Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Monday said that President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General William Barr blamed leftist groups for protest violence because of “political considerations, not facts.”
Trump and Barr have both criticized groups like Antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement for organizing the protests, which have been marred with violence, at least some of which has been linked by police to far-right white nationalists.
"There is tape, videotape, of very, very suspicious-looking people, not a part of the protest. They aren’t carrying signs. They’re not handing out leaflets. They’re not chanting slogans," Ellison said on Monday, at a press conference with other state officials, according to the Washington Examiner. "They’re wearing all black, they are wearing masks, and they are breaking things and throwing incendiary devices around. They’ve been doing it throughout the night. And I am saying that we need to get an investigation on the identity of these individuals."
He added, "The protesters are protesting for justice for George Floyd. They have been peaceful. But these other folks who have another agenda, and I don’t know where they’re from, and I don’t know what their ideology is, have been active, but we know they’re there, and we need to learn a whole lot more about them.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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