Mourners gather at the funeral of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man killed at the hands of police, and largely-peaceful rallies continue across the US.

But Donald Trump labels the protests “terrorist” by promoting a tweet from his former lawyer John Dowd.

Floyd was laid off in a gold coffin, his photo to one side, in a front of an iconic mural of tribute after his homicide on May 25. He died after police officer Derek Chauvin, now charged with second-degree murder, knelt on his neck for 8 minutes, 43 seconds. Three officers who were alongside Chauvin have been charged as accessories to the killing.

After the video of the incident was shown, Rev. Al Sharpton said Floyd’s death would be a catalyst for change: “Get your knee off our necks.”

Sharpton mentioned Donald Trump’s photo opportunity on Monday, when Trump stood with a bible in his upraised hand in front of a church near the White House after Attorney General Wiliam Barr ordered law enforcement to clear out peaceful protesters with tear gas.

Since he held a bible…I would like him to open that Bible and read Ecclesiastes 3, “To every season, there’s a time and a purpose.”

It is our job to let the world know, when we see what is happening in this country…”You need to know what time it is.”…

And for those who have agendas which are not about justice, this family will not let you use George as a prop.

Authorities began lifting curfews across the country, including in Washington DC and Los Angeles County. In Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh led a silence of 8 minutes and 46 seconds. In Asheville, North Carolina, police chief David Zack apologized after officers in riot gear destroyed a medical station at a protest site, an incident captured on video: “For these actions, I am truly sorry.” Two officers in Buffalo, New York were suspended for shoving a protester.

There were scattered cases of police detaining peaceful protesters, including in New York City, but no reports of violence.

Meanwhile, civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, said they will sue Trump, Barr, and other officials over Monday’s tear-gassing of people gathered in Lafayette Park near the White House.

Trump and his inner circle are accused of “violating…constitutional rights and engaging in an unlawful conspiracy to violate those rights”.

April Goggans of Black Lives Matter DC, the lead plaintiff in the case, cited the killings of Floyd and Breonna Taylor, shot multiple times by police in her apartment in Lousville, Kentucky: “[This] has reignited the rage, pain and deep sadness our community has suffered for generations. We won’t be silenced by teargas and rubber bullets. Now is our time to be heard.”

Praising a Lie About Protesters

But Trump did not back away from his warnings of shooting, “vicious dogs”, and “ominous weapons” and deployment of US troops, despite pushback from military commanders.

Instead, he commended the message from John Dowd, who led Trump’s legal team in the Trump-Russia investigation until his resignation in March 2018:

Dowd published his letter to Jim Mattis, the former Secretary of Defense who challenged Trump in a statement earlier this week:

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.

We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.

See TrumpWatch, Day 1,231: Floyd Protests — Military Commanders Break Away from Trump

Dowd responded to Mattis with the false allegation, “The phony protesters near Lafayette were not peaceful and are not real. They are terrorists using idle hate filled students to burn and destroy. They were abusing and disrespecting the police when the police were preparing the area for the 1900 curfew.”

Dowd also insisted that “no one divided this country more than [President Barack] Obama” and that “President Trump has done more for our minority brothers and sisters in three years than anyone in the last fifty”.

He closed by echoing Trump’s insults of Mattis, who resigned in January 2019 over Trump’s abrupt order to withdraw US forces from Syria: “Perhaps your anger is borne of embarrassment for your own failure as head of Central Command.”

Biden: “A Battle for the Soul of Our Country”

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, gave a contrasting message to African American supporters:

Hate didn’t begin with Donald Trump; it’s not going to end with him. The history of our country is not a fairy tale. It doesn’t guarantee a happy ending….We’re in a battle for the soul of this country. It’s been a constant push and pull for the last 200 years.

Biden repeated his call from Tuesday for leadership and responsbility: “The words a President says matter, so when a president stands up and divides people all the time, you’re going to get the worst of us to come out.”

He asked, “Do we really think this is as good as we can be as a nation? I don’t think the vast majority of people think that.”

I thought we had made enormous progress when we elected an African-American president. I thought things had really changed. I thought you could defeat hate, you could kill hate. But the point is, you can’t. Hate only hides, and if you breathe any oxygen into that hate, it comes alive again.