Ted Cruz piled on Joe Biden’s comments on the Derek Chauvin trial, arguing that the US president speaking on the landmark criminal case could lead to the former Minneapolis police officer going free on appeal.
The senator from Texas attacked the president for publicly discussing the case in the Oval Office hours before the jury convicted Chauvin of murdering George Floyd.
Mr Biden made his comments after the jury was sequestered for their deliberations and said that he thought the evidence against the former police officer was “overwhelming.”
In the end, the jury agreed and convicted Chauvin, 45, on all three counts in the killing of Mr Floyd last year.
Mr Cruz seized on Mr Biden’s comments and also compared them with those of Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters.
“Joe Biden decides that Maxine Waters shouldn’t be the only politician foolishly providing grounds for a mistrial or a possible basis on appeal to challenge any guilty conviction,” Mr Cruz tweeted before the jury returned their verdict.
Ms Waters sparked controversy last weekend when she spoke at a racial justice rally in Minnesota and urged people to “get more confrontational” when demanding justice for Black people abused or killed at the hands of police officers.
The jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Chauvin is set to be sentenced in eight weeks, when he could face up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder, and up to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter.
Mr Floyd’s killing on a Minneapolis street last May, which was captured on video by bystanders and went viral, sparking weeks of racial justice protests across the United States.
