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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Maanvi Singh (now) and Joan E Greve (earlier)

Democrats block Republican resolution to censure Maxine Waters over Chauvin comments – as it happened

Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Summary

  • Derek Chauvin has been found guilty on all charges in the killing of George Floyd. Follow the Guardian’s trial liveblog to get the latest updates from Minneapolis.
  • Joe Biden and Kamala Harris spoke to the Floyd family after the verdict. Biden said he would work advance police reform legislation: “We’re going to stay at it until we get it done.”
  • Congressional Black Caucus chair Joyce Beatty said of the verdict: “This is just the first step. We know clearly that justice has been delayed.” She spoke at the House steps, along with other members of the CBC - acknowledging that the Chauvin trial’s outcome was a relief, but more work needs to be done to achieve true justice.
  • House Democrats blocked a Republican resolution to censure congresswoman Maxine Waters over her comments about the Chauvin trial. The House voted along party lines, 216-210, to table the resolution introduced by minority leader Kevin McCarthy after Waters warned protesters would become “more confrontational” if Chauvin were acquitted.
  • The Biden administration formally announced its support for the DC statehood bill, which is scheduled to come up for a full House vote on Thursday. The House is expected to pass the legislation, but it faces an uphill climb in the evenly divided Senate.
  • George W Bush described the modern-day Republican party as “isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist”. The former Republican president made the comments in an interview with NBC as he promotes a new book that includes portraits of American immigrants.

That’s all from us for today. Do follow the Guardian’s reporting and analysis in the aftermath of the verdict, on the Guardian’s George Floyd liveblog.

– Maanvi Singh and Joan E Greve

Updated

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris called the Floyd family following the verdict.

Biden told the family that he would work advance police reform legislation: “We’re going to stay at it until we get it done.”

Nancy Pelosi’s comments on George Floyd’s “sacrifice” at the House steps have raised some eyebrows.

“Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice. For being there to call out to your mom, how heartbreaking was that, call out for your mom, ‘I can’t breathe,’” she said.

As many listeners and watchers pointed out, Floyd didn’t choose to sacrifice himself or to be a martyr – he was killed.

“I know someone wrote this for her. Someone else edited the draft. Most likely yet another person approved it. And then she said it,” said writer Mikki Kendall. “This is a long trail of fail.”

Tim Scott, the Republican senator of South Carolina: “There is no question in my mind that the jury reached the right verdict.”

Scott was thrust into the spotlight last year in the aftermath of Floyd’s murder when then-Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell put Scott, the only Black GOP senator, in charge of leading Republicans’ response to the summer protests and developing a police reform plan.

Updated

Congressional Black Caucus chair Joyce Beatty said of the verdict: “This is just the first step. We know clearly that justice has been delayed.”

She spoke at the House steps, along with other members of the CBC - acknowledging that the Chauvin trial’s outcome was a relief, but more work needs to be done to achieve true justice.

“Justice has prevailed, but that’s not always the case,” she said in a statement. “So, while I am relieved that Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of murdering George Floyd, I will continue to say the names and fight for all those who have died or been injured senselessly by law enforcement. Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo, Andre Hill, Casey Goodson, Jr., Tamir Rice, and George Floyd should be alive, and no verdict will bring them back or undo the unimaginable heartache and loss their family, friends, and our communities have had to endure.”

Beatty and other members of the CBC plugged the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

“We need to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, and put it on President Biden’s desk,” said representative Karen Bass of California, who first introduced the bill last year. “Because that will be the first step to transforming policing.”

The bill passed the House this year by 220-212 vote, with no Republican support – and it faces a major hurdle in the Senate, where Republicans would block it with a filibuster.

Nancy Pelosi, who said she spoke to George Floyd’s family earlier today, thanked them for their “grace and ... dignity”.

“Thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice. Your name will always be synonymous with justice.”

Ilhan Omar, the representative of Minneapolis, said the verdict represents a type of justice that feels “new and long overdue:

Bernie Sanders reacts to the verdict: “The jury’s verdict delivers accountability for Derek Chauvin, but not justice for George Floyd.”

Sanders said that systemic changes are required.

