Trump is intervening in the case of the couple who pointed guns at BLM protesters outside their mansion, Missouri governor says

• President Donald Trump is intervening in the case of the couple in St Louis filmed threatening anti-racism protesters with guns outside their mansion, said Missouri governor Mike Parson.
• The couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, are under review for criminal charges, St Louis police have said.
• Parson, a Republican, said that president Trump "doesn't like what he sees and the way these people are being treated."

President Donald Trump is intervening in the case of a wealthy, gun-toting couple who threatened Black Lives Matters protesters with guns outside their St Louis mansion.

The couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, are under review for criminal charges, St Louis Police Chief John Hayden confirmed Tuesday, and said police had filed for warrants in the case.

Pictures of the couple waving weapons at protesters on June 28 were shared widely, and were seen by many as a symbol of the culture wars that have erupted in the US since the death of George Floyd.

On Tuesday, Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, said that president Trump "doesn't like what he sees and the way these people are being treated."

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Parson, as quoted by The Washington Post, said that he thinks the president and Attorney General Bill Barr "are going to take a look" at the McCloskey case.

"The president said that he would do everything he could within his powers to help with this situation and he would be taking action to do that," Parson said.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump had defended the couple in an interview with conservative site Townhall, claiming that attempts to prosecute the couple are "a disgrace." He said "these people were standing there, never used it, and they were legal, the weapons."

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner in a statement accused the president and governor of playing politics with the case.

"Today, both the Governor and Donald Trump came after me for doing my job and investigating a case," said Gardner.

"It is unbelievable the Governor of the state of Missouri would seek advice from one of the most divisive leaders in our generation to overpower the discretion of a locally elected prosecutor," Gardner said in a statement.