Show an ad over header. AMP  

Donald Trump's political team disavows "Patriot Party" groups

25 January 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Donald Trump's still-active presidential campaign committee officially disavowed political groups affiliated with the nascent "Patriot Party" on Monday.

Why it matters: Trump briefly floated the possibility of creating a new political party to compete with the GOP — with him at the helm. But others have formed their own "Patriot Party" entities during the past week, and Trump's team wants to make clear it has nothing to do with them.

What's happening: Donald J. Trump for President Inc., the former president's official campaign committee, filed a notice with the Federal Election Commission officially distancing itself from a new PAC called Patriot Party.

  • "DJTFP is placing this disavowal notice on the public record out of concern for confusion among the public, which may be misled to believe that Patriot Party's activities have been authorized by Mr. Trump or DJTFP — or that contributions to this unauthorized committee are being made to DJTFP — when that is not true," the committee wrote.

What we're hearing: In a statement to Axios prior to Monday's filing, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said his team has nothing to do with that group or any similar effort.

  • “We are not supportive of this effort, have nothing to do with it and only know about it through public reporting," Miller said in a text message.

Trump briefly floated the possibility of creating — and leading — an alternative political party to compete with the GOP.

  • While he quickly dropped the idea, a host of groups have sprung up late promoting the "Patriot Party" brand.

The Patriot Party group the Trump campaign disavowed was just one of a handful to file paperwork with the FEC in recent days.

  • It falsely stated in FEC paperwork that it had a joint fundraising agreement with the Trump campaign committee.
  • Another group formed on Monday, the MAGA Patriot Party National Committee, also claimed, falsely, to have a similar agreement.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

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.