Nancy Pelosi THANKS George Floyd for ‘sacrificing your life for justice’ in bizarre statement after Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi bizarrely thanked George Floyd for ‘sacrificing your life for justice’ in remarks after Derek Chauvin was found guilty
- ‘Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice, for being there to call out to your mom,’ she said
- Pelosi made her remarks at press conference with members of the Congressional Black Caucus
- Lawmakers watched the verdict together in a room off the Capitol
Speaker Nancy Pelosi bizarrely thanked George Floyd for ‘sacrificing your life for justice’ in remarks after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of three counts of murder and manslaughter.
‘Thank God the jury validated what we saw,’ Pelosi said at a press conference on Capitol Hill, referring to the video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes.
‘Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice, for being there to call out to your mom,’ she said.
‘Because of you and because of thousands, millions of people around the world who came out for justice, your name will always be synonymous with justice,’ she added.
She later tweeted a clarification of her remarks, writing: ‘George Floyd should be alive today. His family’s calls for justice for his murder were heard around the world. He did not die in vain. We must make sure other families don’t suffer the same racism, violence & pain, and we must enact the George Floyd #JusticeInPolicing Act.’
Speaker Nancy Pelosi bizarrely thanked George Floyd for ‘sacrificing your life for justice’ in remarks after Derek Chauvin was found guilty
Derek Chauvin is pictured in court on Tuesday as the jury found him guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd
Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Floyd.
The jury returned its verdict on Tuesday afternoon after just 10 and a half hours of deliberation.
Pelosi said she spoke to the Floyd family Tuesday afternoon.
‘Around three o’clock I spoke to the family, to say to them: thank you. God bless you for your grace and your dignity,’ she said.
She made her comments surrounded by members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The lawmakers watched the verdict together in a room off the Capitol.
The speaker and other black lawmakers called for police reform, including the passage of The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
‘This is the first step,’ Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, the head of the Congressional Black Caucus, said of the verdict. ‘Today we start to change the world.’
The legislation would prohibit choke holds and no-knock warrants at the federal level, limit them at the state and local level, and restrict the use of qualified immunity, a legal shield for police against civil suits.
Congress has limited power to regulate the police, most of whom fall under state jurisdiction.
Speaker Pelosi joined members of the Congressional Black Caucus, led by caucus chair U.S. Representative Joyce Beatty, at a press conference after the verdict
After the verdict was read from the Minneapolis courthouse, cheers rose from the crowds that had gathered outside and down at the intersection of 38th and Chicago now known as George Floyd Square. Cup Foods, the store in which Floyd was last seen alive, shuttered its doors ahead of the decision.
Floyd’s younger brother, Philonise, 39, who took a knee at the courthouse steps at the start of the trial, was in court to hear the verdict read. He hugged Attorney General Keith Ellison and trial attorney Jerry Blackwell, whose voice was the first and last heard by the jury as he delivered both the state’s opening statement and their final rebuttal.
President Joe Biden spoke to Philonise on Monday after the jury went into deliberations. He, Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to the Floyd family after the verdict was rendered.