- Mayor Jacob Frey of
Minneapolis has responded after PresidentDonald Trump called him "weak" over his response to looting. - A police station was set fire Thursday night after days of escalating violence prompted by the death of George Floyd.
- On Friday morning, Trump called Frey weak and threatened to send in the National Guard. "When the looting starts, the shooting starts," he said.
- In response, Frey said: "Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis. We are strong as hell."
Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis has responded after President Donald Trump called him "weak" and posted a tweet suggesting that looters could be shot by the National Guard.
A Minneapolis police station was set on fire at 11 p.m. on Thursday near where George Floyd was detained by officers. Floyd's death following his arrest on Monday has prompted protests and, increasingly, violence and looting after a video showed an officer pinning Floyd to the ground by the neck for eight minutes.
"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen," Trump tweeted early on Friday morning.
Frey should "get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right," Trump said. He added: "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
Twitter placed a "glorifying violence" label on the tweet, further escalating a conflict between the social network and the White House over the way its policies should apply to Trump's tweets.
Frey responded to Trump's attack, in which the president described him as "very weak," during a Friday-morning press conference.
"Let me say this," Frey said. "Weakness is refusing to take responsibility for your own actions. Weakness is pointing your finger at someone else in a time of crisis.
"Donald Trump knows nothing about the strength of Minneapolis. We are strong as hell."
"Is this a difficult time period? Yes. But you better be damn sure we're going to get through this."
Frey's request for support from state troopers and the National Guard was accepted by Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday.
At the press conference, Frey was also asked what he was doing to address the violence in the city but was vague in his response.
"There is a lot of pain and anger right now in our city," he said.
"What we have seen over the past several few hours and the past couple of nights in terms of looting is unacceptable. Our communities cannot and will not tolerate it. These are community institutions that we need."
"We are doing everything we can to keep the peace," he said.
Volunteers have taken to cleaning up the wreckage in Minneapolis.
The officer who was filmed kneeling on Floyd's neck has been fired along with three other officers. Protesters are calling for murder charges against them.
On Thursday, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden — who is seeking to win the support of black voters in particular — said "people all across this country are enraged and rightly so."
"Everyday African Americans go about their lives with constant anxiety and trauma of wondering, 'Will I be next?' Sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not," he said.
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