(CNN) Joe Biden will travel to Houston, Texas, on Monday to privately meet with and offer his condolences to the family of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of police launched widespread protests across the nation, according to a Biden aide. The former vice president will also tape a video message for Floyd's funeral service on Tuesday, but Biden is not planning to attend the service because the presumptive Democratic nominee's team did not want to cause any disruptions on Tuesday from his Secret Service protection, according to people familiar with those deliberations. Biden has delivered speeches and met with community members in his home state of Delaware and neighboring Pennsylvania calling for the dire need to end systemic racism in the nation. In a speech in Philadelphia last week, Biden empathized with those who are protesting across the nation in the wake of the police killing of Floyd in Minnesota in ways President Donald Trump has not. His remarks, in which he promised that he "won't traffic in fear and division" or "fan the flames of hate," offered a striking contrast to Trump that came about 16 hours after peaceful protesters in a park outside the White House were hit with tear gas so that Trump could cross the park and visit St. John's Church for a photo opportunity -- a move that had been widely condemned.

Source: CNN June 07, 2020 16:16 UTC