First look: Pro-Trump PAC drops $23 million on summer anti-Biden ad campaign
13 July 2020
America First Action, a leading pro-Trump super PAC, will focus on Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in a $23 million anti-Biden summer ad campaign beginning next week.
Why it matters: The ad buy signals which swing states the groups sees as most vulnerable for President Trump. Arizona and Wisconsin were not included earlier this year in the core battleground strategy.
- One PAC official tells Axios North Carolina and Arizona may be the tightest of these, then Pennsylvania, with Wisconsin seen as the most secure.
Between the lines: The ads, to begin July 24 and continue through Labor Day, will serve as a bridge before the Trump campaign's planned $100 million advertising blitzkrieg that will begin in September and run through the election.
By the numbers: The majority will be spent on broadcast (52%) and cable television (17%). Digital (14%) and mail resources (14%) also will be deployed.
State breakdown:
- Pennsylvania: $7.5m
- Wisconsin: $5.6m
- Arizona: $5.6m
- North Carolina: $4.5m
Details: America First Action's first round of ads focused on highlighting Biden's record on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), painting him as soft on China and underscoring his desire to ban all fossil fuels. The group said the same themes may be incorporated in their future messaging, but they are watching closely which messages poll better in the specific states.
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.