Biden names first political ambassadors, including Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
15 June 2021
President Biden announced his first slate of political ambassadors Tuesday, naming five political allies and donors, as well as four career foreign service officers.
Why it matters: Biden’s announcement is the first step in an ambassadorial nomination process that will include several more waves. But it gives an indication he is more comfortable with former and current politicians and Washington insiders than big-dollar donors who have typically populate a president’s ambassador list.
- Tom Nides, a former deputy secretary of State and respected Democratic operative, will be named for Israel.
- Former Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, who also served as President Obama’s Interior Secretary, is slated for Mexico.
- Julie Smith, a longtime Biden aide, foreign policy expert and German speaker, is Biden’s pick to be ambassador to NATO.
- Cynthia Telles, a prominent Latina donor and professor at UCLA, is in line for Costa Rica.
- Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger will be nominated to be the ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal.
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.