George Floyd protests: Pentagon moves troops to DC, UCLA ‘troubled’ by police using stadium as ‘field jail’

State and local officials ramped up efforts once again Tuesday evening, adding to police forces and imposing earlier curfews as demonstrators took to the streets in major cities across the U.S. for another night of protests.

New York City announced its 8 p.m. curfew will remain in place for the rest of the week, but that didn’t stop hundreds from marching to protest the death of George Floyd. The 46-year-old died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on the unarmed black man’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

Meanwhile, black tech CEOs spoke out against race violence, while opening up about how they have been racially profiled.

The Australian government announced that it had opened an investigation into the apparent assault of an Australian news crew covering protests near the White House Monday night.

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the demonstrations gripping the U.S. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

6:20 a.m. ET — The acting chief of U.S. Park Police has defended actions taken on Monday to forcibly clear protesters in order to allow President Donald Trump to have his photo taken in front of St John’s Church outside the president’s residence.

In a statement published on Tuesday, the agency said “violent” protesters had thrown projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids. It also denied tear gas was used by U.S. Park Police officers or any other assisting law enforcement officers to clear the area at Lafayette Park.

Instead, Gregory T. Monahan, acting chief of the U.S. Park Police, said officers “employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls.”

The statement is in stark contrast to video footage which shows riot police and military police abruptly clearing a crowd of peaceful protesters near the White House by using pepper spray canisters and rubber bullets more than half-an-hour before the start of a city-wide curfew in Washington. 

Separately, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says in a fact sheet published online that riot control agents, sometimes referred to by the umbrella term “tear gas,” includes pepper spray.

4:45 a.m. ET — Pope Francis directly addressed the ongoing protests in the U.S. on Wednesday morning, saying racism or exclusion in any form cannot be tolerated but condemning violence as “self-destructive and self-defeating.”

“I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest in your nation in these past days, following the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd,” Pope Francis said, as he delivered the English-language section of his weekly audience. 

“We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life,” he continued. “At the same time, we have to recognize that the violence of recent nights is self-destructive and self-defeating. Nothing is gained by violence and so much is lost.”

2:12 a.m. ET — The Houston Police Department said they have made more than 200 arrests of “individuals engaged in criminal conduct, including throwing rocks and bottles at officers.” It said many people refused to clear the streets and were taken into custody.

The department also said the figure was “an extremely low number of arrests considering the thousands of people in our community who marched and demonstrated peacefully today.” It said it is currently “not aware of any significant property damage or injuries.” — Christine Wang 

1:59 a.m. ET — UCLA said it is “troubled” by reports that the Los Angeles police used the Jackie Robinson Stadium as a “field jail.” The university said that was done “without UCLA’s knowledge or permission.”

The college baseball stadium is named after Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first African-American player.

UCLA’s statement came after members of its faculty signed a letter expressing their deep concern that police used the stadium to detain protesters and process arrests on Monday.

“As UCLA faculty, we refuse to allow our university to serve as a police outpost at this moment of national uprising and at any other time,” the letter said. “As a public university, we serve the public and our students, and this in turn requires dismantling the mechanisms of punishment that have historically caused undeniable harm to communities in Los Angeles.”

The letter also alleged that law enforcement violated social distancing protocol by crowding the detained protesters onto buses to bring them to UCLA. It also remarked on the “cruel irony” that the facility had previously been used as a Covid-19 testing site. — Christine Wang

1:17 a.m. ET — Protesters continued demonstrations in many cities well after curfews began in their cities. Police in some regions began to make arrests.

In Los Angeles, NBC News reported that officers were seen taking people out of cars. Multiple sources familiar with the arrests told NBC that most were for violating curfew, which began at 6 p.m.

At least 1,000 protesters on a bridge turned back to Brooklyn after NYPD blocked them from entering Manhattan, NBC reported. The standoff between the two lasted more than an hour as some protesters tried to negotiate with police to let them through, NBC said.

