Trump praises tear gas against Minneapolis protesters as ‘beautiful scene’
President Trump described the deployment of the National Guard in Minneapolis and its use of force, including tear gas, on protesters as a “beautiful scene” during an event in Dallas on Thursday, media outlets reported.
“It was like a miracle,” Trump said, as seen in a video from The Washington Post. “Just everything stopped. I’ll never forget the scene, it’s not supposed to be a beautiful scene but to me it was. After you watch policemen run out of a police precinct. And it wasn’t their fault, they wanted to do what they had to do but they weren’t allowed to do anything but they were running down the street, they weren’t allowed to do what they’re trained to do and they took over the precinct, they essentially burned it down.
“And yes there was some tear gas and probably some other things,” Trump continued. “And the crowd dispersed and they went through. By the end of the evening... everything was fine and you didn’t hear about that location having problems anymore.”
Trump also talked about an executive order being worked on that “will encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current, professional standards for the use of force, including tactics for de-escalation,” Forbes reported.
Calling it “force with compassion,” Trump said the order would boost “pilot programs that allow social workers to join certain law enforcement officers,” according to Forbes.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican U.S. senator, is leading the GOP’s bill on police reform after Democrats introduced legislation of their own in the House, NPR reported.
Scott said the GOP’s plan would consider more de-escalation training to try to lessen the use of deadly police restraints, but wouldn’t ban outright chokeholds, such as the one used on George Floyd. It also wouldn’t ban no-knock warrants in drug cases like in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, or reform qualified immunity, which is one part of Democratic legislation proposed Monday, according to NPR.
Floyd, 46, an unarmed Black man, died while in police custody on May 25 and his death sparked an avalanche of protests across the nation. He died after now-fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, as three other officers didn’t intervene. Floyd was arrested after being accused by a store employee of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a pack of cigarettes at a Minneapolis grocery store.
A 17-year-old bystander took video of the incident, in which Floyd can be heard saying, “Please, please, please, I can’t breathe.”
Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He remains jailed with bail set at $1.25 million.
Officers J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao were also fired and arrested, charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Lane was released on Wednesday on bond, according to CNN.
Floyd’s death brought more attention to the case of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman and ER technician who died on March 13 after police in Louisville, Kentucky, executed a “no-knock” warrant at her apartment during a narcotics investigation, shooting her at least eight times.
As three officers forced their way into Taylor’s apartment, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot and wounded Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who along with detectives Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison fired more than 20 rounds, according to authorities. All three officers were placed on administrative leave, and the case is being investigated by the FBI.
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 7:46 AM with the headline "Trump praises tear gas against Minneapolis protesters as ‘beautiful scene’."