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Former GOP Sen. Scott Brown plans to jump back into the political arena

11 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

Former Sen. Scott Brown announced on Wednesday he is resigning as head of New England Law Boston and plans to "re-engage in the political arena."

Why it matters: There are two potentially attractive opportunities for the former Massachusetts Republican — who has strong name recognition and is an ally of former President Trump — in his new home state of New Hampshire.

  • Republican Gov. Chris Sununu has long been courted by the GOP to run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan. If Sununu ultimately chooses to do so, Brown would have an opening to possibly replace him as governor.
  • Brown could potentially try to get in the race against Hassan in 2022, although some GOP strategists told Axios his closeness to Trump could hurt his chances.
  • More of a long-shot: running for president in 2024 boosted by his residency in the first primary state, connection to Trump and recent experience in foreign affairs.

The backdrop: Brown served as Trump's U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa from 2017 until December 2020.

  • In January 2021, he accepted a position as the head of NELB.
  • Brown, a former Massachusetts resident, was elected as a U.S. senator in the state in 2010, and lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in 2012.
  • He then moved to New Hampshire where he ran against, and lost to, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in 2014.
  • In May 2021, Brown wrote an op-ed in the Boston Globe declaring his support for an independent commission to investigation the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

What they're saying: “I am writing to you today to inform you of my decision to resign my positions as President, CEO and Dean of the Faculty of New England Law | Boston, effective immediately,” Brown said in a letter to the chair of the law school’s board, according to the Globe.

  • Brown added he is looking forward “to re-engaging in the political arena in support of candidates and causes who share my vision of re-building the Republican Party and moving our country beyond the partisan gridlock — goals that were incompatible with my role as the leader of a non-partisan academic institution.”

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.