Fox News host Laura Ingraham reasoned that President Trump can relate to outrage over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died this week in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department, “given his own experience with an out-of-control FBI.”
The host of “The Ingraham Angle” made the comment late Thursday during her latest broadcast while discussing protests that erupted in Minneapolis and elsewhere following Floyd’s death Monday.
“As far as we can tell it looks like outrageous and perhaps even murderous behavior by Minneapolis police officers,” Ms. Ingraham said during her show. “Another black man in police custody, gasping for air, on the ground, defenseless, and then shortly thereafter dead. It’s absolutely infuriating and heartbreaking.”
Ms. Ingraham, a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump, proceeded to explain later during the monologue why she believes the president can empathize with protesters angered by Floyd’s death.
“And to our African-American fellow citizens I say this: Given his own experience with an out-of-control FBI and unfair investigations, given all his work now on criminal justice reform, President Trump knows how poisonous an out-of-control law enforcement process can be,” Ms. Ingraham said.
Ms. Ingraham was likely referring to the FBI’s investigation of the 2016 U.S. elections that resulted in criminal convictions for several former members of Mr. Trump’s campaign and remains a point of contention among the president and his defenders.
Mr. Trump undeniably had a dissimilar experience than Floyd, however, whose death in police custody is now the subject of a federal civil rights probe and widespread outrage.
Floyd, 46, died while under arrest after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. Video of the incident was recorded by witnesses and shared widely afterward, igniting outrage and sparking protests in Minneapolis and other cities during the last several nights.
Ms. Ingraham prefaced her remarks about the protesters and Mr. Trump by acknowledging she is not the most qualified person to offer their opinion on the subject.
“I’m not going to pretend for a millisecond to know what it’s like to be a black person in America. I don’t,” she said. “But the only thing I do know is that we all need to do better.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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