Trump's hopes for an Air Force One revamp fizzle after election loss
22 November 2020
One of President Trump's favorite items on display in the Oval Office has been a model of Boeing's Air Force One revamp that swaps Jackie Kennedy's iconic light blue design for Trump's preferred look: a white top and dark blue bottom set off with a red stripe.
What he's saying: "Isn't it beautiful? Now it's actually patriotic," Trump has told visiting foreign leaders and other visitors, according to a person he's shown it to.
What we're hearing: His election loss will probably preempt his design takeover.
- A source familiar with the planning process tells Axios that Boeing has "not yet had conversations" with the incoming Biden administration on the paint job for the 747-8s — which are being modified in San Antonio and won't be ready until 2024.
- But the source said that the look and feel of the planes are decisions that will be up to the sitting president at the time.
- They expect Biden may have his own vision.
One big question: Will Trump reunite with "Trump Force One" — the Boeing 757 he used to jet around the country during his 2016 campaign — once he leaves office, and will he keep the look?
- The red, white and blue plane, which dons the Trump logo, is parked at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
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.