Prosecutor urges caution in George Floyd case after seeing 'other evidence that does not support a criminal charge'

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman stressed the need to see all the evidence before jumping to a conclusion regarding the death of George Floyd. Addressing reporters at a Thursday afternoon press conference, Freeman mentioned that he had seen evidence that may exonerate Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was videotaped kneeling on the neck of Floyd for several minutes. "My job, in the end, is to prove he violated a criminal statute, and there's other evidence that does not support a criminal charge," Freeman said. "We need to wade through all of that evidence and to come through with a meaningful determination, and we're doing that to the best of our ability."

Freeman's answer was in response to an unnamed reporter who said Floyd was "clearly struggling to breathe" during the altercation with Chauvin. Freeman said he could not respond to the question because of the nature of his job. "It's a violation of my ethics to talk and evaluate evidence before we announce our charging decision, and I will not do that," Freeman said. "I will say this, that that video is graphic and horrific and terrible, and no person should do that." Freeman later backtracked his comments and said that it was "critical to review all evidence" so as to establish a "full picture" of the events surrounding Floyd's death. Thousands of protesters and rioters filled the streets of Minneapolis on Wednesday, demanding that Chauvin be arrested and charged with murder for the death of Floyd. On Thursday, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated the state's National Guard to turn back rioters and looters in Minneapolis who have gathered for another night of protests.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/prosecutor-urges-caution-in-george-floyd-case-after-seeing-other-evidence-that-does-not-support-a-criminal-charge

Twitter forced to update fact-check of Trump tweet after error discovered

Twitter’s “fact-check” of a tweet from President Trump about mail-in voting contained an error that had to be corrected by election officials. “There was an error in Twitter's fact check of Trump's vote-by-mail tweets, underscoring the challenge social media platforms face trying to arbitrate truth,” Wall Street Journal reporter Dustin Volz wrote on Twitter. “It was corrected after an elections professional notified the company (and me) about the mistake.”

The fact-check’s statement that “mail-in ballots are already used in some states, including Oregon, Utah and Nebraska” conflated absentee ballots and mail-in ballots in at least one state, according to Volz’s reporting in the Wall Street Journal. “While all states allow absentee voting via the mail, only a handful of states including Oregon and Utah automatically send registered voters mail-in ballots. Nebraska, in contrast, recently mailed applications to every voter — in response to the pandemic, and the state didn’t automatically send ballots,” the article states. The mistake, as the article points out, “raised questions” about the role Twitter will play going forward, serving as an independent fact-checker. Twitter updated the language, removing the reference to Nebraska and replacing it with “five states already vote entirely by mail and all states offer some form of mail-in absentee voting.”

Twitter issued their first-ever fact-check of a tweet after Trump tweeted his concerns about the integrity of mail-in ballots. "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent," Trump tweeted earlier this week. "Mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed. The Governor of California is sending Ballots to millions of people, anyone living in the state, no matter who they are or how they got there, will get one. That will be followed up with professionals telling all of these people, many of whom have never even thought of voting before, how, and for whom, to vote. This will be a Rigged Election. No way!"

The link is now marked with an exclamation point that leads to news articles “fact-checking” Trump’s claim along with a summary at the top calling the president’s comment “unsubstantiated.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany pushed back against Twitter’s fact-check Thursday, arguing there is voter fraud and that mail-in voting is specifically a problem in California like the president said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/twitter-forced-to-update-fact-check-of-trump-tweet-after-error-discovered

Twitter Adds Fact-Check Notices to Trump Tweets on Mail-In Ballots

Move follows earlier appeal by widower that president’s false tweets about death of his wife be pulled down

https://www.wsj.com/articles/widower-asks-twitter-to-pull-trumps-false-tweets-on-death-of-joe-scarborough-aide-11590516200?mod=hp_lead_pos2