Joe Biden to meet with George Floyd’s family in Houston

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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden
REUTERS/Jim Bourg

Joe Biden is expected to travel to Houston on Monday to have a private meeting with the family of George Floyd whose death while in police custody has sparked protests against police brutality across the country and around the world, according to a report.

The former vice president opted for a private meeting because he doesn’t want his Secret Service protection detail to disrupt the family’s funeral service and because he wants to pay his respects in private, CBS News reported on Sunday.

Biden will record a video message for the funeral service, his spokesman told the outlet.

It will be the first time Biden has traveled beyond his home in Delaware and the Philadelphia region since the lockdown to battle the coronavirus pandemic went into effect in March.

He has been giving interviews, appearing on talk shows and holding virtual meetings from a studio installed in the basement of his Wilmington home.

Floyd died on May 25 after a former Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for more than eight minutes.

Derek Chauvin, who has been fired along with three other officers involved in detaining Floyd, has been charged with second-degree murder.

Since then protests have taken place in cities large and small in all 50 states — as well as in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

Memorial services for Floyd have already been held in Minneapolis and North Carolina.

A public viewing will be held Monday and an invitation-only service will take place on Tuesday.