Trump Says Rayshard Brooks Shooting 'Was Very Disturbing'; To Sign Police Reform Executive Order

President Donald Trump's first public comments on the shooting death of African-American Rayshard Brooks by a white police officer in Atlanta on June 12 totaled all of 13 words, packed into two brief sentences. And not even a word of sympathy for Brooks’ wife, Tomika Miller, and their four young children.

“I thought it was a terrible situation,” said Trump on TV Monday during a White House roundtable on protecting senior citizens. “To me it was very disturbing.”

Brooks, 27, was shot and killed by officer Garrett Rolfe of the Atlanta Police after fleeing an altercation with police at a Wendy’s restaurant. He had been asleep in his car in the drive-thru lane of the restaurant. The killing came amid the protests raging over the death of another African-American, George Floyd, under the custody of the Minneapolis police, and touched off a new wave of protests.

White House officials have failed to explain why it took almost three days for Trump to publicly comment on Brooks' shooting and why the president hasn't tweeted about it at all. Trump is infamous for his Twitter addiction and in January set a new personal record by tweeting 125 times in a single day. He's tweeted almost every day since he assumed the presidency in January 2017, barring a handful of days. His silence on Twitter about Brooks' death is adding to rumors of his racism.

Trump, however, elaborated on his new law and order executive order on "police reform." He said he'll sign the order Tuesday.

"The overall goal is we want law and order, and we want it done fairly, justly, we want it done safely," he said at the White House. "But we want law and order. It's about law and order. But it's about justice also, and it's about safety."

Trump said his proposed reforms, which are receiving heavy criticism early on, will be "very comprehensive." He hinted more was in store because "certainly we can add on to what we do" with legislative efforts in both the House and Senate. Trump said he'll call on Congress to pass additional legislation.

Media reports have said, citing unnamed sources, that the executive order will establish a database to track police officers with multiple instances of misconduct. The order will also use federal grants to goad departments into meeting certification standards on use of force. It will encourage police departments to involve mental health professionals when dealing with issues of mental illness, addiction and homelessness.

The measure intends to “have the discussion the country needs to have so we can turn the anger in the country into action and hope,” NBC News quoted an unnamed ranking administration official as saying.

Trump's executive order, however, doesn't address the much larger concerns raised by police reform advocates about racism and racial stereotypes in policing.

White House sources told NBC News the policing policies in Trump's order were coordinated by White House Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is leading the GOP's legislative push on new policing policies.

It's unknown, however, if Trump's new order will include the Democrats' demand that chokeholds be banned and for policies that will make it easier for people to recover damages when police departments violate their civil rights.