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With America boiling, President-elect Biden plans to avoid stoking anger over the Capitol siege, and instead he'll focus his public comments this week on combating the coronavirus, advisers tell Axios.

Why it matters: Biden staked his campaign on uniting America across cultural and political divides. While House Democrats pursue Impeachment II, he plans to keep talking to the whole country.

Advisers are urging Biden to steer clear of the impeachment debate and keep the above-the-fray position he staked out Friday, when he said it was up to Congress.

  • After speaking about the violence twice last week, he hit pause for the weekend and didn't address the riot.
  • His major public event for the week is a Thursday speech on COVID.

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.