Politicians are going all out in their effort to intimidate the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial — and now President Joe Biden has announced that he will be giving a speech following the verdict.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that Biden is expected to deliver remarks after the jury delivers their verdict, but has declined to provide further specifics about what he intends to say.
Biden has previously said that George Floyd was “murdered,” and on Tuesday said that he is “praying for the right verdict.”
“It’s overwhelming, in my view,” Biden said of the evidence against Chauvin in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with Hispanic lawmakers. “I wouldn’t say that unless the jury was sequestered.”
On Monday, Biden also called the late drug addict’s family members.
“I can only imagine the pressure and the anxiety that they’re feeling,” he said. “They’re a good family and they’re calling for peace and tranquility no matter what the verdict is.”
Floyd’s brother, Philonise, described his conversation with the President in an interview on NBC.
“He was just calling. He knows how it is to lose a family member. And he knows that the process of what we’re going through so he was just letting us know that he was praying for us, and hoping that everything would come out to be OK,” Philonise Floyd said.
The National Guard is activating roughly 250 troops in DC over riot concerns.
The Guard issued a statement on Monday saying that it would activate approximately 250 personnel “to support local law enforcement in response to potential First Amendment demonstrations” until May 9, as needed.
