The father of Jacob Blake said Friday that his hourlong conversation earlier this week with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris was akin to “speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters.”
“They were so comforting that you almost forgot how the situation was really playing out,” Jacob Blake Sr. told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day,” referring to Biden and Harris. “It was like I was speaking to my uncle and one of my sisters – literally, literally.”
“Biden kept telling me his own issues with his family. That he identifies with what I’m going through. I didn’t have to keep telling him. He knew. It felt like he knew,” Blake added. “It felt like they knew what was going on. And they didn’t act like they were in a hurry to go anywhere. They spent time with us. And the tears that came from (Jacob Blake’s) mother in this talk with the Bidens, that was important.”
Asked later in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper if he wanted to hear from President Donald Trump, Blake said, “It is too late. He should have called four days ago.” He added, “It is too late now.”
When asked earlier Friday if Trump had tried to reach out, Blake had replied: “That’s a negative.”
A video captured by a witness shows a police officer shooting the younger Blake, 29, multiple times in the back in close range. Blake survived the shooting, but his father said Blake is paralyzed from the waist down, although he is unsure if the paralysis is permanent. Blake’s three young children were in the car when he was shot, a family attorney says.
CNN reported Wednesday that Biden and Harris had spoken with Blake’s parents, sister and other members of the family.
“I told them: Justice must and will be done. You know, our hearts are with his family, especially his children. It’s horrible what they saw, watching their father get shot,” Biden said of the call in a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday.
Harris, who represents California in the US Senate, called Blake’s shooting “tragic” and said it “represents the two systems of justice in America” during an event on Wednesday.
Trump, when asked in an interview Friday night if he thought the officer who shot Blake was justified, said, “I’m looking into it very strongly. I’ll be getting reports and I’ll certainly let you know pretty soon.”
“It was not a good sight. I didn’t like the sight of it, certainly, and I think most people would agree with that,” the President said during an interview with CNN affiliate WMUR in New Hampshire, in his first comments about the shooting after days of “law and order” messaging during the Republican National Convention.
Two Kenosha police officers have been placed on administrative leave, and the shooting is being investigated by Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley’s office and the Wisconsin Justice Department’s division of criminal investigation.
CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to reflect that Blake did not say he has spoken with President Trump. It also has been updated with Trump’s comments late Friday about the shooting.
CNN’s Kate Sullivan, Jason Hoffman, Paul LeBlanc and Sarah Mucha contributed to this report.
