Biden: "I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump"
16 September 2020
In remarks in Delaware on Wednesday, Joe Biden made clear that he trusts the scientists on a coronavirus vaccine but not President Trump, laying out a list of three criteria he wants the administration to meet to ensure the process is not politicized.
Why it matters: Republicans have been criticizing Biden and other Democrats as being anti-vaccine in the wake of recent comments about whether they’d take a vaccine approved by the Trump administration on an expedited timetable.
- Earlier this month, the president called on his Democratic opponents to “immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that they’re talking right now."
Driving the news: “Let me be clear: I trust vaccines, I trust scientists, but I don’t trust Donald Trump,” Biden said. He then called on Trump to answer the following three questions, and said the American people should not have confidence if the president can't answer them:
- "What criteria will be used to ensure that a vaccine meets the scientific standard of safety and effectiveness?"
- "If the administration green lights a vaccine, who will validate that the decision was driven by science rather than politics? What group of scientists will that be?"
- "How can we be sure that the distribution of the vaccine will take place safely, cost-free, and without a hint of favoritism?"
The bottom line: Biden said that if these three questions are answered, then he and others should "absolutely" take the vaccine.
Context: Before giving remarks, Biden had a virtual briefing with public health experts on developing and distributing a COVID-19 vaccine.
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.