New York City’s curfew began at 8 p.m., but the Associated Press reported that thousands continued to demonstrate throughout the city. The AP reported that police began making arrests around 9 p.m.

In Washington D.C., peaceful protests also carried on past the 7 p.m. curfew, NBC Washington reported.

The Denver Post reported that marchers in the city stopped at 9:40 p.m. for nine minutes of silence in honor of Floyd.

Denver, protesters were seen gathering at the Colorado State Capitol waving their cellphones after curfew began at 9 p.m. — Christine Wang

12 a.m. ET — In an extraordinary resignation letter, a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board slammed Secretary of Defense Mark Esper for participating in a widely criticized White House photo-op in front of St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C.

“Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op. You then accompanied President Trump in walking from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church for that photo … You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it,” Miller wrote in his resignation letter to Esper.

In a Tuesday night interview with NBC News, Esper said “I didn’t know where I was going” when asked about the highly criticized photo opportunity. “I thought I was going to do two things: to see some damage and to talk to the troops,” he added. — Amanda Macias

11:28 p.m. ET — The Department of Defense said it has moved multiple active duty Army units into the National Capitol Region as a “prudent planning measure in response to ongoing support to civil authorities operations.”

It said about 1,600 active duty troops have been recently moved from Fort Bragg and Fort Drum.

The announcement comes after President Donald Trump threatened to deploy the military to quell demonstrations. He had also urged governors to mobilize more National Guard units.

Nearly 1,300 D.C. National Guard personnel were joined by 1,500 more from South Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana to help support local police in D.C. — Amanda Macias, Christine Wang

Update: This post has been updated with further information.

9 p.m. ET — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joined CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday to discuss the recent protests throughout the country following the death of George Floyd.

Abdul-Jabbar said its “essential” to further the discussion about racism and police brutality toward black people in America. 

Floyd’s death was the latest to spark outrage about racism and police brutality against black people. Abdul-Jabbar called for law enforcement and corporate officials to “understand the problem” facing blacks in America. —Jabari Young

8:30 p.m. ET — President Donald Trump made two visits to Christian religious sites this week, both of which were marred by controversy almost as soon as they occurred. 

On Monday, riot and military police abruptly cleared out a peaceful crowd of protesters near the White House with pepper spray and rubber bullets, apparently so that Trump could walk across the public park to a nearby church.

There, Trump held up a bible and posed for photographs. The following day, Trump visited a Catholic shrine in Washington to Saint Pope John Paul II, and signed an executive order on “religious freedom” at the White House. 

Both visits drew condemnation from Christian religious leaders. The Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, said she was “horrified” that Trump had used the bible and the church as a political prop.

For the Trump reelection campaign, any potential schism between the president and Christian voters is cause for alarm, after a series of recent polls that showed the president losing ground among evangelical and Catholic voters.But one of the lessons of Trump’s 2016 victory was that his stumbles with the Christian faith did little to dampen support for him among evangelical Christian voters. —Christina Wilkie 

7:30 p.m. ET — Tech CEOs have been vocal in their opposition to race violence, but almost none of them are black — there’s not a single black CEO among tech companies in the Fortune 500.

Rocket Lawyer’s Charley Moore and ShotSpotter’s Ralph Clark are in the distinct minority, and both have a lot to say about the significance of the killing of George Floyd. Moore says he’s been racially profiled his whole life, most recently when he was pulled over in Vermont while driving with his son. Clark says that as a black man in the business world, “you’ve got to work twice as hard and be twice as good to get half as far.” —Ari Levy

6:30 p.m. ET — The Minnesota National Guard said Tuesday it plans to test all of its nearly 7,000 deployed troops for the coronavirus after one tested positive and nine others developed symptoms.

The state’s National Guard is deployed in response to mass protests sparked by George Floyd’s death, caused by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on the unarmed black man’s neck for nearly nine minutes.