“Our struggle now is about justice—not justice on paper, but real justice in which all Americans live their lives free of oppression. We must boldly root out the cancer of systemic racism and police violence against people of color,” he said.

Representative Maxine Waters told reporters: “I’m not celebrating. I’m relieved.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have gathered for a press conference at the House steps.

Updated

Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder for killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, a crime that prompted a wave of protests in support of racial justice in the US and across the world.

The jury swiftly and unanimously convicted Chauvin of all the charges he faced - second and third degree murder, and manslaughter - after concluding that the white former Minneapolis police officer killed the 46-year-old Black man through a criminal assault by pinning him to the ground so he could not breathe properly. A lack of oxygen in turn caused brain damage, heart failure and death, in May last year.

Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison, but is likely to receive a shorter sentence according to legal guidelines.

The conviction does not put an end to the highly charged case, which reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement, as three other officers face trial later this year accused of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.

The prosecution put a persuasive case to the jury as a string of witnesses – including Chauvin’s former police colleagues, medical experts and bystanders – built a picture of an officer who exceeded his authority and training in pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds.

Read more:

Chauvin found guilty on all counts

Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts of murder and manslaughter.

Follow the Guardian’s live blog of the trial for updates and analysis:

Kama Harris said that regardless of what the verdict is in the Derek Chauvin trial, it won’t erase the trauma caused by systemic racism.

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Harris said: “I think there needs to be a consequence and accountability for people who break the law. Period.”

But, she said:

Let’s say there is a guilty verdict on the highest charge, it will not take away the pain of the Floyd family. It will not take away the pain of the communities, all communities, regardless of their color or geographic location, that felt sadness and anger in what they witnessed in that video.

This verdict is but a piece of it. And it will not heal the pain that existed for generations, that has existed for generations among people who have experienced and first-hand witnessed what now a broader public is seeing because of smartphones and the ubiquity of our ability to videotape in real time what is happening in front of our faces. And that is the reality of it.

Today so far

That’s it from me on this historic day. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • A verdict has been reached in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who is facing murder charges over the killing of George Floyd. Follow the Guardian’s trial live blog to get the latest updates from Minneapolis.
  • Joe Biden spoke to the Floyd family yesterday, as the jury began its deliberations. “I can only imagine the pressure and the anxiety they’re feeling,” the president said this afternoon. “They’re a good family, and they’re calling for peace and tranquility.” The president added, “I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict, which is, I think, it’s overwhelming in my view.”
  • House Democrats blocked a Republican resolution to censure congresswoman Maxine Waters over her comments about the Chauvin trial. The House voted along party lines, 216-210, to table the resolution introduced by minority leader Kevin McCarthy after Waters warned protesters would become “more confrontational” if Chauvin were acquitted.
  • The Biden administration formally announced its support for the DC statehood bill, which is scheduled to come up for a full House vote on Thursday. The House is expected to pass the legislation, but it faces an uphill climb in the evenly divided Senate.
  • George W Bush described the modern-day Republican party as “isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist”. The former Republican president made the comments in an interview with NBC as he promotes a new book that includes portraits of American immigrants. “It’s not exactly my vision as an old guy, but I’m just an old guy that’s put out to pasture,” Bush said.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are gathering in a room just off the House floor to watch the announcement of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, per an Axios reporter.

CBC members, along with other House leaders, plan to hold a press conference after the verdict is announced, which should happen momentarily.

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy criticized Democrats for blocking his resolution to censure Maxine Waters over her comments about the Derek Chauvin trial.

“Speaker Pelosi, and every other House Democrat, had the opportunity to condemn the violent rhetoric of our colleague Representative Waters,” the Republican leader said on Twitter. “Instead, they condoned it. And the House and our justice system are worse off because of it.”

House Democrats block Republican resolution to censure Waters

House Democrats have successfully blocked a resolution from minority leader Kevin McCarthy to censure congresswoman Maxine Waters over her comments about the Derek Chauvin trial.

The House voted 216-210 to table, or kill, the resolution. The vote fell exactly along party lines, with all Democrats opposed to advancing the resolution against Waters.

Republicans unleashed fiery criticism against Waters after the California Democrat pledged on Saturday that protesters would become “more confrontational” if Chauvin is acquitted.

