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Hope Hicks tests positive for coronavirus

02 October 2020
Dan Ackermann

President Trump's adviser Hope Hicks has tested positive for coronavirus, Bloomberg News first reported and Axios has confirmed.

Why it matters: Hicks is one of the president's closest aides and traveled with him earlier this week, including on Air Force One to and from Tuesday's presidential debate, as well as Trump's Minnesota rally Wednesday, Bloomberg's Jennifer Jacobs writes.

  • This episode illustrates just how quickly the virus travels, and how close it can get to the president despite precautions that are place.

The big picture: Trump has been criticized for holding large, not-socially-distancedrallies through much of the pandemic, and refusing to wear a mask in many public appearances.

Worth noting: It is unclear whether Trump clears the threshold for "close contact" which requires quarantine, according to CDC guidelines.

What they're saying: “The president takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously,” said White House spokesperson Judd Deere.

  • “White House Operations collaborates with the Physician to the President and the White House Military Office to ensure all plans and procedures incorporate current C.D.C. guidance and best practices for limiting Covid-19 exposure to the greatest extent possible both on complex and when the president is traveling.”

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.