Trump conned Milley and Espey into going to the photo op......

 

The two had been summoned to the Oval Office in the preceding hours to update the President on efforts to use the military to tamp down on violence, and the official suggested neither man planned to join Trump as he walked across Lafayette Square to the church.

 

"As that meeting concluded, the President indicated an interest in viewing the troops that were outside, and the secretary and the chairman went with him to do so. That was the extent of what was taking place," the official said.