But Waters has made clear she will not allow Republicans to pressure her into silence about the police killing of George Floyd and, more recently, Daunte Wright.

“I am not worried that they’re going to continue to distort what I say,” Waters told the Grio. “This is who they are and this is how they act. And I’m not going to be bullied by them.”

House speaker Nancy Pelosi and majority leader Steny Hoyer are closely monitoring the vote to table the censure resolution against congresswoman Maxine Waters.

From a Punchbowl News reporter:

As of now, it looks like Democrats will be able to kill the censure resolution. Three of the caucus’ members who were considered possible supporters of the resolution -- Dean Phillips, Angie Craig and Betty McCollum -- have voted to table the measure.

The vote continues, so stay tuned.

Scheduling update: due to the imminent announcement of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, Joe Biden will not be delivering his planned speech on infrastructure this afternoon.

“Because of the announcement that a verdict will soon be announced in the Chauvin trial, the President’s remarks on the American Jobs Plan after his virtual tour of Proterra have been rescheduled,” the White House said in a statement provided to the press pool.

Joe Biden will soon deliver remarks on his infrastructure proposal, after participating in a virtual tour of the Proterra Electric Battery Facility in South Carolina.

Senior White House officials met with leaders of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate congressional Democrats, to discuss the $2tn plan earlier today.

“We look forward to playing a key role to get legislation signed into law & deliver results to strengthen the economy, create good-paying jobs, & move our country forward,” the group said on Twitter.

Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has formally introduced his resolution to censure Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters over her comments about the Derek Chauvin trial.

After the resolution was introduced, House majority leader Steny Hoyer immediately moved to “table,” or kill, the motion, and the chamber is now voting on that proposal.

Because of their narrow majority in the House, Democrats can only afford to lose two votes to table the resolution, but they are expected to remain unified, per a Politico reporter.

The court has previously let everyone know that there would be a one hour gap between the judge, Peter Cahill, receiving word that the jury had reached a verdict and that verdict being read in court.

This is to do with the authorities wanting to allow most workers to leave the court building in downtown Minneapolis and go home, out of security concerns.

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was charged with murder in the second degree, murder in the third degree and manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in south Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. He had denied the charges.

Opening arguments in Chauvin’s trial began on March 29 and, three weeks later, the jury retired late afternoon yesterday, to consider its verdict.

It had been very difficult to predict how long they would deliberate for, especially as very few reporters were allowed into court, so observations about the jury and its reaction to testimony, were mainly sourced by reading emails from two allocated pool reporters allowed into court.

But this seems relatively quick considering there were three charges to consider.

Follow the latest updates from Minneapolis by reading the Guardian’s trial live blog:

Verdict reached in Chauvin trial

A verdict has been reached in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who faces murder charges over the killing of George Floyd.

The verdict will be read in about an hour to an hour and a half from now, according to a notice posted online by the Hennepin county court.

The news comes a day after prosecutors and Chauvin’s defense attorneys delivered their closing arguments in the case.

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is introducing a resolution to censure congresswoman Maxine Waters for her comments about the Derek Chauvin trial, per Punchbowl News.

The resolution, which is expected to come up for a vote this afternoon, will almost certainly not pass the Democratic-controlled House.

Alexandra Villarreal reports for the Guardian:

After Republicans launched a long-shot attempt to censure and expel Maxine Waters from Congress over comments on the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, which the judge said could provide grounds for appeal, the veteran California progressive stayed defiant.

“I am not worried that they’re going to continue to distort what I say,” Waters, 82, told the Grio. “This is who they are and this is how they act. And I’m not going to be bullied by them.”

Waters, who is African American, has served in Congress since 1991. She has a long record of campaigning for civil rights and confronting political opponents in blunt terms, in some quarters earning the nickname Kerosene Maxine.

Long a favorite target of Republicans, she attracted ire in 2018, when she said Trump aides and officials should be confronted by the public. Last week, she told the hard-right Republican congressman Jim Jordan to “shut your mouth” during a hearing with Dr Anthony Fauci, the White House medical adviser.

She spoke to the media on Saturday during a protest in Brooklyn Center, the Minneapolis suburb where police shot dead a 20-year-old Black man, Daunte Wright, earlier this month.

