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Biden on Chauvin trial: 'I'm praying the verdict is the right verdict'

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, President Biden was asked about his phone call to the family of George Floyd as the jury deliberates the case against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with Floyd’s murder.

The president said he waited until the jury was sequestered on Monday afternoon before making the call.

“I’ve come to know George’s family,” Biden said. "I can only imagine the pressure and anxiety they are feeling. And so I waited until the jury was sequestered, and I called.”

Philonise Floyd, George's brother, revealed on NBC's "Today" show that Biden had called his family Monday to say he was praying for them.

"I wasn't going to say anything about it, but Philonise said it today on television," Biden explained.

President Biden pauses during a meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday. (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
President Biden at a meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

“They’re a good family, and they’re calling for peace and tranquility no matter what that verdict is,” the president said. “And I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict, which is — I think it’s overwhelming in my view.”

Chauvin is facing three charges in the death of Floyd: second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The jury could convict him on all three, two, one or none.

"He was just calling," Philonise Floyd said of the president on "Today." "He knows how it is to lose a family member, and he knows the process of what we're going through. So he was just letting us know that he was praying for us, hoping that everything will come out to be OK."

Biden frequently bonds with people over shared grief. His first wife, Neilia, and 1-year-old daughter Naomi died in a car crash in 1972. Biden's son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.

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