Elizabeth Warren: ‘Michael Brown was murdered’ tweet doesn’t matter

Sen. Elizabeth Warren told a New Hampshire crowd that her recent tweet claiming “Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer” is a non-issue because “what matters is that a man was shot.”

The Massachusetts Democrat has come under fierce criticism for an Aug. 9 tweet, which labeled Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson a murderer.

Mr. Wilson was not indicted in the racially charged 2014 death, and President Barack Obama’s Justice Department concluded there was no evidence to suggest the shooting was criminal in nature.

Brown was walking in the middle of the street when the officer realized he fit the description of a robbery suspect. Brown began punching the officer through the patrol car’s open window and was shot six times during the confrontation. Among other falsehoods that left-wing activists pushed about the case was that Brown was shot while holding up his hands, pleading “don’t shoot.”

But according to Ms. Warren, “5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.”

Her Aug. 9 tweet went on to say “Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on.”

Ms. Warren told a Franconia crowd on Wednesday that citizens should stop fixating on her demonstrably false claim.

5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on.

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 9, 2019

“What matters is that a man was shot, an unarmed man, in the middle of the street, by police officers and left to die,” she said. “And I think that’s where our focus should be.”

Sen. Kamala Harris, California Democrat and a fellow 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, has also been criticized for a similarly false “murder” tweet on Aug. 9, the anniversary of the Brown death.

“Michael Brown’s murder forever changed Ferguson and America. His tragic death sparked a desperately needed conversation and a nationwide movement. We must fight for stronger accountability and racial equity in our justice system,” she wrote.

The liberal website Vox corrected both candidates on Monday with the lament: “Five years after the shooting […] major presidential campaigns are still getting the details wrong.”

Becket Adams of The Washington Examiner added Thursday that “Warren’s remarks take on an especially grotesque flavor when one considers that her professional background is in law.”

“Murder” is a legal term referring only to certain illegal killings. Self-defense or other legally justifiable killings are not “murder” by definition, a fact with which Ms. Harris, a former prosecutor and state attorney general, also is familiar.

Ms. Warren “knows the difference between a ’murder’ and a justified shooting in self-defense. When Warren claimed Wilson ’murdered’ Brown, she knew exactly what she was doing — making a cynical, devious play for Democratic primary votes by indulging left-wing conspiracy theorists in their entrenched fury,” Mr. Adams wrote.