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Scoop: Kushner plans trip to Middle East to encourage more Gulf states to normalize with Israel

22 August 2020
Dan Ackermann

President Trump's senior adviser Jared Kushner and White House envoy Avi Berkowitz are expected to travel to the Middle East and visit Israel along with several Gulf states during the first week of September to check on the U.S.-brokered normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Israeli and Arab officials tell me.

The state of play: Kushner and his delegation are expected to congratulate leadership in Israel and the UAE on the normalization deal and get updates on progress of the talks between the countries regarding possible agreements they may want to sign.

  • Kushner will also use his talks with leaders in the region to encourage more Arab countries to follow in the UAE's footsteps and move forward with full normalization of relations with Israel, officials briefed on the planned visit tell me. 

National security adviser Robert O'Brien and the State Department's special envoy for Iran Brian Hook are also expected to join Kushner on the trip.

  • Other than a visit to Jerusalem, Kushner and Berkowitz will visit the UAE. The U.S. delegation is likely to visit Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman as well.

What they're saying: President Trump said several days ago that he hopes Saudi Arabia will also move toward normalization with Israel. U.S. officials think it might be possible for Bahrain and Oman to take such steps in the weeks and months ahead.

  • The White House declined to comment.

What's next: Trump wants to a have a signing ceremony at the Rose Garden in September for the Israel-UAE deal with leaders from both countries.

Even if other Gulf states don't announce normalization with Israel until then, the White House may invite representatives from other Arab states to attend the ceremony and show their support for the deal.

Israeli and Arab officials tell me the drafting of agreements in different fields between Israel and the UAE will take more time.

  • Both countries have put together interagency teams to start the internal work of preparing a range of agreements. Israeli officials believe a meeting between the teams will not take place before the first week of September.

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.