President is slammed for leaving ‘press conference’ without addressing Minnesota as he disbands US relationship with WHO
Donald Trump held a "press conference" on Friday to discuss the United State's relationship with China, but then left the Rose Garden without taking questions or addressing the mounting situation in Minnesota following the death of George Floyd.
The president announced during his statement the US would disband its relationship with the World Health Organisation (WHO) amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This statement came moments after he shared two tweets attempting to clarify his "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" tweet released late Thursday night about the violent protests in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd. Twitter attached an unprecedented warning to a tweet by Mr Trump, accusing him of "glorifying violence".
Following the "press conference" in the Rose Garden, the president later held an additional conference to address the death of Mr Floyd. The president said he spoke with Mr Floyd's family and expressed his condolences.
"We all saw what we saw and it's very hard to even conceive of anything other than what we did see. Should never happen, should never be allowed to happen, a thing like that," Mr Trump said, sentiments people initially thought would happen earlier in the Rose Garden.
Mr Trump's war against Twitter continued into Friday just one day after he signed an executive order to limit legal protections against social media sites that shields them from liability about content posted on their platforms.
The war first started when Twitter fact-checked a tweet the president posted about mail-in voting. It only heightened when it labelled Mr Trump's protest tweet as "glorifying violence".
Former Vice President Joe Biden attacked the president for his tweets and his handling of the situation in Minnesota. "This is no time for incendiary tweets. It's no time to encourage violence," Mr Biden said. "This is a national crisis, and we need real leadership right now."
