Pence calls on GOP to respect Constitution in speech referencing Jan. 6
25 June 2021
Former Vice President Pence, in a significant speech at the Reagan Library in California last evening, declared that the Constitution "affords the vice president no authority to reject or return electoral votes submitted to the Congress by the states."
Driving the news: "I understand the disappointment many feel about the last election," Pence said. "I can even relate. Remember, I lost reelection too. But there's more at stake than our party or our political fortunes."
- "Truth is, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."
Why it matters: This is Pence directly addressing — even leaning into — what he did on Jan. 6 in the context of a speech about the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
- Pence is attaching his actions on Jan. 6 to his vision of the future of the party — drawing a clear line between his vision and former President Trump's.
"If we lose faith in the Constitution, we won’t just lose elections — we’ll lose our country," Pence said at the library's "A Time for Choosing" series.
- "Now more than ever, America needs the Republican Party to be the party of the Constitution."
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.