Dallas DA blasts Trump for not inviting top officials who are all black in round table meeting on protests
Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot slammed President Donald Trump after he did not invite the city's top law enforcement officials, the police chief, sheriff and DA — all black — to round table on police and race in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, June 11. Trump held the meeting after weeks of unrest across the country in the wake of George Floyd's death in police custody.
Creuzot, in a statement to Dallas News said: "Of course (Trump) would not be getting the full picture of advice from law enforcement. I don’t know who he’s going to get it from. I mean, we are the people on the ground."
Four Minneapolis police officers allegedly involved in Floyd's brutal death were fired on May 26 after a video of the incident went viral on social media. The footage showed officer Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck as the 46-year-old told officers to let him stand because he could not breathe. A few minutes later, he became unconscious. Floyd's death has sparked massive protests and unrest in Minneapolis and across the country.
The White House, after the round table, defended its decision to not invite the four top black officials — Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown and District Attorney John Creuznot. The White House insisted that Trump will still hear diverse opinions like that of the police chief of Glenn Heights, a small town in Dallas.
Trump, during the event, praised the National Guard in the region for quelling the protests, and said: "We are dominating the streets with compassion."
"They’ve destroyed people. They’ve destroyed businesses. They’ve destroyed African American-owned small businesses," the president continued, referring to the protesters. "We’re working to finalize an executive order that will encourage police departments nationwide to meet the most current professional standards of force."
"And that means force, but force with compassion. But if you’re going to have to do a job and somebody’s really bad, you’re going to have to do it with real strength, real power," Trump added. "And I said – and people said: 'Oh, I don’t know if we like that expression' — I said we have to dominate the streets. You can’t let that happen, what happened in New York City, the damage they’ve done…We are doing it with compassion if you think about it. We are dominating the street with compassion because we’re saving lives. We’re saving businesses."
Trump, during the event, appeared open to police reforms and referred to police officers indulging in police brutality as "bad apples". The president, however, mocked "radical efforts to defund, dismantle and disband the police.”
“You always have a bad apple. No matter where you go you have bad apples, and there are not too many of them... in the police department,” he said. “What happens late at night when you make that call to 911 and there’s nobody there? What do you? What are you doing, whether you’re white or black or anybody else? There is no opportunity without safety."
Trump is next scheduled to attend a $10-million campaign dinner with donors who pay at least $580,600 for each meal and a souvenir photo.