June 12 Black Lives Matter protests

President Trump said “in general” he supports a ban on choke holds for police officers, but that in some cases they may be necessary.

“You’ve got somebody in a chokehold, what are you going to do?,” Trump continued. “Let go and say, ‘let's start over, I’m not allowed to have you in a chokehold?’ it's a tough situation.”

“I think the concept of chokeholds sounds so innocent and so perfect. If it's two on one, that's a bit of a different story, depending,” he said. “I think it would be a very good thing, generally speaking, it should be ended.”

Regulations on police officers performing chokeholds could be local, the President said, but the federal government, “can certainly make recommendations, and very strong recommendations.”

The President's comments come as Democrats and Republicans in Congress are working on legislative proposals aimed at curbing police brutality and misconduct. The top Republican in the US House of Representatives said Thursday he would support a chokehold ban, a proposal currently included in the House Democrats' draft bill. 

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President Trump said he did not schedule his first rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic on Juneteenth “on purpose.”

Trump was interviewed by Fox News host Harris Faulkner on Thursday, when the President visited Dallas to host a roundtable with law enforcement and community leaders in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers.

In newly aired interview footage, Faulkner asked, “Your rally is set for June 19th. Was that on purpose?”

“Uh, no, but I know exactly what you’re going to say. … Think about it as a celebration. My rally is a celebration,” Trump responded, adding, “Don’t think about it as an inconvenience.”

The President will hold his first campaign reelection rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic on June 19 — the day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

“The fact that I’m having a rally on that day — you can really think about that very positively as a celebration. Because a rally to me is a celebration,” Trump continued. “It’s an interesting date. It wasn’t done for that reason, but it’s an interesting date."

A moment of silence was held in honor of George Floyd during Friday's special legislative session in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

"Please join me for a moment of silence in memory of George Perry Floyd, for eight minutes and 46 seconds," Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman said.

Gov. Tim Walz convened the special session with police reform and the economy on the top of his priorities.

The Minneapolis City Council has unanimously voted to terminate the declaration of local emergency due to civil disturbances in the city following the killing of George Floyd. 

Mayor Jacob Frey declared a local emergency on May 28 when the city requested assistance from the state and authorization of the National Guard in Minneapolis. 

"There's no negative consequences anticipated by ending" the declaration, said council member Linea Palmisano who authored the resolution.

"We checked with (Federal Emergency Management Agency), we checked with the state, there are no negative impacts," Palmisano said. 

The Minneapolis City Council has unanimously voted in favor of a resolution that evaluates how policing is handled in the city moving forward.

The measure starts a year-long process aimed at creating a new model for public safety in the city, all 12 members are co-authors of the resolution. 

The resolution "describes the history of police violence and use of excessive force in our community, it talks about the financial liability we've experienced and related to those use of force," said Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender.

The measure also highlights the work of Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, "and the importance of his leadership." Bender said.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed part of a New York State police reform bill package into law.

The package — which consists of 10 police reform bills that passed both the New York State Senate and New York State assembly this week — will ban the use of chokeholds by police officers, among other reforms.

Cuomo signed four out of 10 police reform bills into law today. The other six police reform bills await the governor’s signature. 

The four bills signed today... 

Cuomo was joined by Rev. Al Sharpton and New York State Assembly speaker Carl Heastie at the bill signing ceremony at his Manhattan office.  

"We had many, many Republicans voting for these bills because I think the world has enough is enough, is enough," Heastie said. 

Speaking about Cuomo, Sharpton said, “he has raised the bar on how we deal with policing on this executive order.” 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will issue an executive order that will require local governments and police agencies, about 500, to develop a plan that "reinvents and modernizes" police strategies and programs in their communities.

The order is part of the "NYS Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative" that Cuomo said the state is launching.

Here's what's in the order: The agencies must formulate a plan that among other things, addresses the use of force by police officers. They also must have a transparent citizen complaint procedures. Cuomo called on community participation in the process.

Cuomo said the plan must be enacted by local law by April 1 for the agencies to be eligible for state funding.

Cuomo said no other state has done this measure, but New York will lead the way because "New York tough, smart, united, disciplined and loving."

"If there's no trust, the community is not going to allow the police to police. And there is no trust. Or there is a breach of the trust and that has to be restored and repaired," Cuomo said.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced Friday that in addition to diverting $3 million in police overtime pay to public health, he is "taking a number of steps in law enforcement accountability." 

At a news conference Friday in front of City Hall, Walsh said that the Boston Police Department has completed a review of its use of force policies outlined by the National '8 Can't Wait' movement. The Boston Police Department is clarifying rules to meet the standards and "has immediately implemented several forms that they hadn't previously," Walsh said.

Walsh said the department is also adopting the training program known as ethical policing. This means that officers will not only be required to intervene when they witness unnecessary use of force, but will be trained with strategies to prevent abuses from occurring. 

Walsh also said that moving forward the Boston Police Department will no longer use the "hair test" for evidence of drug use.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he will sign recently passed bills on police reform into law.

Some background: Earlier this week, New York legislators passed a package of bills providing for comprehensive police reform.

One of the bills — which passed in the state assembly and senate bodies — mandates that a police officer who injures or kills somebody through the use of "a chokehold or similar restraint" can be charged with a class C felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The bill is named for Eric Garner, an African American man who died as a result of a police chokehold during a 2014 arrest. The chokehold tactic was already prohibited by the NYPD at the time of the incident.

Another bill will designate the attorney general as an independent prosecutor for matters relating to the deaths of unarmed civilians caused by law enforcement.

Another action will allow disciplinary records for individual police officers, firefighters or corrections officers to be released without their written consent. It is the reversal of a 1976 statute known as Section 50-a of the New York State Civil Rights Law, which was originally enacted to exempt police officers from being cross-examined during criminal prosecutions, according to the bill.

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