Show an ad over header. AMP

Scoop: Politico stars plot new Playbook

01 December 2020
Dan Ackermann

Three of Politico’s biggest reporting stars plan to launch a competitor to the company’s Politico Playbook franchise, sources tell me. 

Why it matters:  Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and John Bresnahan will launch a daily newsletter in 2021 as a stand-alone company, the sources say. In effect, they will be competing against the Playbook franchise they helped create and grow. 

  • The newsletter will include a heavy focus on Capitol Hill reporting, given the expertise of the trio, but it's not designed to be a carbon copy of Politico's flagship newsletter Playbook.
  • The new venture will include other offerings aside from the newsletter.
  • Sherman and Palmer have been soliciting emails via social media to get set up quickly after they depart.

Between the lines: Industry sources tell me they will be able to attract advertisers focused on the DC market, especially if they quickly replicate their elite audience. It is unclear if the product will be paid. 

  • Politico editor Carrie Budoff Brown announced Monday that Politico reporters Heather Caygle and Burgess Everett would become Politico's new Congressional bureau chiefs.
  • Politico executives have not yet announced Playbook replacements.

What they're saying: "We’re still finalizing our next steps -- 2021 is a long way away. We’ll have more to say on our plans after the new year. Anna and I have absolutely loved our careers at POLITICO," Sherman tells Axios.

  • Politico spokesperson Brad Dayspring tells Axios: "We have enormous ambition for the Playbook franchise headed into 2021 and beyond, as well as for Huddle, our Capitol Hill focused newsletter. Look for some exciting news on both fronts this month."

The bottom line: They're the latest big media stars to leave their outlets in pursuit of independent projects.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

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.