
The father of Jacob Blake – the man shot in the back seven times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer – told CNN's Jim Acosta that he is not "dealing with politics" and that his family is focused on his son's health and recovery.
This comes in response to President Trump's decision not to meet with the family during his trip to the city tomorrow.
Acosta asked Jacob Blake Sr., "What is your reaction to the President saying he doesn't want to speak with you because your lawyer has to be on?"
"First of all, I'm not going to play politics. This is my son's life we are talking about, Blake Sr. responded.
Later in the interview, Acosta followed up, "I am sure you would want to talk about your son and how he is doing, perhaps?"
"I'm not getting into politics. It's all about my son, man. It has nothing to do with a photo-op. It has to do with Jacob's operation," Blake Sr., said.
He said his son is still paralyzed from the waist down and that he's "holding on for dear life."
"We are dealing with an individual that a couple of months, a couple of weeks ago was running around with the boys and talking to me on the phone and laughing to an individual that cannot move his leg," Blake Sr., said. He also described his son’s progress as "limited."
President Trump said at a news conference earlier that he was not going to meet with the Blake family because they wanted to have lawyers involved.
Blake Sr. defended that position saying, "This is not politics. This is about the life of my son and Benjamin Crump represents my family."
Crump told CNN he didn't know why the President wouldn't want the family to have their lawyers on the call, adding "he seems to have lawyers with him when he talks to people."
"We have a Department of Justice investigation going on. So it would be most appropriate to have your counsel on the phone when you're talking to anybody involved in the government that would determine whether those individuals will be held accountable for shooting your son seven times in the back in front of your three grandchildren," Crump said.
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