Trump calls Floyd death ‘shocking,’ calls protesters ‘thugs’

By JILL COLVIN and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is calling protesters in Minneapolis “thugs” and saying that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Trump tweeted as violence boiled over Thursday night, with protesters torching a police station. Twitter added a warning to Trump’s tweet, saying it violated the platform’s rules about “glorifying violence.”

Trump and his allies had taken a very different tone with the in-custody death of a black man in Minneapolis compared with past instances of police brutality involving African Americans, questioning the officers and sympathizing with the man who died.

Trump said earlier Thursday he felt “very, very badly” about George Floyd’s death, calling it “a very shocking sight.”