“Upon activation, all of our members were screened for health readiness, including for symptoms of COVID-19,” Lt. Col. Dean Stulz said in a statement, adding that one service member tested positive for Covid-19 and has been placed in isolation.

Nearly a dozen public health specialists who spoke with CNBC have expressed concern that the protests will lead to greater spread of Covid-19 as many unmasked officers and protesters clash. —William Feuer

6 p.m. ET — A senior Defense official told reporters that the nation’s highest-ranking military officer’s role had not changed, despite President Donald Trump’s comments a day prior saying he was putting the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff “in charge” of efforts to address protests.”

Although the military and the Department are involved, General Milley remains an advisor to the president, remains an advisor to the Secretary, his role has not changed,” the Defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

In a contentious call with the nation’s governors Monday, Trump described Milley as “a warrior” with “a lot of victories and no losses,” according to audio obtained by NBC. He then added that he was putting the four-star general in charge. It was not immediately clear what Milley would be tasked with as it relates to the domestic unrest across the nation, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. — Amanda Macias

5:45 p.m. ET — Former President George W. Bush spoke out about the turmoil that has followed the death of George Floyd.

Bush, the 43rd president, lamented the enduring stain of racism on American society while condemning the looting and rioting that has accompanied the wave of protests over Floyd’s death.

“Many doubt the justice of our country, and with good reason. Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions,” Bush said in a statement.

But “we know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means,” Bush said. “Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress.”Bush has largely avoided the spotlight since leaving office in 2009. Former President Barack Obama on Monday shared his own thoughts about the protests over Floyd’s death. —Amanda Macias

5:30 p.m. ET — The Australian government said it will open an investigation into the apparent assault of an Australian news crew covering protests near the White House.During a live broadcast, a Channel 7 correspondent and cameraman were hit with rubber bullets as U.S. law enforcement forcibly cleared their position within a protest.

The pair are then seen running from the scene while another policeman swung at them with a baton. Before the on-camera reporter was struck, she was heard telling officers that she was a member of the media.

Australia’s ambassador in Washington, Arthur Sinodinos, said that his government was “in discussion with the State Department and they have offered assistance to identify where the complaint should be targeted.” —Amanda Macias

5:16 p.m. ET — Citi Bike said it received short notice on Monday to shut down its service by 10:30 p.m. and for the duration of New York City’s curfew. The bicycle-sharing company also said it is required to shut down for the new curfew, starting at  8 p.m., after being unable to reach an agreement with the mayor’s office and the city’s transportation department. 

In a tweet, Citi Bike said, “We disagree with this decision and believe it is important for the system to remain open and provide a reliable transportation option. We know how disruptive this is to everyone who relies on Citi Bike to get home — especially essential workers.” 

Citi Bike service in Jersey City, New Jersey will continue uninterrupted. —Melodie Warner

4:57 p.m. ET — California police made hundreds of arrests Monday as people disobeyed curfews implemented amidst widespread protests in the state, according to a report from the Associated Press.

While many demonstrations remained peaceful and ended when curfews took effect, lingering crowds tossed fireworks and bottles, and police deployed rubber bullets and tear gas.The unrest was on a smaller scale compared to the violence seen in California over the weekend, which included the destruction of local businesses, multiple injuries and the torching of police cars. —Hannah Miller 

4:33 p.m. ET — As Americans in cities nationwide have taken to the streets to protest, a new meta-analysis published in The Lancet Monday found social distancing to be the most effective way to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Thousands of demonstrators in cities across the country have gathered to protest police brutality after the death of George Floyd. But Dr. Holger Schünemann, a professor of medicine and clinical epidemiology at McMaster University in Canada who worked on the analysis, told NBC News the protests heighten the risk of spreading coronavirus.

The analysis comes as public officials, including Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have expressed concerns that the protests could prompt an increase in the spread of the virus.

