Homeland Security official believes George Floyd still would have been killed had he been white

Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Ken Cuccinelli, the Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, described fired Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin as a “bully” and said he thinks George Floyd still would have been killed had he been white.

Chauvin, who is charged with second-degree murder, is accused in a criminal complaint of kneeling on the neck of Floyd, an unarmed black man, for nearly nine minutes on May 25 in Minneapolis.

“What I heard in that eight-and-a-half minute clip was someone who was a bully, who is abusing his position of authority and power in the law,” Cuccinelli told CNN Sunday.

He told the news outlet, “No, I don’t think he would," when asked whether he believes Floyd would be alive now if he had been white.

Floyd’s death has led to protests against racial injustice and police brutality throughout the United States.

During his interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Cuccinelli contended that the members of the country’s law enforcement who are racist make up “a small number.”

“I would suggest that a bigger problem that can be filtered and trained for is simply bullying," Cuccinelli said.

His comments come after Chad Wolf, the Acting Homeland Security Secretary, told ABC News that he doesn’t believe there’s a systemic racism problem within U.S. law enforcement.

“Painting law enforcement with a broad brush of systemic racism is really a disservice to the men and women who put on the badge, the uniform every day, risk their lives every day to protect the American people,” Wolf said.