Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, praised Democrat Montana Gov. Tim Walz, the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, stating that he is “built for this fight.”
In an interview with NBC News, Floyd spoke about how, “at first,” Walz had been “just a regular governor,” but after Walz revealed he had asked Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to lead prosecutions regarding George Floyd’s death, it showed “he was not playing.”
Floyd added that he could not “say anything bad about” Walz and that he wanted to “shake his hand.”
“At first, he was just a regular governor, just looking like a politician,” Floyd told the outlet. “Then, he stood up and he put Keith Ellison in place as the prosecutor, and that showed a lot of people he was not playing. He was serious.”
May 17, 2021: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced he has reached a bipartisan budget agreement. (Nikolas Liepins/Official Governor’s Office Photo)
George Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, and his death was ruled a murder. Ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty in April 2021 of second- and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter.
Philonise Floyd continued to praise Walz for having attended the funeral of Duante Wright. Wright was killed after former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter fatally shot him during a traffic stop after she mistook her handgun for a Taser.
“For him to take time out of his day to speak at the funeral, I gotta give him kudos,” Floyd told the outlet. “He showed what unity was. He’s a family man with a good heart.”
Philonise Floyd’s praise comes as Walz has faced criticism and accusations of “stolen valor.” A recent video shared by the Harris-Walz campaign showed Walz claiming that he had carried weapons “in war,” though he has never served in combat.
I spent 25 years in the Army, and I hunt … I’ve been voting for common sense legislation that protects the Second Amendment, but we can do background checks. We can do CDC research … We can make sure that those weapons of war that I carried in war is the only place where those weapons are at.
The Harris-Walz campaign issued a statement on Friday stating that Walz “misspoke.”
Walz has also faced criticism after the biography on his website had listed him as having a higher rank than the one he had when he retired from the military.
As Breitbart News reported:
Walz served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and retired at the rank of master sergeant, or an E-8. However, on his official website bio, he lists a higher rank that he served at for a short period that ultimately was rescinded, as he did not complete all the requirements to serve at that rank. However, his bio implies that he retired at the rank of command sergeant major, or an E-9.
On Thursday, the Harris campaign removed the reference to Walz being a “retired command sergeant major.” The campaign updated the biography to note Walz had “once served at the command sergeant major rank,” according to Politico.