Following a weekend in which protests over the death of George Floyd raged in virtually every major American city, President Trump on Monday told U.S. governors they were “weak” for not being more aggressive in enforcing laws against the demonstrations.
“You have to dominate. If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time,” Trump said during a video teleconference with governors, law enforcement and national security officials, audio of which was obtained by CBS News.
“They’re going to run over you,” the president said. “You’re going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate.”
“You’ve got to arrest people,” he continued. “You have to track people. You have to put them in jail for 10 years and you’ll never see this stuff again."
Trump’s comments came after a weekend of unrest over the death of Floyd, a black man who died after being pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis police officer one week ago. In cities across the country, protesters broke curfews, set fires and looted stores, and police responded with shows of force, lobbing flash bangs, spraying tear gas and firing rubber bullets.
In Washington, D.C., Sunday, fires burned as demonstrators clashed with law enforcement for the third straight evening outside the White House. On Friday night, Secret Service agents rushed Trump to a White House bunker designed for use in emergencies like terrorist attacks as hundreds of protesters fought with police about 100 yards from the executive mansion.
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