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Rep. Cheney: McCarthy is "playing politics" with Capitol riot

21 July 2021
Dan Ackermann

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Wednesday said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is "playing politics" with the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot by pulling select Republicans off the committee created to investigate the origins of the attack and pursuing a separate investigation.

Why it matters: Cheney said she believes McCarthy's "disgraceful" actions and rhetoric on the insurrection should disqualify him from becoming House speaker if the GOP reclaims the chamber in the 2022 midterms.

  • Cheney, currently the sole Republican on the Jan. 6 committee, said she agreed with Pelosi's decision to reject McCarthy's naming of Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) to the committee.

What she's saying: "At every opportunity, the minority leader has attempted to prevent the American people from understanding what happened, to block this investigation," Cheney said.

  • "Today the speaker objected to two Republican members. She accepted three others. She rejected two — one of whom may be a material witness to events that led to that day, that led to January 6, the other of whom disqualified himself by his comments over the last 24 hours demonstrating he is not taking this seriously," she added.
  • "The idea that anybody would be playing politics with an attack on the United States Capitol is despicable and disgraceful. I'm absolutely dedicated and committed to making sure this investigation holds those accountable who did this and ensures that it never happens again."

The big picture: Cheney said she is confident the committee will complete a nonpartisan investigation, though she said the proposed independent commission that McCarthy opposed and Senate Republicans blocked "would have been the best option."

  • Of note: McCarthy opposed the creation of the commission in May because he said it would be"duplicative and potentially counterproductive."

Go deeper:Capitol rioter gets 8 months in prison in first Jan. 6 felony sentence

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.