Michelle Obama on Trump's actions in office: "Yes, it is racist."
06 October 2020
Michelle Obama is making her closing argument for Joe Biden this morning, arguing that President Trump has mismanaged the pandemic while "stoking fears about Black and Brown Americans."
The big picture: In a video message, the former first lady, who remains wildly popular in the Democratic party, testifies to Biden's personal qualities while sharply criticizing Trump's handling of the racial unrest that has been roiling the country. .
- Trump is "lying about how minorities will destroy the suburbs… whipping up violence and intimidation," Obama said.
- "So what the president is doing is, once again, patently false… it’s morally wrong… and yes, it is racist. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work."
Why it matters: Michelle motivates voters across the Democratic party and was a cut above other speakers at the Democratic convention in August, generating 5 times as much social interaction than any other speaker, including former president Barack Obama, according to Axios' Neal Rothchild.
Flashback: In late August, Obama said that there was "systemic racism" coming from both the White House and elsewhere in the country, when she addressed the racial unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
What she's saying: On the pandemic, Obama said "it didn’t have to be like this," and claimed that "so many other countries aren’t experiencing this level of extended suffering and uncertainty."
- She called Trump "a man who knew how deadly this virus is, but who lied to us, and told us it would just disappear… who, in the greatest crisis of our lifetimes, doubled down on division and resentment…"
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.