Schünemann recommended hand washing and the use of eye and face coverings to lower the risk of spread. The analysis, which reviewed 172 studies to gauge the success of prevention and control measures, found that staying at least 3 feet apart can reduce the likelihood of transmission from 12.8% to 2.6%, though the authors noted distances of 6 feet or more could further lessen the transmission rate. —Alex Harring 

4:20 p.m. ET — “A lot of people are focused on the fact that the unrest is tied specifically to the spate of recent murders we’ve had and that’s absolutely true,” Scott Mills, president of the BET Network, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” Tuesday. “But the broader context of the unrest is that people are fundamentally saying we require change in this country. This disparate treatment of the black American community, this effect of lethal racism on this community, it has to change.”

BET is broadcasting a special Tuesday night featuring leaders and activists to discuss solutions to systemic issues in the country. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, singer John Legend and activist Tamika Mallory are among those who will be part of the dialogue.

The network has also announced that it is holding its first-ever presidential forum and has invited President Donald Trump and the presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to participate. —Sarah Whitten 

4:03 p.m. ET — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees the company would not reverse its decision to leave up a post in which President Trump said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

Zuckerberg announced this during a virtual all-hands meeting following public criticism over the weekend and on Monday from dozens of employees. At least two employees resigned over Facebook’s refusal to moderate Trump.

“I cannot stand by Facebook’s continued refusal to act on the president’s bigoted messages aimed at radicalizing the American public,” software engineer Timothy Aveni posted on LinkedIn. —Salvador Rodriguez 

3:57 p.m. ET — The state of Minnesota filed a civil rights charge against the Minneapolis Police Department and is launching a broad investigation into its policies and practices.

Gov. Tim Walz said the Minnesota Department of Human Rights will lead the inquiry, which will cover the past 10 years of “policies, procedures, and practices” at the department. The investigation will seek to determine whether the police department engaged in systemic discrimination.

In a tweet, Walz wrote that his administration “will use every tool at our disposal to deconstruct generations of systemic racism in Minnesota. This effort is one of many steps to come in our effort to restore trust with communities that have been unseen and unheard for far too long.”

A separate federal investigation being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the Department of Justice and the FBI is probing whether the Minneapolis Police Department violated federal law in connection with Floyd’s death. —Tucker Higgins

3:43 p.m. ET — A senior Defense official said Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, did not intend to participate in President Donald Trump’s photo-op in front of St. John’s Church.

“They were not aware that the Park Police and law enforcement had made a decision to clear the square. And once they began that walk off the White House grounds with the president, their understanding was that they were going out of the White House to go into a Lafayette Park to review the efforts to do address the protests,” explained a senior Defense official on a call with Pentagon reporters.

Once the protesters were forcibly cleared, Trump walked through the square with several members of his Cabinet as well as Chairman Milley. The president then stood in front of the historic church holding a Bible and posing for photographs. He later motioned to members of his Cabinet to stand alongside him for more pictures.

Esper, who has previously said that he would preserve the military’s apolitical nature, entered the frame and stood alongside Trump for the photo op. Esper and Milley were later seen engaging with National Guard members responding to the civil unrest. —Amanda Macias

2:54 p.m. ET — A lawyer for the family of George Floyd said “we understand that” former vice president Joe Biden will attend Floyd’s funeral on June 9 in Houston.

Biden’s presidential campaign had no immediate comment on whether he would attend the service for Floyd. CNBC has requested comment from Floyd family lawyer Ben Crump on whether President Donald Trump has been invited to the funeral. The White House had no immediate comment.

Crump also said that he expects that three other officers who were with Officer Derek Chauvin when he kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes would be criminally charged before the funeral next week. —Dan Mangan

2:50 p.m. ET — Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley said the spread of the coronavirus and now, civil unrest, won’t keep people from gravitating to urban centers across the country.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” the Ohio mayor said he remembers when people worried the 9/11 terrorist attacks would drive people away from New York City.

