Cards on the Table

Biden All but Calls for Chauvin Conviction in Floyd Murder

The president said he had waited until jurors were sequestered, but the far-right voices who say the trial has been marred by public demands for justice were sure to be enraged.

Joe Biden waded into jury deliberations in the monumental trial of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin on Tuesday, suggesting evidence against the man charged with murdering George Floyd was “overwhelming.” Just hours after Judge Peter Cahill suggested Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) may have put a guilty verdict in danger of being thrown out on appeal when she suggested protesters might need to “get more confrontational” if the cop were cleared, the president joined the fray. Speaking to reporters in the Oval office, Biden said he had “come to know George’s family,” and had spoken to them as they—and the world—wait to learn what will come of the man charged in the killing that sparked the largest protest movement in American history.

Noting he had waited until jurors had been sequestered, so as to avoid the appearance of improperly influencing them as a high-profile public figure, Biden made it clear where he stood without explicitly calling for a guilty verdict. “I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict,” he said, “Which is... it’s overwhelming in my view.” Chauvin, who was fired soon after he pressed his knee on the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, for over nine minutes in Minneapolis last May, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter. Closing arguments wrapped up Monday, and the jury resumed deliberations Tuesday morning.

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Matt Taylor

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