Donald Trump says its a ‘great day’ for George Floyd hours after murdered black man’s funeral
President Trump made the bizarre comment during a rambling White House press conference held Friday
Donald Trump claimed that Friday is ‘a great day’ for murdered black man George Floyd as he highlighted better than expected unemployment figures during a rambling speech.
The President of the United States made the bizarre remark while commenting on unemployment figures showing that 2.5 million new jobs were created during May despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Trump then called for all Americans to be treated equally by the police regardless of race, gender or creed in the wake of Floyd’s killing at a Minneapolis police officer. He continued: ‘We all saw what happened last week. We cant let that happen again.
‘Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. It’s a great day for him, its a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody.
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‘This is a great, great day in terms of equality. It’s really what our constitution requires and its what our country is all about’
It is unclear whether the ‘great thing’ Trump was referring to was the job news, or a White House group discussion on racial equality held by Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday.
He also said ‘What’s happened to our country…is the greatest thing that can happen for race relations, for the African American community’, in an apparent reference to employment figures.
Reporters could be heard asking him why he’d said it was a great day for Floyd at the end of the gathering, but he ignored them.
Trump’s gaffe came a day after Floyd’s memorial service in Minneapolis. He was killed on May 25 after police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for eight minutes 46 seconds, with footage of Floyd’ final moments sparking worldwide revulsion.
The president called Friday’s press conference to sign a paycheck protection program aimed at protecting small businesses during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, and also heaped repeated glowing praise on that during his speech.
President Trump’s rambling 40 minute press conference came amid surprising figures released Friday which showed the American economy added 2.5million jobs in May. That saw the nationwide unemployment rate fall to 13.3% from an April high of 14.7%.
While still far higher than the record-breakingly low 3.5% jobless total recorded in February – before lockdown began – it is some way short of the 20% unemployment figure economist had feared.
US Labor Department figures released Thursday showed more than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since the start of the crisis. Analysts hope that figure will now fall as states begin to reopen again.
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