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Trump 'didn't give me an opportunity to speak', says Floyd's brother
By David Millward
Donald Trump has been accused of denying the brother of the man killed by a Minneapolis police officer the chance to speak during a telephone call in which the US President offered his condolences.
Philonise Floyd spoke to Trump and Joe Biden, the Democratic party's presumptive presidential nominee, in the aftermath of the death of his 46-year-old brother George last Monday.
Artists complete a mural of George Floyd outside of Cup Foods, Thursday, May 28, 2020 in Minneapolis.Credit: Star Tribune
Trump's attempts to defuse the tension, fuelled by video footage showing police officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on Mr Floyd's neck, appeared to have failed.
"It was so fast, he didn't give me an opportunity to speak," Floyd told the Reverend Al Sharpton on MSNBC.
"It was how I was trying to talk to him but he just kept like pushing me out like, 'I don't want to hear what you're talking about'.
"And I just told him, I want justice. I said that I couldn't believe that they committed a modern-day lynching in broad daylight."
Floyd said he had asked Biden to secure justice for his brother. "I asked vice president Biden - I never had to beg a man before - but I asked him, could he please, please get justice for my brother," Floyd said.
"I need it. I do not want to see him on a shirt just like the other guys. Nobody deserved that. Black folk don't deserve that. We're all dying. Black lives matter."
Earlier Trump had expressed his sympathy with Floyd's family, describing them as "terrific people".
"I just expressed my sorrow. That was a horrible thing to witness," he said, adding that it "looked like there was no excuse for it".
Having seen the video, the president said it was obvious that Floyd was in great pain.
However, Trump's other responses, notably the language he has used in threatening to set "vicious dogs" on protesters at the White House, have led to the president being accused of being tone-deaf to the anger that has swept the country.
Biden has been unequivocal in his support for the family, condemning racial injustice in America and calling for police reform.
"Weeks like this we see it plainly that we're a country with an open wound. And none of us can turn away," Biden said in a broadcast on Friday. "None of us can be silent. None of us can any longer, can we hear the words 'I can't breathe' and do nothing."
The Telegraph, London