U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Dallas on Thursday for a discussion on race and policing.
But in a move that raised eyebrows, he excluded the three top law enforcement officials in the county – a police chief, sheriff and district attorney.
While the police chief of Glenn Heights, a town of 11,000 south of Dallas, will be part of the discussion,
Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown and District Attorney John Creuzot were not invited.
Trump has demanded a military crackdown on protests nationwide, boasting again on Thursday about his stroll last week to a church near the White House, where he brandished a Bible as cameras clicked, after National Guard and Park Police used pepper gas and rubber pellets to clear protesters.
The nation’s top military officer, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, apologized Thursday for taking part in that photo opportunity, calling it a “mistake” that created “a perception of the military involved in domestic politics,” an extraordinary rebuke of the commander in chief that echoed Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s rejection of Trump’s call for putting federal troops on the streets of U.S. cities.