Merrick Garland vows to lead Capitol attack prosecutions if confirmed as attorney general
21 February 2021
Merrick Garland, President Biden's nominee for attorney general, will pledge during his confirmation hearing next week to take the lead in prosecuting those charged over the U.S. Capitol siege.
Driving the news: In his opening statement released Saturday night, Garland plans to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that if confirmed, he'll fight discrimination and domestic terrorism while operating independently of Biden.
Opening statement highlights: "The President nominates the Attorney General to be the lawyer — not for any individual, but for the people of the United States," Garland will say.
- On the Capitol siege, Garland will say that he plans to "supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed the Capitol on January 6 — a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power to a newly elected government."
Read Garland's full opening statement, via DocumentCloud:
Editor's note: This a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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.