Former President Donald Trump asked if authorities could shoot protesters “in the legs” during the protests that erupted in 2020 after the brutal police killing of George Floyd.
Floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed in May 2020 by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was ultimately found guilty of murder. The murder sparked nationwide protests amid the larger conversation about racial injustice and police brutality.
And according to former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Trump suggested that authorities should hurt demonstrators to stop them from protesting altogether.
“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Esper says Trump said.
“I had to figure out a way to walk Trump back without creating the mess I was trying to avoid,” Esper wrote in his new memoir “A Sacred Oath.”
Trump made numerous inflammatory remarks at the time.
Trump called for the execution of whoever leaked information about his stay in the White House bunker during protests in Washington, D.C.
At the time, Trump claimed that the individual had committed treason against his administration and was apparently “obsessed” with finding the source.
Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.
