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Biden downplays jobs number, rebukes Trump for ignoring health crisis

02 July 2020
Dan Ackermann

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday called June’s jobs report “positive news,” but warned that the worst is yet to come and accused President Trump of "giving up" on addressing the root public health causes of the coronavirus.

Driving the news: The Labor Department reported Thursday morning that the economy added 4.8 million jobs last month and that the unemployment rate dropped to 11.1% — down from 13.3%.

  • “There’s no victory to be celebrated,” Biden said in a video message from his home in Delaware. "We are still down nearly 15 million jobs and the pandemic is getting worse, not better.”
  • "Many of the jobs that have come back should not have been lost in the first place."

The big picture: The president raced to the cameras this morning to tout the jobs numbers.

  • Trump didn’t take questions, but when his aides fanned out across cable TV to talk up the economy, they hinted that the case for a big phase 4 stimulus package is diminishing.
  • White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested he wasn’t in favor of a generous extension of unemployment benefits, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the month.

Between the lines: Separate Labor Department figures released Thursday showed that 1.4 million people filed for unemployment claims last week, an indication that the jobs losses remained constant throughout the month — a trend that would not have been detected in the overall jobs report.

  • “Does this feel like a victory?” Biden asked.
  • "Quit claiming victory with almost 15 million Americans still out of work because of the crisis," he finished. "Quit ignoring the reality of this pandemic and the horrifying loss of American life. Act. Lead. Lead. Or get out of the way so others can, Mr. President.

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.