Trump to resume public events with a White House rally on Saturday
09 October 2020
President Trump will hold a rally from the White House on Saturday followed by a campaign event in Sanford, Florida, on Monday, the president tweeted on Friday and White House officials confirmed.
Why it matters: These will be the president's first public events since he announced he had tested positive for COVID-19. Saturday's event will come just five days after Trump was discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center.
Context:White House physician Sean Conley said Thursday he believes Trump can return to public engagements this weekend.
The big picture: Despite the scheduled events, the White House has yet to answer open questions regarding the president's condition, such as when he last tested negative or whether he sustained lung damage from the virus.
- The event on Saturday will take place on the White House South Lawn with Trump speaking from the Truman Balcony.
- It will include conservative activist Candace Owens and the group “Blexit,” which seeks to convince black voters to join the Republican Party, ABC News first reported.
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.