Trump snubs Dallas' top law enforcement officials, all black, for talk about policing and race in Dallas
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump heads to Dallas on Thursday for a discussion on race and policing that excludes the three top law enforcement officials in the county - a police chief, sheriff and district attorney who all are black.
The White House defended the snub, insisting the president will still hear a diversity of views before heading to a $10 million campaign dinner with two dozen donors who pony up at least $580,600 each for a meal and souvenir photo.
The exclusion from a roundtable on police-community relations brought a sort of resigned condemnation from Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot. Without himself or Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall or Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown, he 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."
The presidential visit comes amid heightened tensions nationwide since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black suspect pinned by the neck for nearly nine minutes under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer now facing a murder charge.
Trump has demanded a military crackdown on protests nationwide, taunting Seattle's mayor ahead of the Dallas visit about a recent flare-up and warning that he'll send in troops if necessary.
On Thursday morning, Trump boasted again about his stroll to a church near the White House, where he brandished a Bible as cameras clicked, after National Guard and Park Police cleared protesters from Lafayette Square using pepper gas and rubber pellets.
But the nation's top military officer, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, apologized Thursday for taking part in that photo opportunity, calling it a "mistake" that created "a perception of the military involved in domestic politics." The implicit rebuke of the commander in chief echoed Defense Secretary Mark Esper's rejection of Trump's call for putting federal troops on the streets of U.S. cities.
Air Force One is scheduled to land at Love Field at 2:30 p.m. The president has no public appearances planned. He will sit down with Fox News' Harris Faulkner for an interview during the visit.
"President Trump is more interested in photo-ops than offering a healing voice as our nation mourns," Trump's rival in November, former vice president Joe Biden, said in a statement ahead of the Texas trip.
Dallas County Democrats are organizing a protest near the president's fund-raising dinner at a Preston Hollow mansion.
Roughly two dozen guests will pay at least $580,600 per couple, with proceeds expected to hit $10 million spread between the Trump campaign, Republican National Committee and 22 state parties.
The White House has yet to release a guest list for the roundtable, hosted at Gateway Church's campus in North Dallas on Hillcrest Road near Forest Lane, one of the city's more affluent areas.
Gateway is a conservative evangelical megachurch, one of the nation's largest, with a half-dozen campuses in the area and a mostly white congregation.
The White House aide rejected the suggestion that it's a strange choice for a conversation on "disparities" and "underserved communities."
"There's a lot of diversity in the community," a senior administration official told reporters ahead of the trip the official said. "Everyone cares about these communities. And this is about bringing people together from all walks."
Mayor Eric Johnson's office said that he was invited but had a scheduling conflict. Other black officials in the area were not invited, including three members of Congress who represent parts of Dallas: U.S. Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Colin Allred of Dallas, and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth. All are Democrats.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, both close Republican allies of the president, are expected to attend.
"You will have a lot of community leaders who've had experience working hand in glove with law enforcement. There's going to be a number of law enforcement individuals in the audience," the official said. "It's a community approach on partnering with law enforcement."
Allred, whose district includes Gateway Church, noted that Trump's dinner guests will get COVID tests from White House medical personnel that aren't universally unavailable at long-term care facilities, or for business owners and customers.
"I find it be insulting to the people in Texas who can't get tested for COVID…not only for the president to be coming to Dallas for a fundraiser, but to be making sure that everyone who gets into that fundraiser does have a COVID test," he said. "This is a slap in the face to Texans and people across the country who are still struggling because of our failure to have a national strategy."
Creuzot would have had plenty of advice to offer, on policing and other topic.
"I would tell him to get a good night's sleep. Turn off the television, turn off the phone. Stop the tweets. Stop the nonsense. Go to work," he said. "…Act appropriate. Be a unifier. Not everybody's out to get you. Not everybody needs to be attacked."
The former trial court judge, said Trump has made the job of law enforcement harder with comments urging police to rough up suspects, as he did in July 2017 when calling for crackdown on gang violence.
"Please, don't be too nice," the president told police gathered for that announcement on Long Island. "When you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head… and they've just killed somebody….You can take the hand away, okay?"
Comments like that sound like tough law and order talk, Creuzot said, but when a president says such things, "it's much more difficult to select a jury. When he tweets all this inflammatory stuff and the average person reads it - a person of color or just a person of conscience reads that - it creates doubts about the police."
"He is showing an obvious bias towards inappropriate police conduct, which does not help people of color feel safe, feel valued by him or the police in the area in which they live," Creuzot said.
Several business leaders told The Dallas Morning News that White House aides were looking for business owners who received money from the CARES Act, Congress' response to shutdowns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Others expected at the roundtable include former state Rep. Scott Turner, a Frisco Republican.
The former NFL player chairs the White House's Opportunity and Revitalization Council and is one of the few black officials in the Trump administration.