“I was a city councilman at the time here in Cincinnati, and we were all afraid it would signal the end of urban life,” he said.

Cranley said he had similar concerns when people protested after a police officer killed an unarmed black man, Timothy Thomas, in Cincinnati in 2001.

But, he added, since then, New York City has come back and Cincinnati’s population is rising again. He said urbanization is increasing and people want to live in cities near others who are creative and innovative. –Melissa Repko

2:31 p.m. ET — Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley joined other business leaders in voicing his thoughts to employees about the “senseless and tragic death of George Floyd.”

Manley, in a message to employees obtained by CNBC, said he is “deeply disturbed by the events that have occurred in the U.S.” following the death last week of the 46-year-old unarmed black man, which has sparked protests and riots across the globe.

“On behalf of everyone at the company, I emphatically reject the hatred and prejudice that still tears at the fabric of our society and which led to the death of George Floyd and so many before him,” Manley wrote. “Although we are seeing the rawness of this issue exposed in the United States, the scourge of racism and discrimination has no respect for international boundaries.” —Michael Wayland

12:57 p.m. ET — Countless companies have come out publicly in recent days to condemn racism and police brutality or to reflect how they’re responding following the death of George Floyd

And while some responses have been well-received, others have fallen flat for appearing hypocritical or opportunistic.

“People want to feel that black lives matter to brands before we get to the streets. Before something is burning. Before we are marching for our lives,” God-is Rivera, the global director of culture and community at Twitter, told CNBC. “I think it’s really important that brands first have to really think about, have they built equity with this community?” —Megan Graham

12:48 p.m. ET — Infectious disease experts and doctors fear protests will spur more Covid-19 infections and potentially make a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall much worse. However, they also say it’s difficult to balance the desire to protest injustice against the risk of infection.

While protesters cannot completely eliminate the risk of the coronavirus, there are things they can do to decrease the spread or chance of getting it, according to interviews with a dozen epidemiologists, doctors and infectious disease specialists. —Berkeley Lovelace Jr. 

12:37 p.m. ET — President Donald Trump gave credit to himself for “Domination” and “overwhelming force” that he said kept relative calm in Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis on Monday night after continued protests about George Floyd’s death in police custody.

“D.C. had no problems last night. Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination. Likewise, Minneapolis was great (thank you President Trump!),” he wrote in a Twitter post.

Trump also lashed out at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his brother Chris Cuomo, an anchorman on CNN, whom the president insultingly called “Fredo,” a reference to a hapless character in the “The Godfather” saga.

“Yesterday was a bad day for the Cuomo Brothers. New York was lost to the looters, thugs, Radical Left, and all others forms of Lowlife & Scum,” Trump wrote in a tweet. “The Governor refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard. NYC was ripped to pieces. Likewise, Fredo’s ratings are down 50%!”

Trump’s taunt came a day after police swept clear the area in front of the White House, using force to clear protesters so that the president could stage a photo opportunity at the nearby St. John’s Episcopal Chapel, where he posed for cameras while holding a bible. —Dan Mangan

12:28 p.m. ET — Instagram users are taking part in Blackout Tuesday and posting images of black squares in solidarity with black victims of police violence. As of 11:45 a.m. ET, more than 14.6 million Instagram posts used the hashtag #BlackoutTuesday.

The online movement first started in the music industry, when executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang requested that fellow leaders pause business and take a stand against racism. Platforms, such as Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, joined the movement and are using their apps to promote black artists.

The movement has since spread to brands, organizations and individuals, who are using Instagram to post only a black square to show a virtual moment of silence. Others are choosing to continue posting, but will only amplify voices of the black community.

