June 1, 2020

President Donald Trump on Monday declared himself the “president of law and order” and said he would mobilize every available federal force both “civilian and military” as he vowed to put an immediate end to violent protests that have swept the nation for days.

In a brief statement delivered from the Rose Garden of the White House as law enforcement forces deployed tear gas to clear out protesters just on the opposite side of Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump ordered governors and mayors to establish “an overwhelming law enforcement presence” until the protests have been quelled, and he threatened to send in the U.S. military to “quickly solve the problem for them.”

As Trump spoke, condemning violent protests that arose over the past week following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after being pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer’s knee to the neck for nearly nine minutes, police fired rubber bullets at protesters gathered peacefully on the edge of Lafayette Square directly in front of the White House. After his Rose Garden appearance, the president then walked across the street and through the square for a photo op in front of the historic St. John‘s Episcopal Church, which had been damaged after protests the previous night.

Read more:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/01/trump-slams-governors-as-weak-crackdown-on-protests-294023