Watch Live: White House Press Secretary Holds First Briefing After Weekend Of Chaos

Update (1425ET): The press conference has begun (20 mins late, as per usual) and the headlines (and tweets) are rolling in:

• GOVERNORS MUST ACT, DEPLOY NATIONAL GUARD AS FITS, MCENANY SAYS
• TRUMP IS DEMANDING ACTION TO PROTECT CITIZENS, MCENANY SAYS
• WHITE HOUSE SAYS THERE WILL BE ADDITIONAL ‘FEDERAL ASSETS’ DEPLOYED ACROSS NATION IN RESPONSE TO VIOLENT PROTESTS
• ‘WE’RE LOOKING AT EVERY TOOL IN THE FEDERAL TOOLKIT’
• WHITE HOUSE SAYS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HAS ‘AMPLE EVIDENCE’ THAT ANTIFA BEHIND VIOLENCE AT PROTESTS
• TRUMP CALL WITH GOVERNORS FOCUSED ON STRONGER UTILIZATION OF NATIONAL GUARD
• WHITE HOUSE SAYS TRUMP WAS ENCOURAGING GOVERNORS TO CALL UP MORE NATIONAL GUARD
• MCENANY ‘WON’T PUT A NUMBER’ ON NECESSARY NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS
• “THIS PRESIDENT HAS BEEN LEADING” – TRUMP NOT “HIDING OUT” ON THIS ISSUE
• PRESIDENT TAKEN “WILDLY OUT OF CONTEXT” ON ‘WHEN LOOTING STARTS, THE SHOOTING STARTS’

Asked what the president is doing about the death of George Floyd, @PressSec replies there’s a federal civil rights investigation” but can’t allow antifa to carry out violence in its wake.

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) June 1, 2020

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Following reports that President Trump slammed the nation’s governors and mayors as “weak” before threatening to send in the National Guard to NYC during a video briefing from the situation room, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany will hold the administration’s first briefing since the weekend of unrest across the country.

Trump’s tweets purportedly calling for police to embrace more violent tactics have aggravated his critics, while many of his supporters largely stood by him as officials who started the weekend blaming white supremacists and “foreign influence” for the devastation in their cities eventually pleaded with “anarchists” and “violent hooligans” commingling with “peaceful demonstrators” for most of the violence.

JUST IN: President Trump unloads on the nation’s governors on a call, calls on them to step up enforcement: “You have to dominate, if you don’t dominate you’re wasting your time. They’re going to run over you, you’re going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate.”

— Ed O’Keefe (@edokeefe) June 1, 2020

Since taking over the WH press shop, McEnany has held several press conferences characterized by her combative stance toward the press.

We’re sure today’s will prove no exception: