Gov. Walz told White House Trump visiting George Floyd memorial is ‘really bad idea’
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – President Donald Trump’s campaign team wanted to have the president visit south Minneapolis Monday during his trip to Minnesota, including the George Floyd memorial at 38th and Chicago. However, Gov. Tim Walz said he spent the weekend telling the White House why it was a “really bad idea.”
South Minneapolis is where George Floyd was killed while being detained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. His death led to civil unrest and riots in the days following.
“I spent this weekend trying to tell the White House why it was a really bad idea to have President Trump go and stand at the George Floyd memorial and use it as a backdrop for his campaign and ignite the pain and the anguish that we are feeling in Minnesota,” Gov. Walz said on a Minnesota DFL delegation breakfast ahead of the Democratic National Convention. “We like all of you watched a man be murdered for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in front of us and it exposed systemic racism that dates back — we’re proud of our state, but we’re also not so hardened that we don’t recognize that to live in Minnesota, if you’re white, is a pretty good deal. If you’re not, it becomes much more difficult.”
Trump’s team, however, appears to have decided not to stop in south Minneapolis. The president is only expected to do his previously announced campaign event at the regional airport in Mankato, a Walz aide told FOX 9.
A law enforcement source told FOX 9 they “begged” the Trump campaign not to visit the Floyd memorial at 38th and Chicago in south Minneapolis nor the surrounding neighborhoods where the rioting and looting took place.
Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson John Elder would not say whether the Trump campaign inquired about visiting south Minneapolis but said there was no begging of them not to, calling that comment ridiculous. He insisted the police department could handle security for the president if requested.
The president is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. at the Mankato Regional Airport before heading to another campaign stop in Oshkosh, Wisconsin Monday night.
