Trump calls video of Ahmaud Arbery killing ‘disturbing’ but trusts Georgia’s ‘very good’ law enforcement
President Trump on Friday called the viral video of Ahmaud Arbery’s killing “very, very disturbing,” but he said he’s confident that Georgia’s law enforcement authorities will handle the case properly despite a slow-moving investigation and conflict-of-interest questions surrounding the incident.
“So I saw the tape, and it’s very, very disturbing," he said in a Fox New phone interview. “I looked at a picture of that young man. He was in a tuxedo... And I will say that that looks like a really good, young guy.”
The shocking Feb. 23 footage, which surfaced online this week, shows the unarmed black jogger being shot by two white men who claim they mistook him for a burglar. The suspects, former police officer Gregory McMichael and his son Travis, were arrested on murder charges Thursday, more than two months after the killing.
“It’s a very disturbing situation to me and my heart goes out to the parents and the family and the friends," Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning.
The president then praised the state’s “very good” Republican governor, Brian Kemp, and said justice "is getting done.”
“It’s in the hands of the governor and I’m sure he’ll do the right thing," Trump said, before suggesting new evidence may emerge in the case.
“It could be something that we didn’t see on tape," he said. “There could be a lot of... you know, if you saw things went off tape and then back on tape.”
At least two prosecutors recused himself from the case for having ties to the elder McMichael, a retired investigator in Brunswick.
Shortly after the cellphone footage was posted on social media this week, prompting a national uproar and accusations of racial profiling, the case was turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.
The agency combed through the evidence and arrested the pair in less than 48 hours.
Vic Reynolds, the bureau’s director, refused to criticize the local law enforcement agencies for the slow-moving probe.
“In a perfect world, would we have preferred to have been asked to become involved in February? Of course,” he told reporters in a news conference Friday. “But sometimes, it isn’t a perfect world, so we have to deal with the situation as it’s placed in front of us.”
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