President Joe Biden called members of George Floyd’s family on Monday, the White House said, as the country awaits a jury verdict in the murder and manslaughter case against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
“Biden spoke with the family of George Floyd yesterday to check in with them and also share that the family was in his prayers,” press secretary Jen Psaki said in a tweet on Tuesday.
MINNESOTA DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AHEAD OF CHAUVIN VERDICT
Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, detailed the conversation in media interviews earlier in the day.
“He was just calling. He knows how it is to lose a family member, and he knows the process of what we’re going through,” Floyd told NBC. “He was just letting us know that he was praying for us and hoping that everything would come out to be OK.”
As jurors entered their first full day of deliberations in the trial of the Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in connection with the death of George Floyd last summer, Biden said he is praying for the “right decision” in the case.
The president told reporters he had “come to know George’s family” and brothers and noted the “pressure and anxiety” they were going through.
“I waited until the jury was sequestered, and I called,” he said ahead of an Oval Office meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Chauvin pleaded not guilty to separate charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter after kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes.
Biden has closely followed the trial, Psaki told reporters Monday. The president met with Floyd’s family last year and is committed to addressing issues of police violence against people of color, she said.
Minneapolis and other cities are bracing for the possibility of unrest following a verdict in the Chauvin case that some fear could escalate tensions over race and policing. Protests roiled several cities over the weekend following the shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by a Minnesota police officer and newly revealed details of the police-involved shooting of a 13-year-old boy in Chicago.
More than 3,000 members of the Minnesota National Guard and additional police have deployed to the Twin Cities area, and the governor declared a state of emergency Monday.
Biden is urging peaceful protests, Psaki said Monday.
“His view is also that exercising First Amendment rights and protesting injustice is the most American thing that anyone can do. But as he also always says, protests must be peaceful,” she said. “That’s what he continues to call for and what he continues to believe is the right way to approach responding.”
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Biden raised the issue with Congressional Black Caucus members in a meeting last week and has repeatedly discussed it with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to CNN.
