Democrat vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris says she agrees that there should be a "thorough investigation" into the shooting of Jacob Blake, but based on what she's seen, she thinks the police officer involved should face criminal charges and that he was not justified in firing his weapon.
"I don't see it, but I don't have all the evidence," Harris told NBC News' Craig Melvin in an interview airing on "Today." "The man was going to his car. He didn't appear to be armed, and if he was not armed, the use of force that was seven bullets coming out of a gun at close range int he back of the man, I don't see how anybody could reason that was justifiable."
Melvin noted that the police officer, identified as Rusten Sheskey, shot Blake after the 29-year-old man was reaching into a car where a knife was later found. Harris, however, insisted that "we have had too many Black men in America who have been the subject of this kind of conduct and it's got to stop."
Harris, who was interviewed on Thursday, also told Melvin that she and Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden do plan to hit the campaign trail in person, but they will do it in a way that makes it safe for people they meet.
"It would be irresponsible of us to try and pack people into a situation where they cannot safely social distance," she said. "That's one of the problems, frankly, with the way Donald Trump conducts himself because it appears to be more about the people around him and himself doing what is necessary to feed his ego as opposed to what is necessary to feed the needs of the American people."
She also accused Trump of being afraid to deal with the truth on the coronavirus pandemic and treat it in a serious manner.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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