President Trump on Monday told the nation’s governors that they needed to get “much tougher” in responding to the protests breaking out across the country. He said the lack of response has so far made state officials look weak. Trump encouraged them to mass arrest those inciting violence at protests and said if they didn’t they would “look like a bunch of jerks.” “You have to arrest people and you have to try people. And they need to go to jail for what they’ve done,” Trump said. 

The president told governors that the Department of Justice was looking into how to prosecute some of those protesters engaging in violence under federal law. “We will activate Bill Barr and we will activate him strongly,” Trump said referring to the attorney general. 

The Daily Beast obtained a copy of the nearly hour-long call. Listen for yourself here: