Trump unloads on governors over George Floyd protests: ‘Most of you are weak’

CNBC reached out to the White House about the call in general and specifically about the exchange with Pritzker. 

Attorney General Bill Barr also spoke to governors on the call, which was going on more than an hour after its 11 a.m. scheduled start time.

Barr reportedly told the governors “we have to control the streets,” and said this would require “a strong presence” that included the National Guard. 

Governors in dozens of states have already mobilized state-based National Guard troops to help support local law enforcement. For now, National Guard units are being used primarily to secure public buildings, assist with surveillance and protect paramedics and emergency responders, not to interact directly with protesters. 

Later in the call, Trump also offered suggestions of how law enforcement should respond to aggressive protesters, saying, “you’re allowed to fight back.”

“When they have bricks — you know they come armed with bricks. And they have bricks and rocks, big rocks, and they have other big things, and they throw them. You know, you’re allowed to fight back, folks,” Trump told the governors. “You don’t have to have a brick hit you in the face, and you don’t do anything about it. You are allowed to fight back.”

Turning to Barr, Trump said “Bill, if a brick is thrown at somebody, and it hits them, or maybe if it doesn’t hit them, your very tough, strong, powerful people are allowed to fight back against that guy. And very strongly and powerfully.”

Trump’s phone call Monday is only the latest example of the president angrily demanding more drastic actions be taken against the mass protests.

Over the weekend, as protests erupted across the nation, Trump blamed Democratic mayors and governors, the media, the anarchist movement antifa, presumed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and “thugs” for the protests that turned violent in many cities. 

Trump has not been seen in public since Saturday, when he attended the launch of a SpaceX rocket in Florida. Trump did not make any public appearances on Sunday, and he has no events on his schedule Monday that are open to the press.

Biden spent Monday visiting with African American religious leaders in Wilmington, Delaware, to talk about the protests and the anger over police brutality. Biden’s event, unlike Trump’s, was open to the press.

The former vice president is scheduled to host a teleconference on Monday afternoon with several big city mayors that will also be open to media.

Massive protests sprang up across the country in the past week after Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed black man, died in Minneapolis after being pinned to the ground by officer Derek Chauvin, who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. 

Chauvin, whose confrontation with Floyd was captured on video, was fired from the police department and later was arrested on charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter.

While the demonstrations were largely peaceful, violence and looting erupted in numerous cities over the weekend as groups of protesters clashed with law enforcement officers. At least 4,400 people have been arrested in connection with the protests, according to The Associated Press.

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/01/trump-unloads-on-governors-over-george-floyd-protests-most-of-you-are-weak.html