Louisville NAACP demands resignation of Kentucky's first Black attorney general for botching Breonna Taylor probe

The Louisville chapter of the NAACP called Friday for the resignation or impeachment of Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron over his failure to bring charges against officers in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor.

Cameron, a Republican and Kentucky’s first Black statewide official, did not bring charges against officers who killed Taylor while she slept in her Louisville apartment – where they fired 32 shots -- on March 13, 2020. Her death sparked national outrage and protests.

The officers were accused of having used a fraudulently obtained no-knock warrant in a drug investigation for which Taylor was not a suspect. The U.S. Justice Department indicted four of those officers on August 4 for violating Taylor’s civil rights and conspiracy, obstruction and unconstitutional use of force.

“The recent federal indictments of four Louisville Metro Police officers involved in the Breonna Taylor killing has highlighted, demonstrated, and proven the insufficiency of the state investigation led by the Attorney General of the Commonwealth and an absence of an understanding of the Commonwealth’s criminal laws,” the NAACP said in a press release.

“The NAACP wrote ‘the insufficiency of the investigation and the lack of understanding of Kentucky criminal statutes were the results of the current Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in his own words ‘backing the blue,’ not justice," the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

NAACP President Raoul Cunningham said at a press conference that calling on the first Black man to hold the AG's office to resign was "not the easiest decision," the newspaper reported.

"Although he is the first African American to be elected to a statewide office, that does not exclude him from his responsibility to the entire community," Cunningham said. "Nor does it exclude him from fairness and equality. And we do not think that he possessed that in his decision."

Cameron, a Republican running for governor in 2023, has received national criticism for more than two years over his handling of the Taylor case. Cameron is a protégé of Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, having been hired as his general counsel at the age of 29 in 2015.

Cameron also has been a fervent supporter of Donald Trump and earned his endorsement in 2020 in part because of his own “back the blue” rhetoric.

“He is tough on Crime, Strong on Borders, and will fight for our Second Amendment,” Trump tweeted in his endorsement,” Vox reported. “Daniel will never let you down.”

On Friday, Trump launched a threatening and racist attack on McConnell.