Trump suggests people in N.C. break the law and vote twice to test mail-in system
03 September 2020
President Trump suggested during a visit to North Carolina that people should vote once by mail and again in person during the election.
What he's saying: "Let them send it in and let them go vote and if their system's as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote," he said. "If it isn't tabulated, they'll be able to vote. And that’s what they should do."
Our thought bubble, via Axios' Margaret Talev: North Carolina is a key battleground state. Trump won it in 2016, but the latest Real Clear Politics polling average shows the state up for grabs.
- Trump's comments have shock value not only because he is a sitting president encouraging Americans to violate the law but because Trump himself has made such a talking point out of his fears that mail-in voting could be susceptible to fraud.
New Trump campaign statement from @TimMurtaugh on the president’s suggestion today that people who vote by mail in North Carolina “send it in and let them go vote” and “if it isn’t tabulated, they will be able to vote.” pic.twitter.com/uiXRDRemyL
— Monica Alba (@albamonica) September 3, 2020
Editor's note: This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
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.