Harris says Chauvin verdict won’t heal ‘pain that existed for generations’

Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday said that the verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin “will not heal the pain that has existed for generations.”

In her first sit-down interview since taking office, which was conducted hours before news hit on Tuesday that Chauvin was found guilty on all three charges of murder or manslaughter, Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash that a guilty verdict on the highest charge “will not take away the pain of the Floyd family,” adding that the verdict is “but a piece of it.”

“Let’s say there is a guilty verdict on the highest charge, it will not take away the pain of the Floyd family. It will not take away the pain of the communities, all communities, regardless of their color or geographic location, that felt sadness and anger in what they witnessed in that video,” Harris said.

“This verdict is but a piece of it,” she continued. “And it will not heal the pain that existed for generations, that has existed for generations among people who have experienced and first-hand witnessed what now a broader public is seeing because of smartphones and the ubiquity of our ability to videotape in real time what is happening in front of our faces. And that is the reality of it.”

Earlier in Tuesday, Biden said he was “praying the verdict is the right verdict,” adding, “Which is — I think it is overwhelming in my view.”

Harris, however, did not go as far as Biden to say what she was hoping for in a verdict before it was delivered later Tuesday. She told Bash that she thinks the jury should “make a decision based on what the evidence presented itself to be.”

“I think that the bottom line in this case is we should not be distracted from the evidence in the case,” Harris said. “And it is my hope and prayer that the jury will not be distracted from the evidence in the case and will make a decision based on what the evidence presented itself to be.”

Harris also commented on the larger conversation surrounding law enforcement, telling Bash, “I think there needs to be a consequence and accountability for people who break the law. Period.”

Chauvin was found guilty on three criminal counts: Second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.