Trump loses impeachment lawyers days before Senate trial is due to begin
31 January 2021
Former President Trump hasn't made a final decision on his legal team days out from his impeachment trial starting, his adviser Jason Miller said Saturday after it emerged he'd lost at least two lead defense attorneys.
Why it matters: With Trump's second impeachment trial due to begin on Feb. 9, it is unclear who will take the lead now South Carolina lawyers Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier have left the team.
- Another attorney, Josh Howard, "who had been reported as joining the effort but who was never confirmed by Trump advisers publicly, is also not on the team," notes the New York Times' Maggie Haberman.
- "Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and it was stolen from him rather than focus on proposed arguments about constitutionality," tweeted CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who first reported news of the departure of Bowers and Barbier and also reported on Howard.
What they're saying: The departure decision on Bowers and Barbier was mutual, a Trump adviser told CBS News.
- Miller said in a statement Democrats' efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is "totally unconstitutional" and "so bad for our country."
- "In fact, 45 Senators have already voted that is unconstitutional," he added. "We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly."
Of note: Trump was impeached earlier this month for "incitement of insurrection," becoming the only president in history to have been impeached twice.
Go deeper: Most Senate Republicans join bid to dismiss Trump's 2nd impeachment trial
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
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.