RPT: UPDATE - Trump Says He Spoke To Family Of Killed African-American Man George Floyd

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th May, 2020) US President Donald Trump said that he spoke to the family of George Floyd, the African American man and Minneapolis resident who died on Monday while being arrested by police, and urged preventing the legitimate public protests from descending into anarchy.

"I spoke to members of the family, terrific people," Trump said during a roundtable meeting with US business leaders at the White House on Friday. "I just expressed my sorrow. That was a horrible thing to witness... It certainly looked like there was no excuse for that."

A video that spread online on Tuesday shows a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pinning Floyd to the ground with his knee on his neck for nearly eight minutes. Floyd repeatedly tells him that he cannot breathe until becoming unresponsive. Floyd died at a local hospital shortly thereafter.

In the wake of his death public unrest has erupted in the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, other surrounding communities as well as in other localities throughout the United States.

Trump said that he supports peaceful protests "for the right reason, in a honour of a man" but can't allow the situation descent into "lawless anarchy and chaos."

"You had a lot of people out there who were protesting out if sorrow and then you had people who went out of control, some people. I think they did a great disservice to their state and their city, and to really our country with what they did last night," he said. "We have brought in the National Guard today and they are there. That won't happen again, it can't happen again, we can't ever let this happen again."

Trump warned that the National Guard units deployed in Minneapolis will be "very prepared tonight." President defended his controversial tweet, saying that the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" is "very accurate" and he doesn't want that to happen.

Trump also said that he asked the Department of Justice to expedite the Federal investigation into Floyd's death.

"Do it immediately, do it as quickly as absolutely possible... We are determined that justice be served," he added.

Earlier in the day, Chauvin was charged with murder and manslaughter.