WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order charging the Department of Justice with investigating cases of flag desecration and burning, saying that anybody who burns a U.S. flag would be charged with inciting a riot.

Trump said burning an American flag “incites riots at levels we’ve never seen before.”

Anybody charged for destroying a flag would be charged with inciting a riot and receive one year in jail with no opportunity for early release, Trump claimed.

Trump’s advisers said the executive order “wouldn’t fall afoul of the First Amendment,” which protects the freedom of speech, but did not expand on what that meant.

Fox News, which was the first outlet to report about the order , cited a fact sheet provided by the White House.

"The American flag is th

See Full Page