Biden campaign targeting military families in swing state ad campaign
06 September 2020
Joe Biden's campaign is seizing on new accusations about President Trump insulting veterans, investing heavily in ads to sway voters around military bases in five swing states.
Driving the news:"Protect Our Troops," an ad that debuted earlier this year highlighting Biden's family connections to the U.S. military and plans to support troops, will relaunch this week as part of a $47 million ad buy across TV, digital, and radio.
- Voters living near bases like Fort McCoy in Wisconsin or Fort Bragg in North Carolina will see the ad on Facebook and Instagram.
- The campaign is targeting households in a 50-mile radius of military bases in those two swing states, as well as Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida.
Why it matters: The ad follows an explosive report in The Atlantic that cites multiple unnamed sources and alleges Trump privately referred to American soldiers who've died in war as "suckers" and "losers." Trump and several current and former aides on the record have denied the report, while some news outlets report confirming portions of it.
- Biden blasted Trump's alleged comments as "disgusting" and "deplorable" in a Friday speech from Delaware and urged the president to apologize.
The big picture: Trump's support with active-duty troops appeared to be sliding before the report, per a Military Times poll of over 1,000 service members from late July and early August.
- The report has drawn comparisons in terms of the potential for damage to the "Access Hollywood" tape that emerged in 2016 in which Trump bragged about grabbing women by their genitals.
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.