NBC News’ Peter Alexander, a member of the White House Press Corps, shouted a question at President Donald Trump during a Rose Garden press conference on Friday morning: “How would a better economy have protected George Floyd?”
The president held the conference to celebrate Friday’s unexpectedly good May jobs report, showing that the U.S. economy had added 2.5 million jobs, rather than losing some 8 million jobs, as expected. The unemployment rate fell to 13.3% rather than rising to 20%.
After the president finished his remarks, he prepared to sign an extension to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which the administration credited for much of the rebound in the jobs numbers.
Trump said that a growing economy was “the greatest thing that can happen for race relations.”
Shortly thereafter, NBC’s Alexander shouted his question: “”How would a better economy have protected George Floyd?”
Floyd was killed by police on Memorial Day, after he was arrested for allegedly trying to use a counterfeit $20 bill. He had lost his job due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Chicago Tribune noted:
Before he died after being pinned for minutes beneath a Minneapolis police officer’s knee, George Floyd was suffering the same fate as millions of Americans during the coronavirus pandemic: out of work and looking for a new job.
Floyd moved to Minneapolis from his native Houston several years ago in hopes of finding work and starting a new life, said Christopher Harris, Floyd’s lifelong friend. But he lost his job as a bouncer at a restaurant when Minnesota’s governor issued a stay-at-home order.
…Harris said Floyd was laid off when Minnesota shut down restaurants as part of a stay-at-home order. He said he spoke with Floyd on Sunday night and gave him some information for contacting a temporary jobs agency.
The president did not take that question, or any other.
An undated photo provided to the Associated Press by a friend of Floyd’s showed him at work as a security guard:
This undated file photo provided by Christopher Harris shows George Floyd. Floyd died May 25, after he was pinned to the pavement by a police officer who put his knee on the handcuffed black man’s neck until he stopped breathing. (Christopher Harris via AP, File)
Many of the new jobs consisted of people returning to their workplaces after temporary layoffs due to the pandemic.
Black unemployment remained steady in May, despite improvements for whites and Hispanics.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, is available for pre-order. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
This article has been updated to identify the reporter as Peter Alexander of NBC News.