Schumer says impeachment managers will present "new" evidence at trial
09 February 2021
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) promised Tuesday that House impeachment managers will present some "new" evidence as the Senate begins proceedings for Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
Why it matters: With enough Republicans already signaling they won‘t vote to convict the former president due to procedural concerns, the Senate majority leader is trying to do all he can to focus public attention on the House managers’ case that the former president incited the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- "I believe the managers will present a very strong case," Schumer said during a news conference. "The evidence will be powerful. The evidence, some of it will be new."
Schumer also dismissed calls by some Republicans to move on from the Jan. 6 violence in the Capitol. Some argue Trump is being persecuted because of lingering Democratic opposition to the policies he pursued as president.
- “The Senate has to find his guilt in inciting the violence,” Schumer said. ”When you have such a serious charge, sweeping it under the rug will not bring unity. It will keep the sore open, the wound open. You need truth and accountability.”
The big picture: The majority leader appeared with 10 of his party’s new Senate committee chairmen, a turnover from minority status after the Democrats won two critical election runoffs in Georgia last month.
- One by one, the chairmen told reporters they could successfully try the case while making a multi-pronged effort to bring COVID relief to all sectors and facets of the U.S. economy.
- “The bottom line is simple: the Senate is moving full steam ahead on bold planning to get this country out of the crisis,” Schumer said.
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.