GEORGE ZIMMERMAN: I Was A 'Scapegoat' For Obama And The Government
CNN
Seven months after a Florida jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the death of teenager Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman said that he's been made a "scapegoat" by the government and wouldn't say if he regretted Martin's death.Zimmerman told CNN's Chris Cuomo that he acted in self-defense when he shot Martin in 2012. What happened thereafter, he said, turned him into a "scapegoat" for "the government, the President, the attorney general."
"And they would be scapegoating you, why?" Cuomo said. "Just to show that they're taking a position on something that matters to a lot of people?"
"I don't like others speaking for me, so I try to give other people the benefit and not speak for them," Zimmerman said in response. "I don't know what they're thinking or why they're thinking it, all I know is that is that they're doing it. I don't know what agenda they have."
The interview on CNN's "New Day" aired a day after Zimmerman told Univision that he is unemployed, homeless, and that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
It has been nearly two years since Zimmerman, a former "neighborhood watch" volunteer, killed the 17-year-old Martin in a case that touched off a national debate on "Stand Your Ground" laws.
President Barack Obama spoke out multiple times about the case. Days after the verdict was handed down, Obama reflected on comments he made in 2012, when he said that Trayvon Martin could have been his son.
"Another way of saying that is, Trayvon Martin could've been me, 35 years ago," Obama said. Zimmerman told CNN that wants to become an attorney. "I think that's the best way to stop the miscarriage of justice that happened to me from happening to somebody else," he said. "I don't think it should happen to anyone ever again - not one person."The full interview is below: