Laptop stolen from Pelosi's office during Capitol siege
09 January 2021
A laptop was stolen from a conference room in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump, a Pelosi aide said Friday.
Why it matters: The theft of the laptop, as well as another computer taken from Sen. Jeff Merkley's office during Wednesday's riot have raised cybersecurity concerns.
- Drew Hammill, deputy chief of staff to Pelosi, tweeted that the laptop taken from the speaker's office was stolen from a conference room and only used for presentations. He did not elaborate.
- Merkely said Wednesday in a video posted to Twitter that rioters stole a laptop that was sitting on a conference room table in his office.
What they're saying: "Materials were stolen, and we have to identify what was done, mitigate that, and it could have potential national security equities," said acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin in a news briefing Thursday, per Politico.
- It will likely take “several days to flesh out exactly what happened, what was stolen, what wasn't,” Sherwin added, saying that “electronic items were stolen from senators’ offices, documents and materials were stolen, and we have to identify what was done to mitigate that [damage]."
Authorities announced Friday they had arrested and chargedthe man who was photographed sitting at a desk in Pelosi's office.
- Richard Barnett of Arkansas has been charged with three felony counts, including theft of public property, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
- Adam Johnson of Florida has also been arrested on a federal warrant and booked into the Pinellas County jail, jail records show. According to Reuters, Johnson was the man photographed carrying Pelosi's lectern from the House of Representative chambers.
Go deeper: Man photographed in Pelosi's office among those charged over deadly riot
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.