Mourning the loss of George Floyd, President Donald Trump said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV that "something snapped" in fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin the day he killed the unarmed black man.
"It was a terrible thing; it should never have happened; something snapped, I think, with the policeman, and the other three watching it were – I guess you can't put it in the same category, but it was certainly in a very bad category," Trump told Newsmax TV's "Spicer and Co." at the White House.
"Nothing good comes out of that. Nope, that was a very bad thing."
Later in the interview with former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Trump assailed Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as a super liberal who was "crying" rather than taking decisive action during the unrest after Floyd's death.
Trump lamented the passive approach he said local leaders embraced in efforts to maintain order as peaceful protests turned violent, destroying lives and cities.
Trump pointed out that the very same officials had been "tough as hell at keeping people locked up in their houses" during the coronavirus pandemic.
"The liberal mayors, they'll keep you locked up, but when it comes to the looting and everything, they're very weak on crime," Trump said.
"Super-liberal mayor, he was crying," he added, referring to Minneapolis' Frey who he said was shaken by the unrest arising from the Justice for Floyd demonstrations. "It's not nice, but the mayor can't cry in cases like that.
"We have a very different attitude on things. I am law and order, they're not. If they're not for law and order, you're going to lose the country."
At the outset of the sitdown, Trump told Spicer that much progress has been made for minority communities over the course of his first term, topping the accomplishments of previous administrations.
"In every way, African Americans were in better shape than they ever were, and they will be again very soon," Trump vowed. He pointed to the passage of criminal justice reform, the opening of opportunity zones, led by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and the making of funds for historically black colleges and universities permanent.
"President Obama didn't do that, President Bush, nobody did it – I took care of it," Trump said.
"We've done so much, I don't get credit for it, but criminal justice reform had no chance of getting done. Everybody tried, nobody could do it, and I was able to get it done.
"If you listen to people, we didn't do it," he added. "And I was the one that got it done.
"But the news doesn't treat anything we do fairly. That's why I have to get out and speak for myself."
Take the debate over social distancing. Trump said social distancing was a good illustration of the inconsistency by local officials, who wanted it strictly maintained over the pandemic but have been far more lax when it comes to the protests.
"We want to be back to normal, but it's a little bit soon, but I watch these protesters – and they're the ones all claiming social distancing and everything else – it's really interesting," he said. "They do that and then they're jumping on top of each other by the thousands when they're screaming and ranting and raving, which is not a good thing."
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