As protesters gathered outside the White House on Friday night in Washington DC, US President Donald Trump was briefly taken to the White House underground bunker, as per the report.
Trump was there for less than an hour before being brought upstairs. After hundreds of people surged towards the White House on Friday, Secret Service and the United States Park Police officers sought to block them. It is, however, unclear if Melania Trump and Barron Trump were also taken down with him.
On Sunday, as many as 40 cities and Washington D.C. across the United States have imposed curfews in response to the continuing protests against the death of African-American man George Floyd in police custody.
National Guard members have been activated in 15 states and Washington, DC with another 2,000 prepared to activate if needed.
The protest has been following since May 25. Demonstrators across the United States have been protesting since then, when George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died under police custody in the city of Minneapolis. Six were arrested during the protests, the news report confirmed in a statement Saturday afternoon.
The President on Thursday had used the threat of police retaliation and military intervention in Minnesota where protests turned violent and destructive — saying on Twitter that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Trump’s weekend tweets also invoked imagery tied to brutal civil rights-era police tactics.
Now, a serious divide has emerged among the President’s top allies and advisers over how the President should address several nights of protests and riots.
Trump is being urged by some advisers to formally address the nation and call for calm, while others have said he should condemn the rioting and looting more forcefully or risk losing middle-of-the-road voters in November, according to several sources familiar with the deliberations.
