House Democrats ask DOJ watchdog for "emergency" probe of Durham's Trump-Russia investigation
18 September 2020
Four Democratic House committee chairs on Friday asked the Justice Department's inspector general to launch an "emergency investigation" into whether Attorney General Bill Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham, his appointee, are taking actions that could "improperly influence the upcoming presidential election."
Catch up quick: Last year, Barr tapped Durham to conduct a sweeping investigation into the origins of the FBI's 2016 Russia probe, after he and President Trump claimed that it was unjustified and a "hoax."
- Although Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found "serious performance failures" by some FBI officials, he ultimately concluded that the FBI's investigation was not tainted by political bias.
- Nora Dannehy, a senior prosecutor who worked with Durham on his investigation, abruptly resigned from the DOJ last week.
- The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What they're saying: The committee chairs are concerned that Barr could make "public disclosures" or "issue reports" before the election about the Durham investigation in ways that "appear intended to benefit President Trump politically."
- "Few actions would prove more damaging to public confidence in the integrity of the DOJ and our democratic process than the perception that federal prosecutorial power can be used to prejudice a pending investigation or influence an upcoming election," the committee chairs wrote to Horowitz.
The big picture: Congressional Democrats have ramped up accusations that Barr is working to benefit Trump's re-election, and in May went so far as to allege that he is doing the president's "political bidding" by interfering in ongoing criminal cases — including dropping the agency's prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
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.