Pentagon pauses plan to offer coronavirus vaccines to Guantánamo detainees
30 January 2021
The Pentagon is pausing a plan to offer coronavirus vaccines to Guantánamo Bay detainees, Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said Saturday.
Driving the news: The Pentagon had planned to begin vaccinating detainees on a volunteer basis, several media outlets reported earlier this week. The plan angered some Republicans, who called it "inexcusable and un-American."
What he's saying: "No Guantanamo detainees have been vaccinated," Kirby tweeted.
- "We’re pausing the plan to move forward, as we review force protection protocols. We remain committed to our obligations to keep our troops safe."
The big picture: It is unclear how many people at Guantánamo have been infected with COVID-19.
- "Lack of vaccinations has been a major obstacle to resuming war crimes hearings at the base’s Camp Justice compound," including that of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other defendants accused of helping carry out the 9/11 attacks, the New York Times reported.
- About 40 inmates are still being held at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, military prison.
- President Biden said during his campaign that he supported closing the prison, but he did not offer any concrete plans on how he would do so.
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.