Senate confirms Lisa Monaco as Justice Department's deputy attorney general
20 April 2021
The Senate voted 98-2 on Tuesday to confirm Lisa Monaco as deputy attorney general for the Justice Department, making her the agency's second highest-ranking official.
Why it matters: Monaco is expected to play a key role in Attorney General Merrick Garland's pledge to crack down on violence from domestic extremist groups, including the department's sweeping investigation of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Background: Monaco served as assistant attorney general for national security and White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser under President Obama.
- She led reforms to the Obama administration’s response to the kidnappings of Americans by Islamic State fighters, mandating that victims' families be involved in the process, according to the New York Times.
- Monaco, who has experience with cybersecurity issues, is also expected to assist with the Biden administration's response to recent cyberattacks against the federal government and U.S. companies, including the massive SolarWinds breach by Russian-backed hackers that became public in December 2020.
The big picture: Monaco is viewed as a consensus-builder, according to the Times. She joins the DOJ at a moment when U.S. intelligence agencies warn that domestic terrorism motivated by political or racial bias poses an "elevated threat" to the nation.
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.