House Speaker Nancy Pelosi caught flak from social media users on Tuesday following unusual remarks on the guilty verdict in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.
"Thank you, George Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice, for being there to call out to your mom…how heartbreaking was that? Call out for your mom. ‘I can’t breathe,’" Pelosi said on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. "But because of you, because of thousands…millions of people around the world, who came out for justice, your name with always be synonymous with justice."
"Now we have to make sure justice prevails in the sentencing. But you know, that's its own procedure," she added.
The backlash was almost immediate as users condemned the House Speaker’s remarks and got Pelosi’s name trending on Twitter.
Pelosi then followed up the speech with a tweet pushing the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, a mention also made by President Biden in his remarks on the Chauvin verdict earlier Tuesday.
Related
The comments were universally compared to an odd tweet sent shortly after the verdict by the Las Vegas Raiders saying: "I can breathe."
Chavin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of second and third degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s 2020 death.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram