ATLANTA _ Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms _ floated as a possible running mate for Joe Biden _ on Sunday called the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery a "lynching of an African American man," and asserted the two white suspects in the case would not have been charged had the video of the Feb. 23 killing not been made public.
"Had we not seen that video, I don't believe they would be charged," Bottoms told CNN's Jake Tapper. "It is heartbreaking. It is 2020. And this was a lynching of an African American man."
Also Sunday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced on Twitter that it is investigating a threat made on Facebook against "future protests related to Ahmaud Arbery. We are actively investigating this situation and will provide pertinent updates as necessary."
A GBI spokeswoman declined to elaborate.
Arbery's family said he liked to jog in the Brunswick area where he was shot. One of the armed men who confronted Arbery that day told police they pursued him because they thought he had been involved in earlier break-ins in the neighborhood.
On Thursday, the GBI arrested Travis McMichael, 34, and his father, Gregory McMichael, 64, and charged them each with murder and aggravated assault.
In discussing the Arbery case on CNN Sunday, Bottoms took aim at the Trump administration, referring to "rhetoric that we hear coming out of the White House."
"In so many ways, I think that many who are prone to being racist are given permission to do it in an overt way that we otherwise would not see in 2020," she said.
"In cities across this country, even if local leadership fails, there was always the backstop of our Justice Department to step in and make sure that people are appropriately prosecuted. But we don't have that leadership at the top right now. It is disheartening.
"I have four kids, three of whom are African American boys. They are afraid. They are angry and they are afraid. And I think it speaks to the need to have leadership at the top that cares for all of our communities and not just in words but in deeds as well."
Speaking on "Fox & Friends" Friday morning, President Donald Trump called the video of the fatal shooting "very disturbing."
"I looked at a picture of that young man," Trump said. "He was in a tuxedo. ... I will say that that looks like a really good young guy. It's a very disturbing situation, to me. My heart goes out to the parents, and the family, and the friends."
U.S. House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina mentioned Bottoms as a potential vice presidential running mate for Biden in an article published in the Financial Times this year, saying: "There is a young lady right there in Georgia who I think would make a tremendous VP candidate, and that's the mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms."
Bottoms told CNN she was honored by Clyburn's comments.
"I think I am a pretty great person. I don't know if my husband would agree with that," she joked. "But I certainly think that Joe Biden has the right to pick whomever he thinks will help propel him to victory in November. It is an honor to have my name spoken in that light. But being mayor of Atlanta right now is a more than a full-time job, continuing to lead our city but also in the midst of COVID-19."
CNN asked Bottoms about the sexual assault allegation former U.S. Senate aide Tara Reade had made against Biden, a former vice president. Reade, who worked as a staff assistant in Biden's Senate office, accused him of pinning her against a wall in the Senate building and assaulting her in 1993. Now the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Biden has denied the allegation.
"What the vice president has said has been completely accurate. He has said that Tara Reade should be heard and should be taken seriously," Bottoms said. "But I think we should go to the next level and vet what her allegations have been. And there has not been anyone with any objectivity who has been able to confirm that her allegations are accurate. The Joe Biden that I know is a man who respects women. Again, not just in his words but in his deeds."
Tapper pressed her on what she meant about "objectivity."
"Aside from people who know her personally, I am referring to the media who have had an opportunity to vet her allegations," she said. "There has not been anyone who worked in the office at that time who could corroborate the allegations that she claims she made at that time. Also, being mindful of the fact that her story has changed over time."
