George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who was acquitted for the 2012 killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, said that he has a clear conscience and that killing Martin was part of God’s plan.
During an interview, Zimmerman’s lawyer asked him if he wished that the altercation had turned out differently. Zimmerman responded that, as a Christian, he believes “that God does everything for a purpose, and he had his plans and for me to second guess them would be hypocritical and almost blasphemous.”
Zimmerman also said that he feels as though the federal government, the FBI, and the Department of Justice treated him unfairly.
“Knowing the Department of Justice did not investigate further to see if my civil rights were violated… They opened an investigation and reopened it to see if I had violated his civil rights. And again, they had various numerous examples of bounties placed on my head, credible threats placed against myself and my family. Against from whom they know to be domestic terrorists and the president and the attorney general and the federal government declined to do anything about it.”
He also expressed disappointment that the Hispanic Congressional Congress did not defend him.
“They aligned themselves with the Black Congressional Caucus,” Zimmerman said, “and did everything they could to, in essence, throw me under the bus. They identified with the Black Congressional Caucus and viewing me as a white racist and as doing something negligent or racists and without even knowing anything about my character.”
In terms of who he felt was the most unfair to him, Zimmerman pointed to President Obama.
“President Obama held his Rose Garden speech, stating that ‘if I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.’ To me, that was a clear dereliction of duty, pitting Americans against each other solely based on race. He took what should have been a clear-cut self-defense matter, and to this day, on the anniversary of the incident, he held a ceremony at the White House inviting the Martin-Fulton family and stating that they should take the day to reflect upon the fact that all children’s lives matter. Unfortunately for the president, I’m also my parents’ child and my life matters as well. And for him to make incendiary comments as he did, and direct the Department of Justice to pursue a baseless prosecution, he by far overstretched, overreached, even broke the law in certain aspects, to where you have an innocent American being prosecuted by the federal government, which should never happen.”
