House members and staff will be allowed to bring visitors into Capitol again
19 April 2021
Members of the House and their staff will be able to escort certain visitors into the Capitol starting Wednesday.
Why it matters: The House is slowly starting to reopen after shutting down more than a year of pandemic restrictions. The Senate already allows official visits, with a staff escort.
- The change is all the more meaningful after allegations some House members may have escorted some participants in the Jan. 6 Capitol siege through the building during the days before the attack.
Congress barred public access to the U.S. Capitol and House and Senate buildings the evening of March 12, 2020.
- The new policy applies to anyone seeking to enter the building for official business, including lobbyists and reporters lacking a permanent pass.
- The same policy will apply to the five House office buildings beginning April 29, a day after President Biden is set to deliver a joint address to Congress
- The House sergeant at arms is expected to formally announce in a letter to members on Monday.
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.