Donald Trump said in an interview Monday the message of Black Lives Matter has fueled attacks against police and, if elected president, his administration would monitor the group for threats against law enforcement.
The comments come in the wake of the fatal shooting of police officers in Dallas, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, though none of the attacks have been directly tied to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“You see them marching and you see them on occasion, at least, I have seen it, where they are essentially calling death to the police,” Trump said in an unusual The O'Reilly Factor interview during the Republican National Convention. “And that's not acceptable whether you like them or don't like them.”
Trump said in “certain instances” the group is a “fuse-lighter in the assassinations” of police officers.
“It's a very, very serious situation and we just can't let it happen. Now, everybody is free to say what you want to say up to a point,” Trump said.“But when you are calling death to police and to kill the police, essentially, which is what they said, that's a real problem.”
O'Reilly asked Trump whether he would ask his U.S. attorney general to look into possible charges against Black Lives Matter.
“When you see something like that taking place, we are going to have to, perhaps, talk with the attorney general about it or do something,” Trump said. “But, at a minimum, we're going to have to be watching. That's really bad stuff and it's happened more than once.”