Waters said she hoped Chauvin would be found “guilty, guilty, guilty”.

If Chauvin was acquitted, she said, “we’ve got to stay on the street, and we’ve got to get more active. We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

Capitol security officials are reportedly considering rebuilding fencing on the grounds, as Washington prepares for Joe Biden’s speech to Congress next week and possible protests in reaction to the Derek Chauvin verdict.

Politico reports:

Any new Capitol perimeter would be narrower, according to initial talks, and wouldn’t include the broad street closures that accompanied the first. One congressional source said the proposal was expected to come before the Capitol Police Board for approval Tuesday and would come with a $2 million price tag.

The new wave of anxiety on the Hill about possible protests this week coincides with plans to reopen the Capitol to limited groups of visitors on Wednesday. It’s the first time that outside visitors on ‘official business’ will be allowed into the House side of the Capitol since the coronavirus forced significant restrictions. Additional visitors will be allowed into the rest of House buildings next Wednesday, the day of Biden’s speech.

The House sergeant-at-arms is expected to formally announce the new visitation protocol in a letter to congressional offices on Tuesday.

Much of the fencing installed in the wake of the January 6 insurrection has slowly come down outside the Capitol, but the potential protests and Biden’s speech next Wednesday are putting some security officials on edge.

Klobuchar clobbers Trump on antitrust

In a new book, the Minnesota senator and former presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar condemns Donald Trump for “a whole lot of bluster with limited results” on her chosen subject, antitrust.

Klobuchar cites Trump’s appointment of conservatives Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the supreme court as proof he never had any intention of reining in giant companies for pursuing anti-competitive practices, whatever he told the little guy out on the campaign trail.

Antitrust matters will come into focus on Capitol Hill this week, with a confirmation hearing on Wednesday for Lina Khan, a 32-year-old Columbia law professor and “tech antitrust icon” nominated by Joe Biden for a seat on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Klobuchar’s book, Antitrust, is published next week, beating the Missouri Republican Josh Hawley’s similarly themed The Tyranny of Big Tech to US shelves by a week. The Guardian obtained a copy:

At the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki has told reporters the US expects to set “a large cap soon” for how many refugees it will accept in the rest of the current fiscal year.

Last week, Joe Biden and his administration walked into their first damaging fight with their own party when it was announced the federal government would stick to a refugee cap of 15,000 set by Donald Trump, a president who pursued hardline immigration policies.

The White House backtracked in the face of fierce criticism from the left of the Democratic party and said it would set a higher cap by mid-May.

On Tuesday, Psaki told reporters the administration would set “a large cap soon”, probably before 15 May. The 2021 fiscal year ends at the end of September.

Updated

Bush: Republican party is 'isolationist, protectionist and nativist'

George W Bush is promoting a new book, an endeavour which landed the 43rd president on NBC earlier today.

Asked to describe the state of the Republican party under Donald Trump, the 45th president who lost the Oval Office after one term but retains a firm grip, Bush said: “I would describe it as isolationist, protectionist and, to a certain extent, nativist.

“It’s not exactly my vision as an old guy, but I’m just an old guy that’s put out to pasture.”

Bush’s book is called Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants. He told NBC the country that includes the latin for his kicker, E Pluribus Unum, on its great seal, is “a beautiful country … and yet it’s not beautiful when we condemn, call people names and scare people about immigration.”

Trump continues to do that, calling on his successor to Joe Biden to restore his draconian policies while followers on the extreme right of his party discuss forming an “America First Caucus” based on “Anglo-Saxon political traditions”.

Bush, the son of another president, is from a political dynasty nearly as Wasp – White Anglo-Saxon Protestant – as it’s possible to get. Nonetheless, he now seems to many to present a more reasonable (if conclusively outdated) face of the Republican party.

Others warn we shouldn’t think too fondly of the old chap just yet.

“I’m hoping there’ll be some pushback against this because I think it’s an absolute scandal that man should be rehabilitated and tarted up as in any way progressive,” Jackson Lears, a cultural historian, told the Guardian this week.

Biden is 'certainly not looking to influence' outcome of Chauvin trial, Psaki says

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, declined to elaborate on Joe Biden’s comments about the Derek Chauvin murder trial.

