Biden offered support in call with George Floyd family, who says protests should be 'peaceful'

The brother of George Floyd said Tuesday that President Biden called him to offer support as closing arguments ended and jury deliberation begins in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

"He knows how it is to lose a family member, and he knows the process of what we're going through," Philonise Floyd said of Biden during an appearance on NBC's "Today" show. "He just let us know he was praying for us and hoping everything would come out to be OK."

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed via Twitter Tuesday that Biden spoke with George Floyd's family "yesterday to check in with them and also share that the family was in his prayers."

While Philonise Floyd said he wanted protesters to remain "peaceful," he said he couldn't prevent people from expressing their pain – especially following the recent fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright just 10 miles from Floyd's encounter with Chauvin last May.

"It has been an emotional cinema picture, everyone watching around the world. We just want everybody to be peaceful, but at the same time I can't stop people from doing the things that they're doing because people are in pain, they're hurt," he said. "Daunte Wright was just killed 10 miles away from where we were in the courtroom. We just want everybody to get it together and understand we can live with each other in unity. And we stand in solidarity with everybody across America."

Philonise Floyd testified as a character witness during the trial earlier this month. 

The interview Tuesday comes after U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., stirred up controversy by telling reporters during a protest in Brooklyn Center over the weekend that if Chauvin is not found guilty, "We've got to stay on the street and we've got to get more active, we've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business."

Chauvin's defense attorney, Eric Nelson, asked Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill on Monday to declare a mistrial given there is a "high probability" that jurors will see Waters’ comments. The judge denied the request.

"I'll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned," Cahill said.

Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights attorney representing the Floyd family, categorized the courtroom exchange regarding Waters as "the defense's desperate attempt to distract us further."

"The jurors have been given instructions only to pay attention to the evidence that happens in the court of law and not to watch TV and watch the news," Crump said, appearing with Philonise Floyd on the "Today" show. "I believe the jurors are following the instructions of the court."

"It further demonstrates this notion of two Americas, because I have never seen when a Black person is on trial for murder anybody cares about whether or not they can get a fair trial or what people are saying in public," Crump said.

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"Only when there’s a Black person killed by police that we come up with all these distractions … to say, 'Oh, we want to give every opportunity for the officer to be exonerated.' And that’s why the whole world is on edge because history has said people will do anything to justify the killing of unarmed Black people by the police and we can't continue to have that."

Cahill repeatedly denied the defense's requests to have the jury sequestered after news broke about a $27 million civil settlement to be paid to Floyd's family and amid civil unrest over Wright's shooting in nearby Brooklyn Center where at least one juror lives. The jury wasn't sequestered until Monday evening after closing arguments ended and as jury deliberation continues.