Eric Garner’s daughter blasts Hillary Clinton after leaked emails reveal her campaign wanted to ‘use’ his death
Erica Garner’s father was killed by a police chokehold in 2014
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Your support makes all the difference.The daughter of unarmed black man Eric Garner who died in the hands of police when he was put in a chokehold two years ago has called out Hillary Clinton and her team for debating whether to “use" her dad in a campaign against gun violence and the "Erica Garner problem".
In a series of tweets, Erica Garner, previously a Bernie Sanders supporter, questioned how she and her father were being written about and used as political props by Ms Clinton and her staffers, as revealed in emails published by WikiLeaks.
“I’m troubled by the revelation that you and this campaign actually discussed 'using' Eric Garner ... Why would you want to 'use' my dad,“ tweeted Ms Garner.
The officer who put her father in a chokehold in 2014, Daniel Pantaleo, was cleared of all charges by a grand jury in Staten Island.
The case is being reviewed by the Justice Department, who recently switched the team involved as previous FBI agents and prosecutors had said they did not see enough evidence to bring a case.
“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,” Ms Clinton's traveling press secretary Nick Merrill wrote in an email.
The Clinton campaign has not commented on or verified the authenticity of the emails.
"I'm vey (sic) interested to know exactly what @CoreyCiorciari meant when he said 'I know we have an Erica Garner problem' in the #PodestaEmails19," Ms Garner tweeted.
New Yorker Ms Garner, an activist since her father’s death, has criticised New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and president Barack Obama for police brutality against black people.
"These people will co opt anything to push their agenda. Police violence is not the same as gun violence," she said.
Ms Clinton’s staffer Maya Harris wrote in another email that Garner should not be included in the campaign as he was not killed by a gun.
"I'm glad you had Maya on your team to explain why you won't be USING my dad in you f——-g gun violence piece... Black woman saved your a—" Ms Garner wrote on social media.
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