White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Sunday batted back blame on President Donald Trump for the violent racial justice protests that have erupted around the country, saying “Donald Trump’s America is peaceful.”
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Meadows dismissed the idea that Trump is responsible for the unrest.
“That’s just not accurate,” he said. “Look at Kenosha [Wisconsin]… we offered help, help was denied,” he said of federal law enforcement assistance to a city where a vigilante killed two demonstrators during a night of looting and violence there.
“People lost their life,” he said. “We made a repeated call the next day to send [federal help] to restore peace.”
“That needs to happen in Portland” as well, he said.
“It is in Democrat cities,” he said. “Most of Donald Trump’s America is peaceful. It is a Democrat led city… that just yesterday denied help from the federal government.”
One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland as a large caravan of Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed.
Meadows said “we need to get to the bottom of this… hold people accountable... and make sure the people conducting these acts go to jail.”
He blamed the city’s district attorney for not prosecuting those who accost the police.
“It’s not Donald Trump’s DA saying stand down… saying we need to look the other way,” he said. “It’s the mayor of Portland.”
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