‘It’s a positive thing’: Trump supports Kentucky National Guard response to Breonna Taylor protests

President praises state attorney general following indictment against Louisville officer

Donald Trump has praised Kentucky’s attorney general as a “star” after he announced criminal charges against one Louisville police officer involved with the killing of Breonna Taylor.

The president said Daniel Cameron, who addressed the 2020 Republican National Convention, delivered a “brilliant” statement about the role of justice following a grand jury indictment that revealed three counts of “wanton endangerment” against a Louisville Metro Police Department officer who fired several shots into the 26-year-old black woman’s apartment building in March.

Two other officers at the scene, who fired the fatal shots, have not been charged.

The president has said he will be speaking with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.

Asked earlier on Wednesday whether he had a message to black Americans following the indictment, the president said: "I love the black community, and I've done more for the black community with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln."

Hours later, he abruptly left he lectern at the White House for an “emergency phone call” and refused to answer repeated questions from ABC News reporter Rachel Scott about the case.

Ms Taylor was in bed with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker after midnight in March when three officers – Brett Hankinson, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove – executed a search warrant by banging on her apartment door before ramming it open.

Mr Walker, who has said that police did not announce themselves and feared that someone broke into the home, fired one shot from a pistol, striking officer Mattingly in the leg. All officers returned fire. Ms Taylor was shot six times.

Now-former officer Hankison faces three counts of wanton endangerment for firing 10 shots into the building. He could face up to five years in prison in each count, if convicted.

Attorney general Cameron argued that officers Mattingly and Cosgrove were “justified in their return of deadly fire" because Mr Walker had fired first, he said.

That justification “bars” the office from pursuing criminal charges against them, he said.

Protests erupted in Louisville following the announcement, continuing demonstrations demanding justice for Ms Taylor and her family for nearly 120 consecutive days.

A state of emergency was declared in Louisville the Kentucky National Guard was activated before the announcement, and police in riot gear threatened to deploy tear gas and conduct mass arrests after declaring demonstrations an “unlawful assembly.”

The president said a National Guard deployment is a “positive thing.”

Tank-link military vehicles joined police cruisers to clear and patrol streets. A curfew has been put in place for 9pm.