Many prominent African American leaders in Dallas were not invited, including the Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III, senior pastor at the influential Friendship-West Baptist Church.
"I would have fell out from shock and a heart attack, if he did invite me," Haynes said. "It's a dog and pony show that will be devoid of substance, if he continues on his current path."
Haynes expressed disdain for Trump posing for photos, triumphant, holding a Bible outside the historic St. John's Episcopal Church last week.
"I hope he doesn't use the event as a prop to push his political agenda," Haynes said.
David Wilson, a Dallas pastor and president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, did receive a preliminary invitation, asking if he was willing "to be vetted for a sit down meeting with the president."
"I just can't do it," he said. "I really don't want to hear the lies or be used as a prop."
Washington correspondent Tom Benning contributed to this report.
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I don't even know where to start with this one. Wait, yes I do.
He supposedly wants to have a discussion on race and police policies and procedures, but he excludes the three top law enforcement officials in the county - a police chief, sheriff and district attorney who all are black. They weren't the only ones excluded, either. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson's office said that he was invited but had a scheduling conflict. Other black officials in the area were not invited, including three members of Congress who represent parts of Dallas: U.S. Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson and Colin Allred of Dallas, and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth. All are Democrats.
Here's a guy needs a huge bag of kudos:
David Wilson, a Dallas pastor and president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, did receive a preliminary invitation, asking if he was willing "to be vetted for a sit down meeting with the president."
"I just can't do it," he said. "I really don't want to hear the lies or be used as a prop."
What else... Oh, yeah, everyone will be tested for Covid-19 before being allowed to be in the same room with Trump.
And finally, $580,600 per couple for a meal and a photo with this fool?
Were they actually purposely excluded? Or did they choose not to attend.
Is there more to the story?
Yes. This is how the White House excused the exclusion:
The White House defended the snub, insisting the president will still hear a diversity of views before heading to a $10 million campaign dinner with two dozen donors who pony up at least $580,600 each for a meal and souvenir photo.
Oh, and the Police Chief is a woman. A black woman. Her snub was guaranteed.
Of course there's more to the story - but you won't see it on NT.
You can only see the twisted fucked up backwards realm of right wing bullshit by going through the orange rabbits hole into bizzaro Republican world where up is down, a serial adulterer is their moral compass and kneeling on a black mans neck till he dies is just another Monday.
Link(s) please.
Why don't you do us a favor and provide the counter story 1st?
We'll wait.....
Trump is all about giving signals to his white grievance fan club, er voters, that he is one of them. It is ridiculous to hold a meeting on policing that leaves out the county's top law enforcement officials.
His Tulsa Juneteenth rally will be an even bigger disaster. He can't help himself.
Texas should just tell him to turn around and go back to DC and not to waste their time.
Wait a minute John - there's a problem with holding a political rally on Juneteenth, a purely political holiday?
It's the location. Trump has said not a word about racial inequality and all but promoted it in Charlottesville. While he did say what happened to George Floyd was terrible, he pulled up short of actually condemning the murder itself. The rally in Tulsa...."Juneteenth" rally? He could not have picked a more controversial place for a rally.
To make an admittedly poor analogy, it would be like Hitler giving a speech about equality and race relations while standing in the ovens at Auschwitz.
It's a big country, he could have chosen ANYPLACE for his rally, but he chose Tulsa? That's not a coincidence and if I had to make a guess? It's not going to go well for trump. His record for bringing people together is abysmal. My guess? He will continue to divide the nation, it's all he knows how to do.
If you CHOOSE to be divided, then that is all on YOU.
Bad things have happened all over the country. Pretending you can't have a rally 's.a meeting or give a speech because a handful of people will be pissed off is dumbfuckery to a whole new level.
I swear, some folks think they have some right to never be offended in their entire lives, and that if they are, then everything has to change to suit them.
Toughen up, buttercups, no one alive today is responsible for what happened in the 1920's.
And people like Mr. Frost and myself, choose not to be racist Tex.... Now what to you suggest to change the minds of those on the other side of that divide?
People have every right to be offended at those they are paying to do the job of law enforcement and provide justice that are providing neither.
The country is once again facing the issue of unequal treatment based upon race and at the hands of the police. By not inviting those in Dallas that are simultaneously representative of both speaks volumes that the Trump administration has no interest in dealing with either. Just another dog whistle to the racist members of his base to calling others snowflakes and such.
Good for you, we have something in common, we aren't racists.
Well, gee, pulling down a bunch of statues will surely make some huge difference, right?
Disbanding and defunding the police will surely cure it all, right?
trump can't win with your side no matter what.
If he included them, ya'll would have claimed it was some distraction from whatever evil plan you think Trump has or some investigation, or he was pandering to them. When he doesn't include them, you still complain.
