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Trump hit with devastating barrage as Michael Cohen and Bob Woodward books near publish dates

06 September 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Never before has a sitting president been hit by so many blistering books, so many times, in a one-month period. 

Why it matters: President Trump's niece and his former fixer paint a devastating portrait of a corrupt, racist, dishonest commander in chief, just two months before the election. Michael Schmidt, a top N.Y. Times investigative reporter, begins with a quote from King Lear in his new book reporting that Trump's Russia ties have never been fully investigated.

What's next: Bob Woodward, armed with a reported 17 interviews with Trump himself, will be out Sept. 15 with "Rage," which Trump is already attacking.

The latest ... Michael Cohen — the longtime fixer who used to instantly put reporters on the phone with Trump — writes in "Disloyal," out Tuesday, that Trump admired Vladimir Putin because he "had the balls to take over an entire nation and run it like it was his personal company."

  • "I will never get the Hispanic vote,” Cohen quotes Trump as saying, per AP, which obtained an early copy. "Like the blacks, they’re too stupid to vote for Trump. They’re not my people."

The White House calls the book "fan fiction," saying in a statement that Cohen "readily admits to lying routinely but expects people to believe him now so that he can make money from book sales."

  • "It’s unfortunate that the media is exploiting this sad and desperate man to attack President Trump."

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.