Audio shows Trump praised Walz in 2020 for handling of riots after George Floyd’s death

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers have been assailing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, over his handling of the rioting in his state in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020 — but in a phone call with governors that included Walz, then-President Trump praised his handling of the situation and said he was “very happy” with it.

In the audio obtained by CBS News, Trump is heard saying, “I know Governor Walz is on the phone, and we spoke, and I fully agree with the way he handled it the last couple of days.”

Trump appeared to make reference to the conversation during an interview Wednesday with Fox News, although he characterized it as a phone call from Walz, rather than a group call with other governors, and claimed that Walz had called him to ask for help.

“His house was surrounded by people that were waving an American flag,” Trump said. “That didn’t sound like very bad people, and he called me, and he was very concerned — very, very concerned that it was going to get out of control. They only had one guard, I guess it was at the mansion or at his … house.” He said that Walz asked him to “put out the word that I’m a good person, and I did I put out the word, I said, ‘he’s a good person.'”

Republicans, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, have accused Walz of inaction during the riots. 

“Tim Walz is a radical who let rioters burn Minneapolis to the ground in 2020,” Scalise posted on X on Tuesday.

Trump, in the 58-minute call with the governors, said of Walz, “He’s an excellent guy. You’ve got a big National Guard out there that’s ready to come in and fight like hell. I tell you, the best — what they did in Minneapolis was incredible. They went in and dominated, and it happened immediately.” 

Trump has said that he sent in guard forces, but Walz had already activated them before the call took place. 

According to audio of the call, Walz also agreed with Trump that it was necessary to use force initially to put down the riots, but he argued that the next step was enabling peaceful protests to continue.

“I think the guidance is, you got to get a handle on it with that force — that is absolutely correct,” Walz said on the call. “And then the transition in the next stage is trying to get those spaces for the peaceful protest. And I’m happy to do things that we have to look at — of how do we get reforms?”

Asked for comment about Trump’s earlier remarks, his campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said in a statement Wednesday: “Governor Walz allowed Minneapolis to burn for days, despite President Trump’s offer to deploy soldiers and cries for help from the liberal Mayor of Minneapolis. In this daily briefing phone call with Governors on June 1, days after the riots began, President Trump acknowledged Governor Walz for FINALLY taking action to deploy the National Guard to end the violence in the city.” 

— Hunter Woodall and Zak Hudak contributed to this report. 

contributed to this report.