Trump was rushed into a White House bunker used during past terrorist attacks during Friday protests in Washington, DC

• President Donald Trump was taken into the White House security bunker on Friday night amid protests against police brutality in downtown Washington, DC, The New York Times and CNN reported Sunday.
• Officials told The Times that they never believed the president was in danger but took the precaution as protests escalated outside the president's residence.
• Demonstrations have broken out in about 75 US cities over the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis after an officer knelt on his neck.

President Donald Trump was taken into an underground security bunker in the White House by Secret Service on Friday night as protests against police brutality and racism drew large crowds in downtown Washington, DC, The New York Times and CNN reported Sunday.

Officials told The Times that they never believed the president was in danger but took the precaution as tensions escalated. Trump was kept in the bunker for just under an hour, CNN reported.

Demonstrations have been organized in about 75 US cities over the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis.

The National Guard was deployed in Washington over the weekend at the Pentagon's request to help maintain order near the White House. The president claimed that DC Mayor Muriel Bowser refused to allow the city's police force to "get involved" in handling the protests around the White House, but the Secret Service contradicted Trump's statement and said the DC police were also present on the scene.

Trump tweeted out a string of attacks on the protesters and Democratic mayors and governors over the weekend and warned that the Secret Service was "just waiting for action," and would use "vicious dogs" and "ominous weapons" against those who breached the White House security boundary.

"Big crowd, professionally organized, but nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen," Trump wrote on Saturday.

Bowser said Trump's threat was an allusion to the worst police violence of the civil rights protests in the 1960s when peaceful demonstrators were attacked by dogs, unleashed by police.

Protesters clashed with the Secret Service outside the White House on Saturday and demonstrations continued on Sunday, including some violent encounters.

Bowser on Sunday ordered a citywide curfew effective from 11 p.m. on Sunday to 6 a.m. on Monday and called in the DC National Guard to "support the Metropolitan Police Department."

Tom Porter contributed to this report.

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