Trump rails at the nation’s governors, urges crackdown on violence
WASHINGTONÂ â President Donald Trump went on an extended rant against the nation’s governors Monday, calling them “weak” for failing to quell the violence in the nation’s cities.
âMost of you are weak,â Trump told governors on a conference call. “You have to arrest people.”
“You have to dominate,” Trump said, according to audio of the meeting obtained by CBS News. “If you donât dominate, youâre wasting your time. Theyâre going to run over you, youâre going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate.”
Attorney General Bill Barr, who was also on the Monday call, told governors they have to âdominateâ the streets and control, not react to crowds, and urged them to âgo after troublemakers.â
Trump’s remarks to the governors followed a sixth day of clashes Sunday between police and protesters in cities across the nation that erupted in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
More than 4,400 arrests have been made at demonstrations nationwide since video emerged showing former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin holding his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes. Floyd can be heard saying “I can’t breathe.”Â
Trump told the governors that he is beefing up police presence in Washington.
“Washington was under very good control, but we’re going to have it under much more control,” Trump said. “We’re going to pull in thousands of people … We’re going to clamp down very, very strong.”
Trump said protesters to have to be put in jail “for 10 years, and you’ll never see this stuff again.”
Hunkered down: Trump briefly taken to underground bunker as protests grew outside White House
Crisis leadership: Consoler in chief or confronter in chief? Combination of crises tests Trump’s leadership: Analysis
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Floyd: Trump calls nation’s governors ‘weak’ amid nationwide violence
