VIDEO: Trump Addresses Riots From the Rose Garden: 'America Needs Creation, Not Chaos'

Monday evening President Donald Trump spoke about the ongoing nationwide riots and unrest from the Rose Garden at the White House. While the president spoke, a riot was underway just across the street from where he stood.

The president spoke on the killing of George Floyd, urging the protesters to be peaceful so that Floyd did not “die in vain.”

“My first and highest duty is to defend our great country and the American people,” Trump said. “I swore an oath to uphold the laws of our nation, and that is exactly what I will do.”

“All Americans were rightly sickened and revolted by the brutal death of George Floyd,” Trump said, adding that “For George and his family, justice will be served. He will not have died in vain. But we cannot allow the righteous cries of peaceful protesters to be drowned out by an angry mob.

“The biggest victims of the rioting are the peace-loving citizens in our poorest communities. And as their president, I will fight to keep them safe.

“I will fight to protect you. I am your president of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters,” Trump said.

The president said he was mobilizing all available federal resources available to stop the rioting and looting and restore order from “professional anarchists” and rioters who plague our cities, naming Antifa explicitly. He called on governors to deploy sufficient forces to “dominate the streets” and end the riots.

“A number of state and local governments have failed to take action to safeguard their residents,” he said, adding that “Innocent people have been savagely beaten, like the young man in Dallas, Texas, who was left dying on the street. Or the woman in upstate New York, viciously attacked by dangerous thugs.

“Small business owners have seen their dreams utterly destroyed” in the riots, Trump said.

After describing several acts of violence, including the vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II monument in Washington, Trump said, calling these acts and the killing of a black federal officer by rioters “acts of domestic terror.”

Trump called the acts “crimes against God.”

“America needs creation, not destruction. Cooperation, not contempt. Security, not anarchy. Healing, not hatred. Justice, not chaos. This is our mission, and we will succeed.”

“Our country always wins.”

The president promised that riot instigators would face severe penalties and “lengthy sentences in jail.”

Watch the entire video of the president’s remarks below.