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"We can’t wait any longer": Pelosi says the House will move forward with Jan. 6 investigations

15 June 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday the House will move forward with investigating the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, AP reports.

Why it matters: The Senate last month failed to advance a bill that would create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Capitol riot. Pelosi's comments come after military officials and FBI Director Christopher Wray testified earlier Tuesday on the Jan. 6 events.

What she's saying: Pelosi met with several committee chairs prior to the hearing and said after that the final form of the probe is "to be determined," per AP.

  • "Whether we have a commission today, tomorrow or the next day over in the Senate, or not, the work of the committees will be very important in what we’re seeking for the American people — the truth," Pelosi said.
  • "We can’t wait any longer," she added. "We will proceed."

The big picture: A Senate report released last week found that Capitol Police intelligence began gathering data on plots to breach the Capitol last December, but failed to convey the threats to USCP leadership, rank-and-file officers or federal law enforcement agencies.

  • President Biden has opposed appointing his own commission to investigate the insurrection. White House officials told Axios he is allowing Pelosi to take the lead.
  • Two in three Americans — including the majority of moderate and liberal Republicans — favor creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly attack, per a May SurveyMonkey poll for Axios.

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

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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.