The movement also hit a snag in the morning as people used hashtags meant for Black Lives Matter, which usually is related to global protests and donations, along with their black squares. That caused the usual #BLM and #BlackLivesMatter pages to be flooded with simple squares rather than information and resources, leading several to call out the problem. —Jessica Bursztynsky

12:15 p.m. ET — A curfew on New York City will continue through the end of the week as heated protests over the death of George Floyd continue to shake the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.

The curfews will take effect at 8 p.m. ET each evening and will be lifted at 5 a.m. the following morning, de Blasio said at a press briefing. The extension comes as massive protests in the city over Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer erupted into violence and looting once again Monday night. New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at the briefing that nearly 700 arrests were made on Monday night.

“We will not tolerate violence of any kind. We will not tolerate attacks on police officers. We will not tolerate hatred being created,” de Blasio said. “An attack on police officers is an attack on all of us. Pure and simple.” —Kevin Breuninger

11:55 a.m. ET — Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed President Donald Trump’s handling of the multiple crises plaguing the country, including the protests against police brutality and the coronavirus pandemic. Biden also laid out his own plan for police reform, and he pressed Congress to pass legislation that would prohibit the use of chokeholds by police.

Biden invoked Floyd’s memory by repeating his last words. “‘I can’t breathe.’ George Floyd’s last words,” said Biden. “But they didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re echoing across this nation.”

“They speak to a nation where too often just the color of your skin puts your life at risk. They speak to a nation where more than 100,000 people have lost their lives to a virus and 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment – with a disproportionate number of these deaths and job losses concentrated in the black and minority communities,” he added.

Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president, has previously said that he decided to run for the White House after hearing Trump say there were “very fine people on both sides” of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched in 2017. —Amanda Macias, Christina Wilkie

11:50 a.m. ET — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam rejected a request from Secretary of Defence Mark Esper to send up to 5,000 of the state’s Army National Guard to Washington, D.C., the Associated Press reported.

The request was part of a show of force spearheaded by the Trump administration to respond to violent civil protests and looting, Northam’s chief of staff, Clark Mercer, told AP.

President Donald Trump’s comments to governors in a phone call Monday, in which he said most governors were “weak” and needed to “dominate” the streets, played a role in the decision.

“The president’s remarks to the governors heightened our concerns about how the guard would be used,” Mercer told AP. —Terri Cullen

10:32 a.m. ET — My wife and I, like most Americans, were horrified by the killing of George Floyd last week and moved by the peaceful protests against racial injustice that followed. As white people raising a black baby girl, we need to prepare our daughter for a world where the deck can be stacked against minorities.

We don’t pretend to know what it’s like to be black, but we know we want to be part of the solution to create a more inclusive and just society. When we need help, we’re going to ask for it from our black friends, the black community and our families. We hope our daughter, in time, will not have to endure the kind of racism that exists today, more than a half century since the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

After a weekend of violent unrest, I held my baby girl and told her I loved her and that’s she’s a ray of hope who someday can be part of the changes we hope to see in America. But I assured her that for now her job is to be the beautiful, charismatic, and healthy little girl that brings such joy to our lives. Read my entire commentary here. —Matthew J. Belvedere

9:54 a.m. ET — Leaders of three civil rights groups said they were “disappointed and stunned” after a call with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg about the company’s decisions to maintain posts by President Donald Trump.

The executives participated in a Zoom call Monday with leaders of Color of Change, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

“We are disappointed and stunned by Mark’s incomprehensible explanations for allowing the Trump posts to remain up,” wrote the leaders, Rashad Robinson of Color of Change, Vanita Gupta of the Leadership Conference and Sherrilyn Ifill of LDF. “He did not demonstrate understanding of historic or modern-day voter suppression and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump’s call for violence against protesters. Mark is setting a very dangerous precedent for other voices who would say similar harmful things on Facebook.”

Trump addressed recent protests over the killing of George Floyd while in police custody, in a post on both Twitter and Facebook Friday, saying, “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Twitter flagged the tweet with a warning that it violates the company’s rules about “glorifying violence,” but Facebook took no action on the post.

