Former US President Donald Trump wanted a violent military type response to George Floyd protesters as they took to the streets protesting the unjust killing, says a newly released book.
Trump reportedly told his advisers that he wanted to see soldiers "beat the f**k" out of the protesters, read an excerpt from Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender's book Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story Of How Trump Lost that was published by CNN.
The book reports that Trump repeatedly demanded advisers to get extremely violent on protesters saying ''just shoot them'' and is also quoted as saying ''crack their skulls''.
However, aides in the Trump administration challenged the President's order and that is when his tone slightly softened but still asked them to shoot people in their legs. ''Well, shoot them in the leg or maybe the foot, but be hard on them,'' according to the book.
As protests took place across the country, the former president and his aides gathered at the White House where a rift broke out in a meeting attended by then-senior policy adviser Stephen Miller after he compared US ''cities were like war zones'' and Gen. Mark Milley hit back at his claims asking him to ''shut the f*ck up''.
Trump during his presidential run had repeatedly called himself a man of ''law and order'' but turned the other way when in power by wanting to use military level force against protesters.
His criticism calling protesters ''looters'' after the killing of George Floyd drew widespread condemnation and was a pivotal point that turned the tides during the presidential election which he eventually lost to Joe Biden.
However, following the January 6, insurrection at the Capitol Hill, Trump's tone was starkingly different despite his followers turning violent and in a video released on Twitter, which was later flagged and taken down, Trump calmly requested them to go home and also called them ''special''.
The former President is yet to respond to the allegations made in the book in his 'From the Desk of Donald J. Trump' and his last message was about his upcoming tour with Bill O'Reilly.
''My tour with Bill O'Reilly is getting a lot of attention, and I'm looking forward to it. Maybe tickets would make a great Father's Day gift? In any event, I'll see you then, and much sooner!,'' the statement read.
