No, Donald Trump Didn’t Say ‘I Can’t Breathe’ to Mock George Floyd

An old video is being shared to falsely claim that US President Donald Trump mocked the death of George Floyd.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing US President Donald Trump saying “I can’t breathe” which were the few last words of George Floyd, is being shared on social media with the claim that he is mocking Floyd.

However, the video was taken months prior to the Floyd incident and Trump was actually mocking his political rivals Mike Bloomberg and Amy Klobuchar.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

CLAIM

In the eight seconds video, Trump repeatedly says “I can’t breathe...I can’t breathe” by putting hand on his neck, thereby symbolically showing an act of choking.

Several social media users have shared the video on Facebook and Twitter with similar narrative.

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Facebook/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

You can view the archived version here.(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

A Google reverse search of one of the keyframes led us to a Twitter thread that had shared a YouTube link uploaded by Ruptly on 21 February 2020.

The caption of the video reads: “USA: Trump mocks Bloomberg and Klobuchar for "chocking" at Democratic debate (sic)”

At 1:25 minutes in the Ruptly video, Trump can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”

While the video in circulation is a clipped version, Trump can actually be heard saying, “Look, Bloomberg made a fool out of himself last night, he choked. He’s another one, he’s going, ‘Ah, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe!’”

The video is from a Trump rally in Colorado Springs wherein he mocked Democratic presidential hopefuls Mike Bloomberg and Amy Klobuchar for "choking" at debates in Las Vegas.

"How about Klobuchar? Did you see her? She choked. She choked. She couldn't breathe," he had said of Amy Klobuchar.

Clearly, a clipped version of an old video is being circulated to falsely claim that Trump mocked the death of George Floyd by saying “I can’t breathe.”

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