White House: Police Shootings of African-Americans Are a ‘Local Matter’

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the deaths of African-Americans in police-involved shootings are local issues that should be handled by local authorities on Wednesday. When asked about the acquittal of two police officers involved in Alton Sterling’s death in 2016, Sanders replied that it was “something that is a local matter and that’s something that we feel should be left up to the local authorities at this point in time.” She continued, saying that “we want to make sure that all law enforcement is carrying out the letter of the law,” but specific instances should be “left up to local authorities to make that determination and not something for the federal government to weigh in to.” When asked if President Donald Trump feels he can weigh in on the national conversation about racial tensions, she responded that the White House “want[s] to find ways to bring the country together. Certainly not looking for any place of division.”