Trump Defends Kenosha Shooting Suspect

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President Trump speaks to the media Monday from the White House.





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Democrats meanwhile have taken a dimmer view of the situation, pointing to the president’s increasingly divisive rhetoric, and past endorsements of violence against protesters, as evidence of a clear message to renegade gun owners to feel that they can act with impunity in the name of «law and order.

Trump, who has made violence in «Democrat cities a key talking point against 2020 rival Joe Biden, plans to visit Kenosha, Wis., on Tuesday «to see the people that did such a good job for me during the protests.

When asked whether he was worried that his presence, which comes against the Kenosha mayor’s wishes, might inflame an already heated situation, Trump said: «Well, it could also increase enthusiasm, and it could increase love and respect for our country. And that’s why I’m going.

The president will not during this trip meet with the family of Jacob Blake, the man whose shooting and subsequent paralyzing sparked the Kenosha uprisings, citing a wariness of attending a meeting that Trump said would include the family’s attorney.

«I thought it would be better not to do anything where there are lawyers involved. They wanted me to speak, but they wanted to have lawyers involved, and I thought that was inappropriate, so I didn’t do that, he said.