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New book by John McCain's closest aide details reaction to Trump's war hero attack

11 October 2020
Dan Ackermann

"The Luckiest Man: Life With John McCain," out Tuesday, is a fascinating reminiscence by Mark Salter, who was the late senator's closest aide for 18 years, and collaborated with him on seven books.

"For all his chronic impatience," Salter writes, Senator McCain "would persevere for years, decades in pursuit of a goal [including comprehensive immigration legislation] he believed was right and just. And he was drawn to people who did likewise, people who refused to accept permanent defeat, who helped on to hope when experience taught them hope was for fools."

Among the news in Salter's book:

  • A 1993 scene in which Donald Trump, then a failing casino owner, unsuccessfully lobbies McCain outside the Senate: "Trump waited to buttonhole him. McCain walked briskly past the casino owner, pretending not to notice as Trump tried to get his attention. Frustrated, Trump shouted after him, 'I gave money to your campaign.' Looking over his shoulder, McCain yelled back, 'Oh yeah? See what that will get you.'"
  • McCain reacting to Trump disparaging him as "not a war hero": Salter called the senator "and cussed prolifically as I condemned Trump's character, intelligence, and appearance. McCain advised me to take it easy. 'All he did was get people to talk about what a hero I am all weekend. That's not my problem, it's his.'"
  • McCain calling Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) an asshole for killing consideration of McCain’s last defense bill by objecting to the debate, which McCain wanted to manage before starting cancer treatment: "[I]t's hard not to see it as an act of spite to prevent a Senate veteran with terminal cancer from doing the job he took pride in completing every year. 'Why do you think he did it?' I asked John. 'Became he hates me, and he's an asshole,' he replied."

Read/watch Mark Salter's interview with Judy Woodruff on "PBS NewsHour."

  • Woodruff: "I dare anybody to read it without tearing up."
  • Salter, who says McCain felt "called by history": "I titled the book 'The Luckiest Man' because that's how he viewed himself."
  • Salter said McCain believed "you redeem yourself from your flaws and failings ... through courage and self-sacrifice and service to others. And he did that at great cost, over and over again."

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.