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Biden on GOP-back voting restrictions: "The 21st century Jim Crow assault is real"

13 July 2021
 Dan Ackermann

President Biden delivered remarks on Tuesday addressing efforts to curb voting rights in GOP-led states, saying the "21st century Jim Crow assault is real."

Why it matters: Biden noted Republican lawmakers across the United States have introduced nearly 400 bills in attempts to restrict voting rights, adding that 17 states have passed such laws.

The big picture: Biden implored Congress to take action to protect voting rights by passing the For the People Act as well as the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

  • The president spoke of the historic turnout in the 2020 election as well as the unprecedented challenges mounted against the results by Republicans.
  • "No other election has ever been held under such scrutiny, and such high standards. The big lie is just that. A big lie."
  • Biden added that legislation is "one tool" to protect voting rights, and the Justice Department will be "using its authorities to challenge the onslaught of state laws undermining voting rights."

What he's saying: "There's an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections. An assault on democracy, an assault on liberty. An assault on who we are," Biden said.

  • "They want the ability to reject the final count and ignore the will of the people if their preferred candidate loses," Biden said of lawmakers pushing for voting restrictions.
  • "We are facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. That's not hyperbole," he added.
"We're going to face another test in 2022. A new wave of unprecedented voter suppression and raw and sustained election subversion. We have to prepare now."

Editor's note: This story has been updated.

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.