Show an ad over header. AMP  

Trump pushes back on changes to upcoming presidential debates

01 October 2020
 Dan Ackermann

President Trump suggested Thursday that he'll resist any moves that could cut off candidates' microphones in the next debate if he continues to talk over his opponent and the moderator.

  • "Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?" he tweeted.

The big picture: White House and campaign officials insisted Trump is still committed to two remaining debates, despite fallout from Tuesday including poor reviews and discussions of new guardrails.

  • Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh tells Axios they "will absolutely oppose" the Commission's proposed changes, but offered no specifics.
  • The call for changes came after Trump received intense criticism, including from his own advisers, about how much he interrupted Joe Biden.

What they're saying:

  • Earlier Thursday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump "wants to debate. He plans on being at the debate, but wants the rules to be fair and wants a fair exchange and doesn't want rules that cover for a certain candidate's inability to perform."
  • Murtaugh told Axios that the Biden campaign is "running to the commission to try to get the rules changed" because "their guy had a lousy performance."
  • He added that the debate commission "is heavily partisan and filled with plenty of anti-Trump voices. It’s been obvious from the beginning that the commission is doing Joe Biden’s bidding."

The other side: “Joe Biden is looking forward to the Town Hall in Miami. He'll be focused on answering questions from the voters there, under whatever set of rules the Commission develops to try to contain Donald Trump's behavior," Biden's deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said.

What's next: The next presidential debate is in two weeks, and a lot can change between now and then.

  • The first vice presidential debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris takes place next Wednesday.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

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.