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Neera Tanden withdraws nomination for Office of Management and Budget director

02 March 2021
Dan Ackermann

Neera Tanden withdrew her name from nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget after several senators voiced opposition and concern about her qualifications and past combative tweets, President Biden announced Tuesday.

Why it matters: Tanden’s decision to pull her nomination marks Biden's first setback in filling out his Cabinet with a thin Democratic majority in the Senate.

What they're saying: "I have accepted Neera Tanden’s request to withdraw her name from nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget," Biden said in a statement.

  • "I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel," he added.

Tanden, in a letter to Biden, said "it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities."

Context: The Senate Homeland Security Committee last week postponed a confirmation hearing with Tanden because members were asking for "more time to consider the nominee."

  • Senators from both parties criticized her combative tweets against Republican members of Congress, noting they undercut Biden's campaign promise to seek unity and bipartisanship.
  • In February, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) said he would not vote to confirm her, and three Republicans who could potentially replace Manchin's vote — Susan Collins (R-Maine), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) — also said they would vote no.

Of note: Biden said he looks "forward to having [Tanden] serve in a role in my Administration. She will bring valuable perspective and insight to our work."

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.