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Jacob Blake's mother said Trump tried to call her about her son's shooting, but she missed it

Aug 27, 2020, 20:30 IST
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Julia Jackson, Jacob Blake's mother, speaking to CNN alongside lawyer Ben Crump.CNN/YouTube
  • Jacob Blake's mother, Julia Jackson, apologized to President Donald Trump for missing his call, in an interview on CNN Wednesday.
  • She said she respected him and asked him not to "start throwing bricks" before the facts were known about her son's shooting.
  • It was likely a reference to a retweet by Donald Trump Jr. which highlighted Blake's prior arrests.
  • She asked all politicians to stop having "pillow fights" over the shooting and appealed for a fact-based debate.
  • Joe Biden has spoken to Jackson and other members of Blake's family, according to a tweet he posted on Wednesday.
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Jacob Blake's mother, Julia Jackson, said that President Donald Trump tried to call her in the aftermath of her son's shooting, but she had missed it.

In an interview with CNN, Jackson described her son's condition and how she and her family were coping since he was shot seven times by Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey.

Blake is currently still in hospital with severe injuries after the shooting on Sunday, which took place as officers attempted to arrest him. It is unlikely he will leave hospital with the ability to walk, his attorneys have said.

The shooting is under federal investigation after it sparked large-scale protests and civil unrest, in which two protesters were shot dead.

Jackson had on Tuesday called for national healing and condemned violent protest in a press conference led by her attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.

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Family members of Jacob Blake are seen walking to a press conference in front of the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 25, 2020.Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

She built on those themes in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon on Wednesday, with Crump at her side, in which she said she had not managed to speak to Trump when he tried to call her.

"I'm sorry I missed your call," she said, addressing Trump. "Because had I not missed your call maybe the comments that you made would have been different and I'm not mad at you at all.

She said she has the "utmost respect" for the president, adding: "Like I said before, and I'm saying this to him directly, we should always get the details from the right source before we start throwing bricks."

Trump has not yet commented on Blake's case directly. But Donald Trump Jr had on Monday retweeted a right-wing commentator who highlighted Blake's former arrests.

Joe Biden has managed to speak to Blake's family, posting a video to Twitter on Wednesday saying: "I spoke to Jacob's mom and dad and sister and other members of the family just a little bit earlier, and I told them justice must and will be done."

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He also said that the footage of Blake's shooting "makes me sick."

In her interview with Lemon, Jackson also apologized to Trump for an "outburst" by another family member, but it is unclear what this refers to.

"She is hurting, and I do apologise for that outburst that does not reflect our behaviour," she said. A transcript of the press conference held on Tuesday with Blake's family and their attorney Ben Crump makes no direct mention of Trump.

She said that she had prayed, alongside a Kenosha police officer, in her son's hospital room. Citing her faith, she said she would have done the same even if it had been Sheskey himself.

"It would have been harder to do, but [...] we have to examine our hearts," she said.

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Asked if she had any message for politicians, she told them to stop their "pillow fights" and to get on with fixing the country by sticking "to the facts."

Her words echo her earlier call for national unity made at the press conference Tuesday.

"Because this country is in grave danger," she said on CNN. "There's too much hate and murder, and that's a problem. Other countries are laughing at us."

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