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GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer: Transition should start "tomorrow morning"

22 November 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on "Meet the Press" on Sunday that it is "past time to cooperate with the transition" to President-elect Joe Biden, adding that he believes President Trump still has the right to continue fighting in court over election results.

Driving the news: Trump has refused to allow the transition process to begin and he has sought to discredit the election results in swing states across the country — baselessly alleging mass voter fraud.

  • His campaign continues to file and lose lawsuits, most recently on Saturday night in Pennsylvania, where a judge dismissed a suit that sought to invalidate millions of votes.

What they're saying: "[Trump] is a reflection of millions of people that want to see him fight this to the end. Now, there has to be an end," Cramer told host Chuck Todd. "I frankly think it's past time to cooperate with the transition. I'd rather have a president that has more than one day to prepare should Joe Biden end up winning this, but he's just exercising his legal options."

  • "It should happen tomorrow morning because it didn't happen last Monday morning," Cramer said of the transition starting. "Give the incoming administration all the time that they need."

There has been a chorus of Republicans who, while not acknowledging Biden as the president-elect, believe a Biden should receive intelligence briefings.

Sen. Pat Toomey, who is retiring, said on Saturday that Trump has " exhausted all plausible legal options" and should concede.

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.