“The guy does not eat well”: Franklin Graham worries Trump too old to run in 2024
16 May 2021
The Rev. Franklin Graham says a potential 2024 presidential bid by Donald Trump would "be a very tough thing to do," the prominent Christian leader told "Axios on HBO."
Why it matters: Graham, thepresident of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, was among Trump's earliest and most prominent evangelical defenders.
Graham told "Axios on HBO" that a Trump comeback would be difficult because of his advancing age and poor eating habits.
- "If he still has energy and strength like he does. I don't. You know the guy does not eat well, you know, and it's amazing the energy that he has."
- "He's lost weight, fifteen pounds, Maybe. So he might be in good health and in good shape. I don't know."
- Trump would be 78 in 2024, the same age as Joe Biden in 2020.
The big picture: Graham stood by Trump through repeated scandals, telling "Axios on HBO" in 2018 that he saw Trump as a defender of the faith.
- "Now people say 'Well Frank but how can you defend him, when he's lived such a sordid life?' I never said he was the best example of the Christian faith. He defends the faith. And I appreciate that very much."
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.