The president said moments ago that he is “praying the verdict is the right verdict,” as jurors deliberate over whether Chauvin is guilty of murdering George Floyd. Biden described the evidence against Chauvin as “overwhelming.”

Psaki would not say what Biden meant by “the right verdict” or why he considers the evidence to be “overwhelming”.

“The president has clearly been watching the trial closely,” Psaki told reporters during her daily press briefing.

The press secretary said Biden was “moved” by his conversations with the Floyd family yesterday, and he felt comfortable commenting on the trial now that the jury is sequestered.

Psaki insisted the president was “certainly not looking to influence” the outcome of the trial by commenting on the case. “I don’t think he would see it as weighing in on the verdict,” Psaki said.

“We’re not going to get ahead of the verdict,” she added. “Regardless of the outcome, the president has consistently called for peace.”

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Joe Biden said he is “praying the verdict is the right verdict” in the Derek Chauvin murder trial, noting the evidence against the former police officer is “overwhelming”. The president spoke to the family of George Floyd yesterday, as jurors started to deliberate over whether Chauvin is guilty of murdering Floyd. “I can only imagine the pressure and the anxiety they’re feeling,” Biden said in the Oval Office moments ago. “They’re a good family, and they’re calling for peace and tranquility.”
  • Cities across the country, including Minneapolis and Washington, are preparing for protests once the verdict is announced. The brother of George Floyd, Philonise Floyd, called on Americans to remain “peaceful” as they protest, while expressing solidarity with demonstrators. “I just feel that in America, if a Black man can’t get justice for this, what can a Black man get justice for?” Floyd said this morning.
  • The Biden administration formally announced its support for the DC statehood bill, which is scheduled to come up for a full House vote on Thursday. The House is expected to pass the legislation, but it faces an uphill climb in the evenly divided Senate.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Joe Biden shared a message with George Floyd’s family members last year, as they held a funeral for their lost loved one.

“To George’s children and grandchild, I know you miss your dad and your granddad,’’ Biden, then a presidential candidate, said at the time.

Specifically addressing Floyd’s young daughter, Biden said, “Little Gianna, as I said to you when I saw you yesterday, you’re so brave. Daddy’s looking down and he’s so proud of you.”

Biden called on Americans to take the opportunity to confront institutional racism wherever it arises.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we can’t turn away,” Biden said in his message last year. “We must not turn anyway. We cannot leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away from racism that stings at our very soul.”

Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, said earlier today that he spoke to Joe Biden about the trial.

“He knows how it is to lose a family member,” Floyd told the “Today” show. “He was just letting us know that he was praying for us and hoping that everything would come out to be okay.”

Floyd called on Americans to remain “peaceful” as they await the verdict, while also expressing solidarity with those who may wish to protest once the jury’s decision is announced.

“I just feel that in America, if a Black man can’t get justice for this, what can a Black man get justice for?” Floyd said.

'I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict,' Biden says of Chauvin trial

Joe Biden addressed the Derek Chauvin murder trial moments ago in the Oval Office, as he prepared to meet with leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The president confirmed he spoke to George Floyd’s family yesterday, as the jury began its deliberations. Biden noted he wanted to wait to contact them until after the jury was sequestered.

“I can only imagine the pressure and the anxiety they’re feeling,” Biden said. “They’re a good family, and they’re calling for peace and tranquility.”

The president added, “I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict, which is, I think it’s overwhelming in my view. I wouldn’t say that, lest the jury was sequestered now and not hear me say that.”

Chauvin is facing murder charges over the killing of Floyd, who died last May after Chauvin kept his knee on the Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes.

America is waiting on a verdict in the closely watched murder trial of Derek Chauvin in Minnesota, which has focused on the former Minneapolis police officer’s use of “prone restraint” that prosecutors say contributed to the death of George Floyd.

The manner of Floyd’s death led to a national reckoning on police brutality and racism, but it has also highlighted how the practice of restraining children remains commonplace in Minnesota schools, and in other districts across the country.