I don't care about the whiners.
Don't sell yourself short. You care about yourself to an embarrassing degree.
Gee, I sure hope you don't have a career in comedy--hate to have to support you.
Glad we agree on the statues coming down Tex....
Disbanding/defunding police isn't a viable approach, but getting them all to wear body cams, making the video public, generating a national law enforcement database to weed out bad cops are all steps in the right direction.
Finally a monument liberals can embrace..............................
Rest easy, Jethro, you were not my target audience.
Not so sure we do agree--unless you think that tearing down statues will have no real effect.
Which is exactly why I don't get the folks calling for disbanding and/or defunding police. Idiots!
I have no problems with weeding out bad cops. I just choose not to lump all cops together.
I apologize.
I forgot about the group of gradeschoolers you were hoping to impress with your sparkling "wit", do carry on!
Based upon your diatribe in 1.2.9, I see the Sister's statement being more of a public service announcement.
As far as winning with "my side", why would you want him to stroke anyone beyond his far-right evil base?
Go for it.... the damn thing is an eye-sore.
It would be wise to learn what a diatribe is before using it in a sentence.
If the left needs to be stroked, there are plenty of Democratic politicians ready, able, and more than willing to do it.
The largest majority of Americans support that which we agreed to. There are 16% at the far right and left that brought around to workable changes.
And turning them off during an encounter needs to be an offense that leads to termination. It's happened too often since bodycams became common.
And the meal will likely be from Berder King.
Whoda thunk? Trump doesn't want to talk to the top brass? It's prob'ly cuz they're part of the deep shithole state.
Only native Texans can call Texas 'the deep shithole state'.
Good thing BG,
Steve lives in/around El Paso if I remember correctly.
Well then bless his heart!
Well, thanks. Born in Amarillo, went to high school in Odessa, lived in Dallas. This is my second tour of El Chuco.
He can't handle having people around him who actually know what they are talking about.
Trump wants to be the smartest man in the room, which is why he only hangs out with a gaggle of 60 IQ morons and brown noser's who act stupid. Anyone around him for long who is smarter finds them selves kicked off the Trump boat.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Trump had the understanding of “a fifth- or sixth-grader,” - Gone.
White House chief of staff John Kelly called Trump “an idiot” and said he thought the president was “unhinged,” - Gone.
Chief of staff Reince Priebus called Trump an “idiot,” - Out.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said in November 2017 that Trump was “like an 11-year-old child,” - Out.
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in July 2017 called Trump a “moron,” - Gone.
Rumor has it Steven Miller is writing the speech addressing race relations in the USA for trump to read.
I sure wish I was making that up.
Don't worry. Trump will meander off-script to perfect calls and hoaxes, transpants, infantroopens, lawmarkers, stankchuaries, slock rockets, bipartiss solucius, and durrrrrrrrs within the first minute of the speech.
The waiver for the Tulsa "event". Not shocking given that trump takes no responsibility for anything.
yeah, I am sure in La La Land, a person you admire would take FULL RESPONSIBILITY for thousands of people he doesn't even know.
[Deleted]
Trump is President of the United States. He is obligated to take full responsibility for the welfare of millions of people he doesn't even know.
donald take responsibility?
In this case, that's simply ridiculous.
Yeah, I know. Donald Trump and the phrase 'take responsibility' are completely alien to each other.
What you don't understand isn't my problem.
What you don't understand isn't my problem.
But your ability to communicate based upon supportable facts is.....
Perhaps to those challenged in understanding plain English.
Lots of people here have no problem at all understanding what I write.
Maybe one of them can help you out?
And I would support that "lots of people here" that understand you also don't communicate in supportable facts and data.
As far as having "one of them help me out" to learn to ignore facts and data... No thanks. I don't desire a future wearing a MAGA hat.
Perhaps you should consider not responding to me at all since you either don't like my posts or don't understand them.
Wouldn't want you taxing yourself needlessly,
Everyone understood what you meant, some just felt pointing out some parallel points were apropos. Also, your initial point was beyond flawed.
Yes, even well know musician's and other performers have canceled their events so they won't be spreading the virus at their shows. That's called "taking FULL RESPONSIBILITY for thousands of people" they don't even know.
Actually….he's not.
Trump doesn't "OWN" the purse strings.
Congress does !
States have RIGHTS too ?
My fav. is this push by the dingbats for D.C. to make new rules and laws on this "Absolute" Law thingy these numbnutz are protesting about.
oh..... how they forget.
Isn't Mary Jane Illegal in "Federal Land" ?
Well golly gosh...… seems States can make their own rules about it.
So only money equates to citizens welfare? You do know that word isn't just the name of a federal entitlement, right?
