Biden transition threatens legal action on GSA decision
10 November 2020
Joe Biden's transition team is warning that it may take "legal action" if the General Services Administration fails to make an official determination that Joe Biden has won the election.
Driving the news: GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, a Trump political appointee, has not made the declaration — a so-called "ascertainment" — that would allow officials from Biden’s agency review teams access to the information they need in order to get to work.
- "There's a number of levers on the table and all options are certainly available," a Biden transition official told reporters.
- "It's a changing situation and certainly rather fluid."
The big picture: The Presidential Transition Act governs how the outgoing administration is required to cooperate with the incoming one, smoothing the way for a peaceful transfer for power.
- Most official GSA ascertainments have been made within 24 hours of the election, with the exception of the 2000 contest, when the outcome in Florida was down to some 500 votes, the officials said.
Why it matters: Absent a GSA declaration, the incoming administration doesn’t have access to agencies to look at the non-public books, slowing their ability to change policy direction. They also don’t have access to:
- Office space, computers and mobile phones.
- The $6.3 million in appropriated funds.
- Classified information or secured facilities to review it.
- The ability to request security clearances or background checks for potential cabinet nominees.
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.