Donald Trump Ditches Press Conference Without Taking Questions on Minneapolis Riots

President Donald Trump on Friday afternoon left his White House press conference without taking questions from reporters about the Minneapolis riots.

Reporters waited over an hour in the Rose Garden for the press conference to begin, but Trump left after delivering a statement on China and Hong Kong. Reporters shouted questions after the president in vain.

Earlier Friday, the president faced heavy criticism from Democrats and corporate media for comments he made about the riots that began after a local police officer was filmed by bystanders pressing George Floyd’s neck until he died.

“Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” Trump wrote early Friday morning on Twitter, promising to deploy the National Guard.

The statement was censored by Twitter and condemned by local Democrats for not helping them quell the violence.

But the president explained his comments in a followup statement on Twitter.

“Looting leads to shooting, and that’s why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night – or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot,” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday afternoon. “I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means.”