GOP-led Arizona board of supervisors calls for end to "sham" election audit
18 May 2021
The Republican-led Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Monday urged the Arizona Senate's GOP-led audit of its 2020 presidential election results to be called off in a letter Monday.
Why it matters: The letter underscores divisions in the GOP between loyalists of former President Trump and those denouncing baseless election claims, which saw Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) ousted last Wednesday as the third-highest ranking House Republican after speaking out on the matter.
- The county officials said in the letter that the audit had left Arizona "a laughingstock." "Worse, this 'audit' is encouraging our citizens to distrust elections, which weakens our democratic republic."
The big picture: The Florida-based Cyber Ninjas, whose chief has supported unfounded voter fraud claims of voter fraud, is recounting ballots from the election.
- Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers (R) said at a public meeting Monday he would not be responding to "any more requests from this sham process," per the Washington Post.
- Trump has continued to make unfounded claims about the county's election results, claiming Saturday that the "entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED!"
- Per WashPost, County Recorder Stephen Richer told the meeting: "Every file the Senate has asked for is there. No files from the 2020 election have been deleted."
The other side: State Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Warren Petersen (R) tweeted that he was "disappointed to hear that the County has said they will not show to answer questions" at a meeting scheduled on the matter for Tuesday.
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.