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“I want to express our nation’s deepest condolences and most heartfelt sympathies to the family of George Floyd,” Trump said during a roundtable event at the White House, later adding, “I spoke to members of the family — terrific people.”
He’s faced criticism throughout the day for a late-night tweet about looting that Twitter appended a warning to, saying it violating its rules against glorifying violence. “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” the President said on Twitter.
During Friday’s roundtable event, Trump denied knowing the origins of the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” saying he has heard the phrase “for a long time” and that he doesn’t know where it came from or where it originated.
When a reporter noted it was said by the Miami police chief in 1967, Trump said he “has also heard from many other places.”
Trump said at the roundtable event that Floyd’s death was “a terrible, terrible thing that happened,” adding that he’s ordered the Justice Department to expedite a federal investigation into the matter.
“It’s a local situation but we’re also making it into a federal situation and it’s a terrible thing. We all saw what we saw and it’s very hard to even conceive of anything other than what we did see,” Trump remarked. “(It) should never be allowed to happen, a thing like that.”
Trump condemned looting in Minneapolis and other violent demonstrations around the country in the wake of Floyd’s death, after tweeting earlier that military enforcement might quell the masses.
“We have peaceful protesters, and support the rights for peaceful protesters. We can’t allow a situation like (what happened) in Minneapolis to descend further into lawless anarchy and chaos,” the President said at the roundtable.
“The looters should not be allowed to drown out the voices of so many peaceful protesters they hurt so badly, what is happening and it’s so bad for the state and their great city,” he continued.
“I understand the hurt. I understand the pain. People have really been through a lot. The family of George is entitled to justice and the people of Minnesota are entitled to live in safety,” Trump said.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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