30 August 2020
President Trump visited Louisiana and Texas on Saturday to survey the damage caused by former Hurricane Laura, which killed 16 people after making landfall near the states' border Category 4 storm before weakening this week, per AP.
The big picture: Trump said while visiting Lake Charles that he wanted to "support the great people of Louisiana." "It's been a great state for me," he said, adding Louisiana would rebuild "fast." Anti-Trump Republican group the Lincoln Project tweeted video of him joking with locals after signing an autograph, "Sell it tonight on eBay. $10,000."
Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/mMQngpO51Q
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) August 29, 2020
- Trump has "sometimes struggled with his role as consoler in chief," AP notes, pointing to examples including a 2018 Carolinas visit in which he told a family after a yacht washed onto their property during a flood, "At least you got a nice boat out of the deal." But he also comforted Alabama families after a deadly 2019 tornado.
Trump with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (C) at an emergency operation center in Orange, Texas. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Trump joins National Guard troops in Lake Charles. He spent some two hours in the city. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Trump bows his head as he joins aid distribution workers for a prayer at a local warehouse in Lake Charles. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Trump surveys the damage caused by Hurricane Laura in Lake Charles. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Supporters wave to the Trump's convoy as he arrives at the Chennault International Airport in Lake Charles. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
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.
