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ABC host says White House blocked Fauci from appearing on show

11 October 2020
 Dan Ackermann

The White House refused to allow Anthony Fauci or any medical experts on its coronavirus task force to appear on ABC's "This Week," host Jon Karl said Sunday.

Why it matters: President Trump has previously faced criticism for silencing Fauci, and White House officials have refused to answer basic questions about President Trump's positive test, as it scrambles to respond to an outbreak within its own ranks.

  • Fauci acknowledged in an interview with CBS Radio on Friday that there was "a superspreader event at the White House," referring to the Rose Garden ceremony to introduce Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
  • Multiple people, including two senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, tested positive for COVID-19 after the event, which featured little social distancing and few masks.

The big picture: The president is facing a credibility gap on the coronavirus issue. An ABC News/Washington Post poll out Sundayindicates 62% of Americans distrust what President Trump says about the coronavirus, and 60% said they don't trust the administration to provide accurate information about Trump's health.

What they're saying: "We had hoped to talk to Dr. Fauci about both the outbreak at the White House and across the country," Karl said at the start of the show.

  • "He was more than willing to join us, but the White House wouldn't allow you to hear from the nation's leading expert on coronavirus.
  • "In fact, they wouldn't allow any medical experts on the president's own coronavirus task force to appear on this show."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly 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.