Trump has previously been criticized for his demeanor in conversations with people affected by police misconduct and racial injustice.
George Floyd's brother, Philonise, told MSNBC last month that the president "didn't give me the opportunity to even speak" when Trump called him.
"It was so fast," Philonise told Al Sharpton, who hosts PoliticsNation on MSNBC. "He didn't give me the opportunity to even speak. It was hard. I was trying to talk to him but he just kept like pushing me off like 'I don’t want to hear what you’re talking about.' I just told him I want justice. I said that I can't believe that they committed a modern-day lynching in broad daylight."
Top Trump aides have also differed on whether they believe racism is systematic in some parts of society.
In a series of tweets this week, the Georgia NAACP criticized attorney Lee Merrit for having Cooper-Jones meet with Trump and said the president's executive order "would not have saved" Arbery and Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man who was fatally shot by an Atlanta officer last Friday after he got into a fight with police while resisting arrest.
During his Rose Garden speech, Trump said he met with "the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, Antwon Rose, Jemel Roberson, Atatiana Jefferson, Michael Dean, Darius Tarver, Cameron Lamb and Everett Palmer.”
However, Rose's mother, Michelle Kenney, told CNN that she didn't attend the meeting because of "personal reasons and I chose to stand in my truth."
"The president has actually made some statements and has taken some actions that I strongly disagree with," she told Lemon, adding, "I just wasn't willing to sit down with an individual who I don't think we can change."
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