19 July 2021
Two more Texas Democrats who fled their state for D.C. in an effort to block a state GOP voting bill have tested positive for COVID-19, the state House Democratic Caucus said Sunday.
The big picture: The confirmation comes a day after three other Texas state House members tested positive for the virus, despite being fully vaccinated.
Today and everyday, I’m fired up and ready to go. I will not stop until we pass federal voter protection legislation that protects every Texan’s right to have our ballots counted.
— Celia Israel (@CeliaIsrael) July 18, 2021
The battle is just beginning.
What's happening: The caucus said in a statement to news outlets that all of the Democrats who tested positive "are feeling good, with no symptoms or only mild symptoms."
- Not all of the affected Texas Democrats have been publicly identified, but state Rep. Celia Israel confirmed in a tweet Sunday that she was among the trio to return a positive result the previous day.
- State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer said in a statement that he was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but "received a positive COVID-19 rapid antigen test result" on Sunday morning and would be quarantining until tests negative. He's experiencing "extremely mild symptoms," he added.
Of note: Vice President Kamala Harris met last week with the Texas Democrats.
- But it was determined that Harris and her staff "were not at risk of exposure because they were not in close contact with those who tested positive and therefore do not need to be tested or quarantined," per a statement from her spokesperson Symone Sanders.
Go deeper: Texas House Democrats plan to stay in D.C., will host a weeklong virtual conference
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.