Business

Follow the latest updates

Donald Trump has lashed out at his ex-secretary of defence, Jim Mattis, after the admired general wrote an op-ed for The Atlantic in which he said he was angry and appalled by the police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent week of unrest, saying the president tries to divide us and was incapable of mature leadership.
Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, has also spoken out, hailing the transformative actions of demonstrators and offering a key message of hope to people of colour: I want you to know that you matter, I want you to know that your lives matter, that your dreams matter.
Demonstrations continued for a ninth consecutive night on Wednesday but were, on the whole, notably calmer than on previous evenings, with city curfews, a rethinking of police tactics and rain credited for the decline in property damage, arson and looting.
Download the new Independent Premium app
Sharing the full story, not just the headlines
Download now
Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

  • Trump lashes out at Jim Mattis after scathing criticism
  • Obama hails ‘transformative’ protesters and calls for police reform
  • President says ‘something snapped’ in officer charged with murder
  • Officer stabbed, two shot in New York after curfew
  • Seattle to pursue police oversight after 12,000 complaints

Show latest update
2020-06-04T08:55:00.000Z
Trump lashes out at Jim Mattis after scathing criticism
Donald Trump has lashed out at his ex-secretary of defence, Jim Mattis, after the admired general wrote an op-ed for The Atlantic in which he said he was angry and appalled by the police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent week of unrest, saying the president tries to divide us and was incapable of mature leadership.
Mattis, who retired from his post in late December 2018 following a profound disagreement with Trump over troop withdrawals from Syria, also accused the president of setting up a “false conflict” between the military and civilian society.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” he said.
Mattis said he never dreamed troops “would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens – much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside,” alluding to Trump’s walk to St Johns Church on Monday after police forcibly cleared DC’s Lafayette Square of mostly peaceful protesters
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us, he continued.
“We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.”
Predictably, the president reacted to that with petulant name-calling.
Heres Richard Halls report.

  • Joe Sommerlad
  • 4 June 2020 09:48

2020-06-04T08:40:00.000Z
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of the ongoing protests across the US following the death of George Floyd in police custody.

  • Joe Sommerlad
  • 4 June 2020 09:42