Kayleigh McEnany shares personal story at RNC about preventative mastectomy
27 August 2020
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany shared at the Republican National Convention Wednesday night that she had a preventative mastectomy in 2018, and received support from President Trump even though she did personally not know him at the time.
Why it matters: McEnany said that through her experience, she knows that Trump supports health care coverage for Americans with pre-existing conditions, an issue the president has recently emphasized as important to the GOP. Her comments did not address the fact that Trump administration is currently arguing before the Supreme Court that the Affordable Care Act — which protects pre-existing conditions — should be struck down.
What she's saying: "During one of my most difficult times, I expected to have the support of my family, but I had more support than I knew," McEnany said.
- "As I came out of anesthesia, one of the first calls I received was from Ivanka Trump," she continued.
- "Days later, as I recovered, my phone rang. It was President Trump, calling to check on me. I was blown away. Here was the leader of the free world caring about me."
- "Though I didn’t personally know the President at the time, I know him well now and I can tell you that this president loves the American people, stands by Americans with preexisting conditions, and supports working moms."
Go deeper: Trump considering order on pre-existing condition protections, which already exist
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.