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McConnell at RNC: "We are the firewall against Nancy Pelosi’s agenda"

28 August 2020
Dan Ackermann

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stuck to the basics in his endorsement of President Trump at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, casting the Democratic Party as too focused on elites and dismissive of "middle America" and "flyover country."

Why it matters: The Senate is "the firewall" against the Democratic agenda if Trump is defeated in November, McConnell stressed as he called on voters to "support Republican Senate candidates across the country." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has referred to the GOP-controlled Senate as McConnell's legislative "graveyard."

What he's saying: "They want to defund the police and take away your Second Amendment rights. They want free health care for illegal immigrants, yet they offer no protection at all for unborn Americans. They want to pack the Supreme Court with liberals intent on eroding our constitutional rights."

  • “Today’s Democrat party doesn’t want to improve life for middle America. They prefer that all of us in flyover country keep quiet and let them decide how we should live our lives. They want to tell you when you can go to work. When your kids can go to school. They want to tax your job out of existence, and then send you a government check for unemployment."
  • “They want to tell you what kind of car you can drive. What sources of information are credible. And even how many hamburgers you can eat."
  • “I am immensely proud of the work the Republican Senate has done. We are the firewall against Nancy Pelosi’s agenda. Like President Trump, we won’t be bullied by a liberal media intent on destroying America’s institutions. ... The stakes have never been higher.

Reality check: Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he does not support defunding police, a policy that many progressives have promoted. He said in an interview with activist Ady Barkan that he "absolutely" supports redirecting some funding to address mental health issues or prison reform.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly 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.