Hundreds of Facebook employees took part in a “virtual walkout” Monday in a rare show of opposition within the company. The employees said on social media that they were ashamed and upset by their employers’ decision to leave Trump’s post untouched.

“We’re grateful that leaders in the civil rights community took the time to share candid, honest feedback with Mark and Sheryl. It is an important moment to listen, and we look forward to continuing these conversations,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. —Lauren Feiner

9:47 a.m. ET — Outgoing AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told CNBC that chief executives across the U.S. need to advocate for racial justice following the killing of George Floyd. Stephenson specifically pointed toward law enforcement policies that allow racial profiling, saying those must be stopped.

“All of us CEOs have large African-American employee bodies. We owe it to them to make sure that we’re speaking to this, that we’re asking our policymakers to step up, that we’re asking our political leaders to step up and recognize and just say it: We’ve got a problem,” Stephenson said in a “Squawk Box” interview. “We have a big problem and it needs to be dealt with.” —Jessica Bursztynsky

9:13 a.m. ET — In a message to employees and the public, Home Depot CEO Craig Menear spoke out against “the senseless killing” of unarmed black men and women, including George Floyd.

“We cannot ignore that their deaths are part of a pattern of racism and reflect the harsh reality that as a nation we are much too far from fulfilling the promise of equal justice for all,” he wrote. “We must stand with all who are committed to change that will bring us closer to realizing an end to discrimination and hatred.”

Menear said the retailer will donate $1 million to Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization. He said he is also working with employees to plan internal town halls “to share our experiences and create better understanding among us all.” —Melissa Repko

9:09 a.m. ET — General Motors CEO and Chairman Mary Barra is “impatient and disgusted” following the deaths of George Floyd and other black Americans, she said in messages to employees, suppliers and dealers this week. Barra said she is commissioning an “inclusion advisory board” of both internal and external leaders, which she will chair.

“Putting this in writing is not enough,” she wrote. “In addition to affirming the above principles, we are taking immediate action.” Barra said we need to stop asking why and start asking what we can “do – individually and collectively – to drive change … meaningful, deliberate change. As one of the largest global companies, there is much we can do.”

Barra’s message, according to a GM spokesman, was posted on the company’s internal intranet Sunday. It was then distributed to thousands of GM dealers and suppliers on Monday. —Michael Wayland

9:02 a.m. ET — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday proposed a reform agenda that prohibits law enforcement officers from using excessive force and chokeholds, which New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio years ago said he’d veto.

“I said from day one, I share the outrage and I stand with the protestors, [sic]. You look at that video of the killing of an unarmed man, Mr. Floyd, it is horrendous,” Cuomo said during a press briefing with reporters, referencing the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, last week in Minneapolis.

“So, yes, we should be outraged,” he added. “And yes, there’s a bigger point to make. It is abuse by police. But it’s something worse. It is racism. It is discrimination. It is fundamental inequality and injustice.” —Yelena Dzhanova

7:47 a.m. ET — Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO and President Jim Hackett sent a rather open letter to employees Monday regarding the “tragic killing of George Floyd” as well as America’s ongoing “systematic racism.”

Ford joins other companies such as Apple and Snap in sending messages to employees regarding the death of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer last week, which has sparked protests and riots across the country.

“While we would like to say that racism has no place in our society, we know that systemic racism still exists despite the progress that has been made,” the letter said. “We cannot turn a blind eye to it or accept some sense of ‘order’ that’s based on oppression.”

The message was sent Monday afternoon before President Donald Trump threatened to bring in the military if states and cities fail to bring an end to protests and riots across the country following Floyd’s death.

Ford’s message also addressed the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on black communities, citing “the legacy of economic disparities in our own home city of Detroit.” —Michael Wayland

Read CNBC’s previous coverage of the nationwide demonstrations: New York City imposes earlier curfew after violent protests, Trump threatens military action.