On Thursday Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, sounded off on the Clinton campaign for its private discussions of whether or not to include her father’s death in an op-ed on gun violence. Erica Garner expressed her frustration in a series of tweets.
I'm troubled by the revelation that you and this campaign actually discussed "using" Eric Garner ... Why would you want to "use" my dad?
— officialERICA GARNER (@es_snipes) October 27, 2016
She added, “These people will co-opt anything to push their agenda. Police violence is not the same as gun violence.”
Eric Garner died in 2014 after Staten Island police placed him in a chokehold. His death fueled protests and his final words—“I can’t breathe”—became a rallying cry for protests against police brutality.
In the e-mail exchange, one of dozens released by WikiLeaks, Nick Merrill, Clinton’s press secretary, questions the exclusion of Garner from the op-ed. “I know we have Erica Garner issues but we don’t want to mention Eric at all? I can see her coming after us for leaving him out of the piece.” Another email exchange, this one between campaign chair John Podesta and Herbert Sandler, suggests that Podesta initially believed Eric Garner’s death might have been justified.