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Report: Trump required Walter Reed staff to sign NDAs last year

08 October 2020
Dan Ackermann

President Trump required personnel at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to agree to non-disclosure agreements in 2019 before he'd agree to be treated at the facility, per NBC News.

Why it matters: Trump sought coronavirus treatment at Walter Reed this weekend after his positive test on Thursday evening. But officials in the Trump administration and within Walter Reed offered conflicting information on the president's health, fluctuating between calling his symptoms "mild" and "very concerning."

  • NBC notes that "four people familiar with the process did not know whether, during the president's most recent visit over the weekend, he had the same requirement for Walter Reed staff members who had not previously been involved in his care."

Between the lines: The president's health information would already be protected by HIPAA.

  • But Trump has a history of NDAs, often making his employees and personal acquaintances sign them during his career as a businessman.

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.