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Senate confirms retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as defense secretary

22 January 2021
 Dan Ackermann

The Senate voted 93-2 on Friday to confirm retired Gen. Lloyd Austin as secretary of defense. Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) were the sole "no" votes.

Why it matters: Austin is the first Black American to lead the Pentagon and President Biden's second Cabinet nominee to be confirmed.

  • Avril Haines was confirmed as director of national intelligence on Wednesday, making her the first woman to serve as head of the U.S. intelligence community.
  • Biden has pledged to make his Cabinet the most diverse in U.S. history.

The big picture: Austin was the first Black general to command a theater of war in Iraq, first to serve as the commander of U.S. Central Command, and first to hold the title of vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army.

  • During his confirmation hearing, Austin pledged to address white supremacy and extremism within the military, saying he would "rid our ranks of racists" and ensure that military leaders understand that any sort of extremist behavior is unacceptable.
  • He also testified that he plans to ensure the Pentagon does "everything we can" to assist in vaccine distribution and guarantee that troops get inoculated, per AP.

Between the lines: Both chambers of Congress voted Thursday to grant Austin a waiver from a law that requires officers to be out of the military for seven years before taking on the job, as the four-star general only retired in 2016.

  • Austin is the third defense secretary to require a waiver from Congress to serve, NPR reports, following Gen. George Marshall, nominated in 1950 by President Harry Truman, and Gen. Jim Mattis, President Trump's first defense secretary.
  • Amid bipartisan concerns over abandoning the tradition of civilian control of the Pentagon for a second consecutive administration, Austin acknowledged in his confirmation hearing that being a Cabinet secretary "requires a different perspective and unique duties from a career in uniform."

Go deeper: Biden finalizes full slate of Cabinet secretaries

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.