Tensions ease as thousands peacefully demonstrate overnight

Nationwide tensions appeared to ease Tuesday night, as thousands of demonstrators launched peaceful protests across the U.S. over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week. The 46-year-old unarmed black man was killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck for over 8 minutes. 

Major cities enacted earlier curfews and beefed up law enforcement resources Tuesday night after days of violence and destruction. Businesses had boarded up in anticipation of more looting and vandalism. Though arrests in some cities remain at elevated levels, there were fewer clashes between protesters and police in comparison to recent days. 

In Washington, D.C., added fencing has gone up near the White House and U.S. military members joined D.C. National Guard in policing streets. Meanwhile President Donald Trump hasn’t spoken publicly since Monday when he threatened military action in U.S. cities. 

This is CNBC’s live blog covering all the latest news on the demonstrations gripping the U.S. This blog will be updated throughout the day as the news breaks. 

8:35 a.m. ET — A former top White House advisor told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that if he still had President Donald Trump’s ear, he would urge him to show more concern and sympathy for the people protesting the death of George Floyd.

Mick Mulvaney, who was Trump’s acting chief of staff until March, said the rhetoric surrounding protests is often couched in a false “binary choice” between empathy and authority.

“If I were advising the president, I would tell him, ‘Look, law and order, safety and security, is empathy,'” Mulvaney said.

Trump’s response to the unrest over Floyd’s death has focused almost exclusively on getting “tough” against the violence and looting seen at some of the demonstrations. He has repeatedly pressured local leaders to bring National Guard members into their states and cities to keep a tighter lid on the protests.

“If you’re afraid of the police in your community, that’s not safety, that’s not security,” said Mulvaney, who now serves as the U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland. —Kevin Breuninger 

8:11 a.m. ET — President Donald Trump has privately eased off the idea of sending troops into states to enact control over protests, the Associated Press reports, citing unnamed White House officials. 

Trump on Monday threatened to deploy the military if local law enforcement couldn’t manage the unrest, and he later told governors that they needed to “dominate” in the face of demonstrations. 

But the AP reports Trump has shifted his thinking, in part after seeing peaceful protests unfold in many cities Tuesday. —Sara Salinas

7:57 a.m. ET — The New York Police Department made more than 200 arrests Tuesday related to protests throughout the city, NBC New York reports. 

That’s about on par with the number of arrests made Monday night, despite thousands of demonstrators, an earlier curfew and a stronger police force. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday pushed for a stronger response from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s police department. 

NBC New York reports more than 2,000 people have been arrested across the city during the six days of protests. —Sara Salinas

Read CNBC’s previous coverage of the nationwide demonstrations: Pentagon moves troops to DC, UCLA ‘troubled’ by police using stadium as ‘field jail’