"Furious Trump Said Can't You Just Shoot Them...": US Ex-Official In Book

Esper wrote that he sat in the Oval Office with "the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington" over the police killing of a Black man.

Donald Trump vented fury at protesters outside the White House in 2020, saying "Can't you just shoot them?" according to then defense secretary Mark Esper in book excerpts released Monday.

Esper wrote that he sat in the Oval Office with "the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington" over the police killing of a Black man.

"Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?" Trump is quoted as saying in a preview of Esper's memoir seen by the Axios news website.

The protests, which were marked by violence as protesters clashed with security forces, were part of a nationwide wave of demonstrations in the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.