President Barack Obama has watched the graphic dash cam video of a Chicago police officer fatally shooting a black teenager, White House Press Secretary John Earnest said Wednesday.
Jason Van Dyke, the white police officer who shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, was charged with murder a day before officials released the video of the shooting last week.
“The President had the kind of human reaction that I think lots of other people across the country have had to that specific video,” Earnest told reporters during his daily media briefing, according to The Washington Post. “The President, of course, is limited in talking about that reaction and I’m limited in the degree to which I can talk about his reaction to it because of his unique role as president of the United States. By commenting on this at great length, I think would be viewed by some as improperly interfering with an ongoing independent criminal investigation.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is Obama’s former chief of staff. Emanuel fired city police supt. Garry McCarthy amid protests over the killing.
Has he spoken of the role of his former Chief of Staff in how long it took for the murder to be known to the public, the possibility that it was buried so as not to hurt Rahm’s reelection?
I’m trying recall that phrase Gore set loose on us, inconvenient something, something, oh yeah, truth.
The one time he doesn’t speak out about it, it’s Chicago… Come on dude.
I don’t remember the case, but another loser “victim” criminal made a legal claim that he couldn’t get a fair trial because the President commented on his case. So the Pres tries not to comment to avoid dismissals on technicalities.
One can only imagine how President Obama must feel, watching a young black man executed by the police in a city run by a good friend, not to mention a cover-up.