State policymakers have worked for years to reduce the prevalence of “physical holds” in Minnesota schools – including introducing a 2015 ban on using the face-to-the-ground “prone restraint” on children with disabilities. But educators still use physical restraints thousands of times each year to subdue students, state and federal data shows.

Such restraints can come with devastating consequences for children including injury and, in rare cases, death.

“We know it’s happening, we know it’s happening more than we’re aware of, and we know that children are dying as well,” said Lauren Morando Rhim, co-founder and executive director of the Center for Learner Equity, a national non-profit focused on improving educational outcomes for children with disabilities.

Pending state and federal legislation would place new restrictions on schools’ ability to restrain students, including a Minnesota provision that would explicitly prohibit school-based police from placing any student in a “prone restraint”, a change officials said was a direct response to Floyd’s death.

Republicans have consistently criticized the idea of DC statehood, and they are expected to vote against the bill when the House takes it up on Thursday.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a Republican of South Carolina, noted at a press conference that DC would not qualify to be its own congressional district if it were part of a state.

“DC wouldn’t even qualify as a singular congressional district, and here they are, they want the power and the authority of being an entire state in the United States,” Mace said.

Many reporters noted the irony that congresswoman Liz Cheney was standing directly behind Mace. Cheney’s home state of Wyoming has about 150,000 fewer residents than DC, and it has been a US state since 1890.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the House delegate representing DC, also praised Joe Biden for supporting her statehood bill.

“Thank you to the Biden administration for today’s statement supporting H.R. 51,” Norton said in a statement.

“The residents of our nation’s capital deserve voting representation in Congress and full local self-government, and with Thursday’s House vote and expected passage, along with Democratic control of the Senate and White House, we have never been closer to statehood,” the Democrat added.

Norton, who has been working to get the statehood bill passed since she arrived in Congress in the 1990’s, said last week that she is “confident” the House will pass the legislation, while acknowledging the proposal faces an uphill climb in the Senate.

“We’re overdue for statehood,” Norton said.

Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of Washington, thanked Joe Biden for supporting the DC statehood bill that the House will vote on this week.

The White House indicated last month that the president believes DC should become the 51st US state.

“He believes they deserve representation, that’s why he supports DC statehood,” the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said last month.

Biden administration formally backs DC statehood bill ahead of House vote

The Biden administration has announced its support for the DC statehood bill, which the full House is expected to vote on this Thursday.

“For far too long, the more than 700,000 people of Washington, D.C. have been deprived of full representation in the U.S. Congress. This taxation without representation and denial of self-governance is an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement about the bill.

“The Administration calls for the Congress to provide for a swift and orderly transition to statehood for the people of Washington, D.C.”

House majority leader Steny Hoyer has said the chamber will vote on the legislation this week, before members leave town for recess.

The House passed the DC statehood bill last year, but the Republican-controlled Senate refused to take up the legislation.

Even though Democrats now control the Senate, it will be very difficult to pass the bill with the filibuster in place because Republicans are staunchly opposed to DC statehood.

Updated

Tasers are often cited as a crucial tool in combating police violence in America, with proponents claiming that the “less lethal” weapons can help departments avoid deadly encounters.

But the police killing of Daunte Wright in Minnesota – in which officials say an officer mistook her gun for her Taser – has resurfaced criticism of stun guns.

Experts and advocates have raised several major concerns about the mass deployment of Tasers in recent years: that police mistake them for guns (often in cases where no force or violence is justified, and where that explanation is disputed); that stun guns aren’t used as alternatives to guns and instead lead to increased brutality and escalate encounters; and that the electroshocks themselves can be deadly.

“Cities are spending millions of dollars on this technology that is not saving any lives and is just expanding the repertoire of violence available to local police,” said Alex Vitale, a Brooklyn College sociology professor and policing expert. “Tasers are used to punish people … and it has led to a lot of abuse and death.”

The White House confirmed Joe Biden spoke to George Floyd’s family yesterday to offer his prayers as the jury in the Derek Chauvin murder trial began its deliberations.

“President Biden spoke with the family of George Floyd yesterday to check in with them and also share that the family was in his prayers,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Twitter.

Biden spoke to George Floyd's brother yesterday

Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, said he spoke to Joe Biden yesterday, as the jury in the Derek Chauvin murder trial began its deliberations.