The nations defense, the tone coming from the President, the overall agenda, being smart and swift when faced with crisis instead of downplaying threats and poo pooing safety measures, trying to make sure more people have health insurance instead of less, all would add to the welfare of American citizens.
Tell Me.….. What can the President actually do on his own, for the "Welfare" of the country !
For Reals !
He could have "for reals" taken the warning about a pandemic seriously. Because he didn't the US is #1 in infections and #1 in deaths which aren't the accolades patriotic Americans would consider improving our welfare. Just being a voice of calm and reason, listening to the specialists and doing whatever he could to help would have been a start.
He could also shelve the partisanship and actually work across the aisle instead of demonizing Democrats, minorities, liberals and progressives, but that would be too much to ask of a sniveling partisan Republican who practices scorched earth politics.
Dr. Fauci said "Don't Worry' at the start. You know who Dr. Fauci is …. right ?
The one the "Left" hangs there HUGE hat on NOW....before they didn't ?
Purse strings have nothing to do with my comment. In this case, welfare doesn't mean what you think it means.
Don't let Trump know you said that. He would make you turn in your MAGA hat. The man tells us every day that he can do anything he wants because he's the 'President'.
Sure it does.
"Provide for the common Welfare" the "Left" loves to "Promote".... definitely requires money.
But...…...
This "Promote" thingy the "Left" loves to ignore, which is actually noted in the "Preamble to the constitution".....doesn't require monies.
Of course..... wanting to constantly fund "Deadbeats" (Provide), comes from "Added Taxes", which is ALWAYS in Congresses laps !
Thus "Provide" goes to the front of the line !
Deflection !
Tell Me.….. What can the President actually do on his own, for the "Welfare" of the country ! For Reals !
"Fauci, in a qualified response said, don’t worry “right now;” “ you need to take it seriously ;” and although “this is not a major threat,” keep an ear open to the CDC and Homeland Security."
“We have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.” - DJT Jan 30th
“Well, we pretty much shut it down coming in from China. We have a tremendous relationship with China, which is a very positive thing. Getting along with China, getting along with Russia, getting along with these countries.” DJT - Jan 31st
“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away,” DJT Feb 10th
“I think the numbers are going to get progressively better as we go along.” “We had 12, at one point. And now they’ve gotten very much better. Many of them are fully recovered.” DJT Feb 19th
“We’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.” DJT Feb 27th
“We’re talking about a much smaller range (than deaths from the flu)" - DJT March 2nd
“It’s very mild,” DJT March 4th
“There is no testing kit shortage, nor has there ever been.” “Anybody that wants a test can get a test.” - DJT March 6th (total unmitigated lie)
“I’m not concerned at all.” - DJT March 7th
“It will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” - DJT March 10th
"People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president." - DJT
No, you didn't "try" to be a doctor because that actually requires meeting standards of knowledge. Trump couldn't pass an 8th grade proficiency exam and he know it which is why he's never done anything more complicated than spend Daddy's money.
Catching CV at a Trump cattle call would be like a badge of honor to most of his deplorables.
Can we have them embroider a scarlet "CV" on their clothing to wear in public, or is that what the MAGA hat is for?
If Dallas has a policing abuse problem, these top administration officials are complicate with it, including the chief of police, as it probably has been going on for some time. Police brutality did not just show up the day George Floyd was killed.
In addition, more than likely all of these officials, including the congressmen who say they were also not invited, are democrats. Do you really think a democrat, who probably hates this president more than a cop killer, would show and have a civil conversation with the President.
My guess is if they WERE invited, they would decline, like the mayor did, citing "scheduling conflicts".
By them saying they were "snubbed" really means "we were not going to show anyway, so we have to make it look like Trump is racist. Nancy told us to".
What is really funny is the same folks who are upset over Trump not meeting them would be saying that Trump met with them as a "distraction" to some invented crisis or was pandering to them.
Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
Not a big enough deal for all the twisted panties over it.
gee, too bad trumpski couldn't have made some time on his busy white supremacist candidate re-election tour to do a few victory laps around dealey plaza in a convertible...
Aww, someone is a Trump hater!
How have you enjoyed having Trump as your President?
Has it been as much fun as hatching your wild ideas of what he is doing?
not as much fun as watching racist trumpster thumpers try and wipe the shit off their faces in 5 months...
So you PROJECT something will happen in the future, while I can simply look back at history and see Dems still whining about losing a sure-thing election.for the last 4 years.
Good times!
Why in the world would you invite to a discussion on policing the top three law enforcement officials in the area?
It's a completely logical decision..../S
They should still have the discussion, but change the date and meeting place without notifying Trump. Give him the address to the local Spuds N' Suds so he can at least gorge himself.
You can only fit so many folks in one place.
The article makes out as if he should have invited every law enforcement office and Church leader in the State to be viable.