Biden team says White House budget office not cooperating with transition
30 December 2020
President-elect Joe Biden's transition team said at a press briefing on Wednesday that the Office of Management and Budget has been limiting support to the incoming administration, accusing the agency of "intentionally generated opacity."
Why it matters: Biden spokesperson Yohannes Abraham told reporters "there’s no question" that a lack of analytical support to the transition team will delay Biden's budget planning, and that it has "real-world implications" for national security.
The big picture: The news comes days after Biden said his team has "encountered obstruction" and "roadblocks" from political leadership at the Defense Department, including a lack of briefings.
- Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller pushed back on the claims, saying that "DoD political and career officials have been working with the utmost professionalism to support transition activities in a compressed time schedule and they will continue to do so."
- OMB's role is to assist in the development and implementation of the federal budget. A delay in budget planning could have ramifications for the U.S. economy, including as it relates to COVID-19.
Axios has reached out to the Office of Management and Budget for comment.
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.