Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) had a better than expected 2020 run. She wasn’t favored to win at all, but her debate performances allowed her to increase her profile among voters and give her that critical cash flow to survive another day. She dropped out, along with former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg earlier this year in a move that many viewed as an effort to get the centrist Democratic bloc around Joe Biden and prevent a replay of the bloody progressive-establishment war back in 2016. So, is Amy veep material? Not anymore. If she was being considered, it all ended this week.
Minneapolis is currently ablaze right now. Looting is rampant and clashes with police are frequent. The city blew up over the horrific death of George Floyd, who died in police custody after an officer kept his knee on his neck for nearly ten minutes. He died as a result. Floyd was arrested for a forgery charge. It was a non-violent crime, and his death was captured on video. It’s incredibly disturbing and all four officers involved in the incident were rightfully fired. President Trump has ordered the FBI and the Department of Justice to look into this matter. It’s a top priority. The protests are warranted, as is the anger—but not the looting and abject destruction of property. Yet, that’s an aside. What ties Klobuchar to the Floyd incident? Well, she encountered the officer who placed his knee on Floyd’s neck. This officer was involved in a few past shootings, one of which occurred when Amy was a county prosecutor. She declined to file charges against him, or at least that’s how it will be seen as with those outraged over Floyd’s death (via Star Tribune):
The Floyd case has put the national spotlight back on Klobuchar's days as a prosecutor, particularly as it became clear Derek Chauvin, the officer involved in Floyd's death, was involved in the death of another citizen while Klobuchar was prosecutor. Chauvin was one of six officers who fired on and killed Wayne Reyes in 2006 after Reyes reportedly aimed a shotgun at police after stabbing his friend and girlfriend. While the death happened during Klobuchar's tenure at the helm of the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, the case did not go to a grand jury until after she left the office and became a senator.
Klobuchar did not criminally charge other police involved in the more than two dozen officer-involved fatalities that occurred during her time as prosecutor. She left those decisions to a grand jury, a practice that was common at the time.
Klobuchar said in a CNN interview Tuesday that the evidence is "crying out for some kind of a charge" against the officers involved in Floyd's death. Michael Minta, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota who studies political representation and race, said that is a departure from her more cautious responses to past cases.
The police officer who killed George Floyd was also part of 3 other police shootings of civilians, incl. one while Klobuchar was county prosecutor.
Klobuchar did not press charges against him, & so many others: https://t.co/iiKPK4UUZ8
also: https://t.co/T2t1ssHFG7 pic.twitter.com/VW0AkfzJM9
— Taniel (@Taniel) May 28, 2020
It’s about the perception here. And Klobuchar is already in hot water with black voters over the totally botched prosecution of Myon Burrell, which Cortney covered in February. It’s not a good look and with the Democratic Party so engulfed in racial and identity politics, which is ironic given that with all this talk an old white guy is the presumptive nominee, there’s just no way Amy should even be thought of for VP. Maybe she never was, but if the Biden team wants to get serious, a Rust Belt Democrat would help, not indulge in a nakedly pandering move like picking any black Democrat.
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