President Donald Trump on Monday insisted he would visit the violence-scarred Wisconsin city Tuesday even as local officials pleaded with him to stay away to avoid sparking new protests or violence.
Trump said he has been seeking to contact the family of Jacob Blake, the unarmed Black man who was shot in the back seven times by a Kenosha police officer in a videotaped confrontation.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the White House has been unable to reach Jacob Blake Sr., even though the father of the critically injured man addressed thousands at a weekend racial justice march in Washington, D.C.
Trump apparently rejected a plea from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers to scrap the visit as the state continues to deal with the aftermath of the Blake shooting as well as the killings of two unarmed protesters by a teenage police supporter.
Trump hasn't said if he will try to contact the families of those two shooting victims.
The president says he plans to survey the damage from violence and looting that erupted after the Blake shooting and meet with law enforcement.
He took credit for the decision to order National Guard troops into Kenosha, but it was Evers, a Democrat, who gave the order.
There was no immediate word on whether Trump supporters or racial justice protesters plan to return to the streets of Kenosha in response to Trump's planned visit.
