President Obama will determine whether to travel to Ferguson, Mo., once “things calm down a little bit,” the White House said Tuesday, stoking speculation of a presidential visit following a grand jury’s decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
“That’s something still under consideration, and as soon as we have a determination on that we’ll let you know,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters Tuesday aboard Air Force One.
Obama late Monday called for peace in Ferguson, as some protesters torched buildings and threw bricks through storefronts.
Some say Obama needs to do more to ensure calm in Ferguson, beginning with a personal trip to the St. Louis suburb.
The White House acknowledged that Obama was disappointed by the tenor of the protests in Ferguson.
“We are all deeply worried and disappointed — and concerned about the violence, any sort of violence and that’s why the president went out and spoke about it last night,” Schultz said. “Again I would remind you the vast majority of protests in Missouri and around the country were peaceful and constructive.”
Obama’s address from the White House Monday night was split screen on television, with images of burning buildings and tear-gas filled streets, uncomfortable optics for the president — but proof, his aides said, of the need for Obama to address the situation.
“I think the images that were captured last night,” Schultz argued, “were all the more reason the president felt compelled to go out and speak and urge calm.”
As the White House was forced to address the Ferguson situation, Missouri Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon announced Tuesday that additional members of the National Guard would patrol the streets to maintain safety.
Obama will again weigh in on Ferguson before remarks later Tuesday in Chicago devoted to his executive action on immigration reform.
