President claims Minnesota is a 'laughing stock all over the world' as calls mount for him to respond to crisis
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Donald Trump held a fiery teleconference call with state governors, law enforcement, and national security officials on Monday following a weekend of unrest across the nation protesting the death of George Floyd. In the phone call, Mr Trump called the state governors “weak” and said they needed to get “so much tougher” on protesters in the coming days.
Minneapolis was the first site of protests after Mr Floyd was killed during an arrest involving four former police officers. Mr Trump said Minnesota was a “laughing stock” across the world because police stations were set on fire. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was later commended by the president for taking control over the protests in days following.
Six nights of protests has encouraged the president to put pressure on law and order to control crowds. The president also vowed to designate the militant left-wing demonstrators commonly known as “Antifa” a terrorist organisation. He attacked Democratic mayors and governors for failing to call in the National Guard to deal with “anarchists”.
National security officials such as Defence Secretary Mark Esper and Attorney General Bill Barr also said it was time to get tougher on the protests. Mr Barr encouraged governors to "dominate" the streets to arrest "troublemakers", while Mr Esper officials should "dominate the battlespace".
All of this comes as conversations about police brutality have heightened across America.
The lawyer representing the late Mr Floyd and his family revealed an independent autopsy of his death was ordered. This independent autopsy found Mr Floyd died from asphyxia, which differed from the county's report. It also alleged Mr Floyd probably died at the scene and the three other officers contributed to his ultimate death.
The coronavirus pandemic continues despite attention turned towards the protests going on across the US. Health experts have expressed concerns the large gatherings could cause a second wave. Dr Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, revealed, though, that he and the president have not met or spoken about the issue in more than two weeks.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of US politics following a sixth night of protests over the police killing of George Floyd.
Trump ‘rushed to bunker’ after unrest outside White House
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in cities across the US again on Sunday night, with peaceful demonstrations against police killings of black people overshadowed by unrest that ravaged cities from Philadelphia to Los Angeles – and flared near the White House in Washington DC.
Donald Trump was reportedly moved to a special secure bunker because of the protests. According to The New York Times, the Secret Service “abruptly rushed the president to the underground bunker used in the past during terrorist attacks” on Friday.
Tensions continued outside the White House on Sunday night, as police fired tear gas and stun grenades into a crowd of more than 1,000 chanting protesters across the street in Lafayette Park.
The crowd ran away and piled up road signs and plastic barriers to light a raging fire in a nearby street. Some pulled an American flag from a building and threw it into the blaze.
Around 11pm, The White House’s exterior lights where briefly shut off as the protests continued.
A building in the park with bathrooms and a maintenance office went up in flames and people broke into banks and jewellery stores. As demonstrations persisted past curfew, Washington police said they were responding to multiple fires set around the capital.
The entire Washington, DC, National Guard — roughly 1,700 soldiers — was called in to help control the protests, according to two Defense Department officials who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the matter.
Fuel truck drives at crowd of protesters in Minneapolis
A fuel truck has driven directly at crowds of protesters marching along a Minneapolis highway – heightening tensions in a city already pushed to the edge.
After a day that had been seen entirely peaceful demonstrations, local television stations were broadcasting live as the truck drove at the people, who numbered in the hundreds.
It was not immediately clear how many people were hurt in the incident, which happened at around 6pm local time, though reports suggested many may have had a very narrow escape.
Trump set to designate Antifa as a terrorist organisation
Donald Trump has claimed that left-wing activists are responsible for the violent protests in Minneapolis and other cities, and declared his administration will move to designate the loose association of militant left-wing demonstrators commonly known as “Antifa” as a terrorist organisation.
“The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organisation,” he said in a series of tweets on Sunday blaming rioting on the group and other “Radical Left” elements.
The attorney general, William Barr, echoed the president’s notions that left-wing elements have been responsible for violent brushes with law enforcement, looting and vandalism in recent days.
“Unfortunately, with the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful protests are being hijacked by violent radical elements,” Mr Barr said.
Joe Biden calls for an end to violence
The former Vice President has called for an end to the violent riots and looting in an emotional new statement.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee posted a lengthy message to his Medium page during the weekend titled “We are a nation furious at injustice”.
Biden said: “Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not.”
Trump backs call for ‘overwhelming force’
As the protests grew on Sunday, Donald Trump retweeted conservative commentator Buck Sexton who called for “overwhelming force” against violent demonstrators.
Blaming Democratic mayors and state governors for failing to get tough with demonstrators, the president tweeted: “These people are ANARCHISTS. Call in our National Guard NOW.”
Trump claimed the National Guard did “a great job” in quelling protests in Minneapolis on Saturday night, and “should be used in other States before it is too late!”
In a series of increasingly blunt messages, he also tweeted: “STRENGTH!”, “LAW & ORDER!” and “FAKE NEWS!”
China calls US ‘habitual quitter’ over WHO withdrawal
China’s foreign ministry has criticised the Trump administration for cutting all ties with the with the World Health Organisation (WHO)
The ministry said America has “revealed its pursuit of power politics and unilateralism” – and also described US as a “habitual quitter”.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters during a daily briefing that the international community disagreed with what he called the selfish behaviour of the US.
US sends Brazil 2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine
The US has sent to Brazil more than 2 million doses of a malaria drug touted by Donald Trump as potentially protecting against and treating the coronavirus – even though scientific evidence has not backed up those uses.
No large, rigorous scientific studies have found the drug, hydroxychloroquine, safe or effective for preventing or treating COVID-19, and some smaller studies have indicated worse outcomes from those taking the drug.
Brazil, now Latin America’s hardest-hit country, continues to see a surge in virus cases, and last week Trump announced that the U.S. was restricting travel from the country to prevent travellers from spreading the virus in the U.S.
In a joint statement with the Brazilian government on Sunday, the White House said the doses of hydroxychloroquine had been sent to Brazil as a prophylactic for front-line health workers and as a therapeutic for those who may come down with the virus. The White House said it was also delivering 1,000 ventilators to Brazil.
Hydroxychloroquine has been pushed by the president (Reuters)
George Floyd’s family say Trump didn’t listen during condolence call
The brother of George Floyd had little good to say about the condolence phone call from Donald Trump.
The president said he had expressed his sorrow and told the family the incident was a “horrible thing to witness” and it “looked like there was no excuse” for Floyd’s death.
But Floyd’s brother Philonise said Trump gave him no chance to express himself, telling MSNBC: “He didn’t give me an opportunity to even speak. It was hard. I was trying to talk to him, but he just kept, like, pushing me off, like ‘I don’t want to hear what you’re talking about.’”
More details here:
White House goes dark
CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller was among those tweeting the rare sight of the White House almost totally dark after the exterior lights were shut off just before 11pm.
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