What to Know
- Erica Garner blasted the Clinton campaign in a series of tweets for the way they discussed her dad's death in emails released by WikiLeaks
- She accused campaign staffers of "exploiting" her father's death to boost Clinton's stance on gun control
- Garner endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in a video released in February
Erica Garner slammed Hillary Clinton's campaign in a series of tweets Thursday after new emails released by WikiLeaks showed how the Democratic presidential nominee's staff mentioned the death of her father while discussing language for a newspaper editorial on gun violence this spring.
"I'm troubled by the revelation that you and this campaign actually discussed 'using' Eric Garner ... why would you want to 'use' my dad?" she tweeted. "These people will co opt anything to push their agenda. Police violence is not the same as gun violence."
"I'm very interested to know exactly what @CoreyCiorciari meant when he said 'I know we have an Erica Garner problem' in the #PodestaEmails19," she added.
She included links to the emails released by WikiLeaks and accused campaign staffers of exploiting her father's death to bolster Clinton's stance on gun control. The hacked emails show internal communications between campaign staffers discussing the language of an editorial piece on gun violence that ran in the Daily News on March 27.
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"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," Clinton's traveling press secretary Nick Merrill wrote in a March 17 email.
Senior Political Adviser Maya Harris corrected Merrill in a reply: "Eric Garner not included because not killed by gun violence."
"I'm glad you had Maya on your team to explain why you wont (sic) be USING my dad in you (sic) f-----g gun violence piece ... Black woman saved your a--," Garner tweeted.
"Your sister Maya saved the Clinton campaign a lot of embarrassment," she added in a retweet to Kamala Harris, the sister of Clinton's political adviser.
A spokesperson for the Clinton campaign did not respond to questions regarding the recent tweets.
Garner's father was killed in July 2014 after he was stopped by police for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes and was placed in a chokehold by officer Daniel Pantaleo. A New York grand jury opted not to indict Pantaleo on criminal charges. He has been on modified duty pending the results of a federal probe into whether civil rights charges should be filed in the case.
