Gov. Janet Mills called a security guard over to listen in on a call between governors and President Donald Trump in 2020 and wondered if he was having a “breakdown,” according to an upcoming book from two New York Times reporters.
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of governors met with Trump to seek aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But those governors were reportedly met with requests for loyalty and reciprocity, according to a report from The Hill on “This Will Not Pass,” a book by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.
After nationwide protests broke out after George Floyd was murdered by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, Trump reportedly went on a rant demanding stiffer actions by police forces to restore order. The call became so confusing that participants — including Mills, a Democrat — called in others to listen in.
“You gotta sit here and listen to this because I think the president of the United States is having a nervous breakdown or something, and it’s scary,” she reportedly told a security guard.
Mills’ office did not immediately respond to a question on her quote.
At the time, the former Republican president was also planning to appear at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was scheduled to take place on Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the date when Black people in Texas learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed.
Trump reportedly responded to questions about whether to hold the rally on that date by asking if people could imagine “changing the day of the rally in Oklahoma to accommodate these people?” according to The Hill.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.