General Mark Milley, a top military official, has apologized for participating in President Trump's walk to St. John's Church near the White House, after law enforcement forcibly cleared protesters.

In a video commencement address to the National Defense University, the nation's top military officer, General Mark Milley, said he was sorry.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apologized for being part of the entourage that accompanied President Trump across Lafayette Square from the White House over to a nearby church for a photo op.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARK MILLEY: As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week - that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society.

And this comes in the wake of Defense Secretary Mark Esper's distancing himself from the White House, saying he didn't agree that active troops should have been used or could have been used in the - against the protesters, although the president was basically saying, I'm going to use the military to dominate.