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Rahm Emanuel's tips for new members of Congress

06 January 2021
 Dan Ackermann

This week is all about power. Power in the Senate. Power in the White House.

Why it matters: If there's a currency in this town, it's power, so we asked several former Washington power brokers to give us their best tips for new members of Congress — as well as a certain incoming president.

Tuesday night: Rahm Emanuel, as told to Axios.

  • "The successful presidents understand the power of public opinion to change Washington, rather than Washington’s ability to change public opinion."
  • "Whenever you are working it, you’ve got to know where people are starting from, and don’t dismiss their politics as wrong. Try and incorporate their politics in your strategy."
  • "There are different power centers, and the media is its own institutional power, whether they like it or not."
  • "You need to know if you’re moving the ball down the field or stopping the ball. The first is harder, by degrees."
  • "You have all of your administration, not just what’s at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but to wield that power is to have people know that you control it."

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.