The first night of major unrest in Washington had exploded in chaos on May 29, with protesters and Secret Service officers battling outside the White House. At 8:30 the next morning, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and her senior aides huddled on a conference call for an update from the city’s police chief.
Eleven minutes later, they were interrupted — by a number of angry tweets from President Trump. Praising the federal officers, Trump warned protesters of the “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons” at their disposal. Then, as the mayor’s chief of staff read the tweets out loud, Trump lambasted Bowser.
Trump wrote that the Democratic mayor “who is always looking for money & help, wouldn’t let the D.C. police get involved. ‘Not their job.’ Nice!” It was a false accusation. The mayor had never said those words. Continue reading.