses with intent to intimidate is a crime. 

“Now burning a flag to me is also despicable and I believe that there is no denying when we talk about our flag, Americans’ emotions run deep, and we know that when we look at the flag, and it’s deliberately maliciously destroyed that is an intimidating experience in many instances,” she said, adding, “I agree that this flag burning, this desecration, that can happen to our flag, is something that people have a right to ask this body to try to prohibit and prevent.”

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On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to combat the desecration of the flag by mandating one full year in jail for protesters who burn American flags. 

The order directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to “prioritize the enforcement to the fullest extent possible of our Nation’s criminal and civil laws against acts of American Flag desecration.” 

The order also authorized the attorney general “to the maximum extent permitted by the Constitution” to “vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the American Flag, and may pursue litigation to clarify the scope of the First Amendment exceptions in this area.” 

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The order further directed Bondi, the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “deny, prohibit, terminate, or revoke visas, residence permits, naturalization proceedings, and other immigration benefits, or seek removal from the United States … whenever there has been an appropriate determination that foreign nationals have engaged in American Flag-desecration activity.”