White House to send federal law enforcement to Haiti
09 July 2021
The White House will send federal law enforcement officers to Haiti imminently to help investigate the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
State of play: Senior officials from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security will travel to the capital city of Port-au-Prince "as soon as possible" to "assess the situation and how we may be able to assist," Psaki said.
- "The United States remains engaged and in close consultation with our Haitian and international partners to support the Haitian people in the aftermath of the assassination of the president," Psaki said.
- The White House will also send coronavirus vaccines to Haiti as early as next week. "Part of that is assessing what can happen with the airport and how we will be able to deliver these," Psaki noted.
Catch up quick:17 suspects have been detained and another eight are being sought in association with the assassination of Moïse that also wounded his wife, Martine Moïse, AP reports.
- The assassination comes amid increasing political turmoil and gang violence in Port-au-Prince as inflation and a delayed election contribute to the state of crisis in the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished nation.
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.