Biden picks Tom Udall for U.S. ambassador to New Zealand
16 July 2021
President Biden will nominate former New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall as his ambassador to New Zealand, tapping another onetime senator to serve in his state department.
Why it matters: Biden is drawing heavily on politicians, longtime aides and former diplomats as he fills out his ambassadorial ranks, giving short shrift to pure political donors.
- He is also expected to nominate Jane Hartley, the former ambassador to France, as his pick for the Court of St. James in the United Kingdom, according to people familiar with the matter.
The big picture: Biden still plans to nominate political ambassadors for roughly 30% of his openings and filling the remaining slots with career foreign services officers.
- On Friday he’ll be announcing three more names from the diplomatic corps: Caryn McClelland, for Brunei Darussalam; Michael Murphy for Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Howard Van Vranken for Botswana.
Go deeper: If confirmed by the senate, Udall will join former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, who was picked for Turkey, and former Sen. Ken Salazar, who has been nominated for Mexico.
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.