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Dramatic photos show increased security in the Capitol after last week's deadly siege

13 January 2021
Dan Ackermann

Following last week's violent Capitol siege by Trump supporters during the counting of the Electoral College vote, troops from the National Guard have been sent to secure the House and downtown Washington D.C. as warnings of possible violent demonstrations continue.

The state of play: Capitol Hill prepares for President Trump's second impeachment on Wednesday. If the House votes to impeach Trump, as they are expected to do, he would be the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

  • According to Bloomberg's Erik Wasson, this is first time troops have camped in the Capitol since the Civil War.
  • 15,000 members of the National Guard have been mobilized ahead of Biden's inauguration, meaning that there are more troops deployed on Capitol Hill than there are in Iran or Afghanistan, per Fox News.
  • Roll Call's Jim Saksa reports that members of the National Guard are sleeping inside the Capitol and "don't know how long they'll be here."

In photos:

Members of the National Guard rest in the Capitol Visitors Center on Capitol Hill. Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Members of the National Guard walk through the Rotunda of the US Capitol. photo: SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) spreads out her arms as she goes through security outside the House Chamber at Capitol Hill. Photo: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
Troops in the Capitol Rotunda. Photo: Glen Johnson/Axios
Troops sleep in the Capitol visitors center. Photo: Glen Johnson/Axios

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.