Trump threatens military crackdown on protests

President Trump is threatening to deploy active duty military units to states around the country to crack down on protests against police brutality. NBC's Chris Pollone reports.

(NBC News) President Trump is threatening to deploy active duty military units to states around the country.

As Mr. Trump was making the announcement from the White House rose garden Monday federal officers and National Guard troops outside the White House suddenly moved on peaceful protesters, hitting them with flash grenades and tear gas while shooting rubber bullets.

Moments later the president, cabinet members and staff walked off the White House grounds to St. John’s Church, a historic Episcopal Church that protesters had vandalized the night before.

Early this morning, the official White House Twitter account posted a campaign style video of the visit, showing Mr. Trump holding a Bible in front of the church.

The two top Democrats in Congress called the president’s actions “cowardly, weak and dangerous.”

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of Episcopal Diocese of Washington also spoke out forcefully against Mr. Trump’s actions.

“It served as an instrument of his own forceful presence in the nation, and it did not address the grievance wounds that we are dealing with and the agony of our country,” Budde said.

During his rose garden address, the first the president has made to the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s death, Mr. Trump warned governors he’ll invoke the insurrection act to send the military to cities where violent protests continue.

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