Garland asks Congress for $85 million in additional DOJ funding to fight domestic terrorism
04 May 2021
Attorney General Merrick Garland is requesting $85 million in additional funding from Congress to bolster the Justice Department and FBI's efforts to combat domestic terrorism, according to a copy of his opening remarks before a House Appropriations subcommittee.
Why it matters: Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned that violent extremists pose an "elevated" threat against the country this year.
- The attorney general has pledged to crack down on violence linked to white supremacists and right-wing militia groups, and has made prosecuting those involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege his top priority.
- Garland told Congress in February that "we are facing a more dangerous period than we faced in Oklahoma City" in 1995, when an extremist attack killed 168 people and injured over 680 others.
By the numbers: The Justice Department is seeking a $45 million increase in funding for the FBI for domestic terrorism investigations and $40 million for U.S. attorneys to manage domestic terrorism cases.
- Garland will also ask Congress to increase the agency's civil rights funding by $33 million in part to help protect voting rights and prosecute hate crimes.
- DOJ also wants an additional $232 million to combat gun violence, and $304 million to go toward community-oriented policing programs and addressing systemic inequities.
Go deeper: Merrick Garland rapidly erasing Trump effect at Justice Department
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.