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Biden Says Chauvin Guilty Verdict Can Be 'A Moment Of Significant Change'

President Biden delivers remarks Tuesday on the guilty verdict against former police officer Derek Chauvin, as Vice President Harris looks on.
Brendan Smialowski
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AFP via Getty Images
President Biden delivers remarks Tuesday on the guilty verdict against former police officer Derek Chauvin, as Vice President Harris looks on.

President Biden will address the nation on Tuesday evening after former police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter for the death of George Floyd during an arrest last summer.

The jury, on its second day of deliberations, found Chauvin guilty of all three charges: second- and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Watch Biden's remarks live.

Biden watched the verdict with Vice President Harris and staff in the private dining room, the White House said.

Afterward, he spoke with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the White House said. Biden, Harris and first lady Jill Biden also spoke with Philonise Floyd from the Oval Office.

Floyd died on Memorial Day 2020 after Chauvin, then an officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as Floyd lay facedown, crying for help with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Biden — who won the 2020 presidential election in part on promises to help heal the inequities plaguing racial minorities, including issues of police bias — has thus far done little to address police violence. His team has instead pointed reporters to his support of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which has passed the House but has a tougher fight in the Senate, rather than executive actions.

When asked on Tuesday about the trial, Biden said he was hoping for the "right verdict."

"I'm praying the verdict is the right verdict, which is, it's overwhelming, in my view. I wouldn't say that unless the jury was sequestered now, not hearing me say that," he said.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Alana Wise
Alana Wise is a politics reporter on the Washington desk at NPR.
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