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Elliott Abrams to replace Brian Hook as Trump's Iran envoy

06 August 2020
Dan Ackermann

President Trump's Iran envoy, Brian Hook, is stepping down and will be replaced by Elliott Abrams, a noted Iran hawk who currently serves as Trump's envoy for Venezuela, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed Thursday.

Why it matters: Hook had been tasked with executing Trump's "maximum pressure" policy toward Iran, working closely with Pompeo. That strategy has deepened tensions and thus far failed to force Iran back to the negotiating table, as Trump had hoped.

  • Hook insisted to the Times that Iran is now weaker: “Deal or no deal, we have been very successful.”
  • In June, Hook told Axios contributor Barak Ravid that the Trump administration would be willing to use military force if that's what it takes to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

What they're saying: "Special Representative Hook has been my point person on Iran for over two years and he has achieved historic results countering the Iranian regime," Pompeo said in a statement.

  • "He successfully negotiated with the Iranians the release of Michael White and Xiyue Wang from prison."
  • "Special Representative Hook also served with distinction as the Director of Policy Planning and set into motion a range of new strategies that advanced the national security interests of the United States and our allies. He has been a trusted advisor to me and a good friend."

Context: Abrams, who was tapped as Trump's special envoy for Venezuela in January 2019 as the administration looked to force President Nicolas Maduro from power, pleaded guilty in 1991 as part of the Iran-Contra affair. He was later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush.

  • The then-assistant secretary of state testified to Congress that the U.S. was not involved in arming the right-wing Contra rebel group against the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
  • Abrams later admitted to the independent counsel investigating the scandal that he had withheld information from Congress and entered a plea deal. He was sentenced to two years of probation and later served in the George W. Bush administration.

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.