“He knows how it is to lose a family member,” Floyd said of the call this morning. “He was just letting us know that he was praying for us and hoping that everything would come out to be okay.”

Appearing alongside civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump for an interview with NBC News’ Craig Melvin, Floyd said he is “optimistic” about the outcome of the trial.

“I just feel that in America, if a Black man can’t get justice for this, what can a Black man get justice for?” Floyd said. “The video is facts, and it’s proof of what happened. We just need Minnesota to make the right decision.”

Floyd also called on Americans to remain “peaceful” as they await the verdict in the trial.

“People are in pain, they’re hurt,” Floyd said, noting Daunte Wright was fatally shot by police about 10 miles from the courtroom. “We stand in solidarity with everybody across America.”

The Guardian’s Amudalat Ajasa and Lois Beckett report from Minnesota:

“National guard, go home!” hundreds of teenagers chanted in a heavily fortified Minneapolis on Monday, as part of statewide high school walkouts over the police killings of Daunte Wright and George Floyd.

In neighboring Saint Paul, more than a hundred students took their grievances over police brutality to the capitol, where lawmakers inside the fenced-in statehouse could be seen peeking out through the curtains to look at protesters outside.

The high school walkouts against racial injustice and police brutality took place as a Minneapolis court was hearing closing arguments in the Derek Chauvin murder trial. The city was bracing for the verdict, with hundreds of national guard soldiers deployed.

The student protests were organized on Instagram by Minnesota Teen Activists, a local group founded after the George Floyd protests last summer. Students from at least 110 schools across Minnesota had planned protests to honor Daunte Wright on Monday, the group said.

At 1.47 pm, the time Daunte Wright was shot eight days before, hundreds of Minneapolis teenagers sat together on the ground to mark three minutes of silence. A light snow had been falling, and their faces were grim.

Here’s what the president has on his schedule today: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will meet with leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the Oval Office. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto, Ben Ray Luján and Bob Menendez will be among the attendees.

Biden will later participate in a virtual tour of the Proterra electric battery facility in South Carolina and deliver remarks on his infrastructure plan at the White House.

The White House said yesterday that the virtual tour is meant to highlight the need for zero-emission transit buses and school buses.

“There are over 475,000 school buses and 65,000 transit buses on our streets today, serving millions of students and transit riders. Most of these buses currently run on diesel, which has a negative impact on human health, especially for children,” the White House said in its statement yesterday.

“The President made a commitment that all American-made buses would be zero-emission by 2030. To advance this goal, the American Jobs Plan includes a total of $45 billion to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission transit buses and school buses. This investment will create good jobs, support domestic manufacturing, tackle a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and improve health for some of our most vulnerable populations.”

The Derek Chauvin murder trial heard closing arguments on Monday before the jury began considering a verdict over the death of George Floyd that is anxiously awaited by millions of Americans.

Tensions are high in Minneapolis, with hundreds of national guard soldiers deployed. Last year, video of the former police officer’s alleged killing of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, prompted days of protests, riots and looting, and demonstrations across the US and world.

Protests flared up again earlier this month, over the shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, by officers during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb.

Many Americans have reached their own verdict in the Chauvin case, and see the trial as part of a reckoning in the broader struggle for racial justice. Nonetheless, on Monday lawyers focused on persuading the jury.

Prosecutor Steve Schleicher said the key to the case lay in video footage of Chauvin pressing his knee on to Floyd’s neck even as he pleaded for his life, right to his very last words of “I can’t breathe”.

“This case is exactly what you saw with your eyes. It’s what you know in your heart,” he said.

Tension in Washington as America awaits Chauvin verdict

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

Tensions are high in the nation’s capital as the country awaits a verdict in the Derek Chauvin murder trial.

The jury in Minneapolis began its deliberations yesterday to determine whether Chauvin is guilty of murdering George Floyd, who died after Chauvin kept his knee on the Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes.

The killing of Floyd set off widespread protests last May, and Washington is bracing for another round of demonstrations if the jury does not find Chauvin guilty.

The DC National Guard announced yesterday it is activating 250 troops to assist the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington as it prepares for the potential protests. Parking restrictions and street closures go into effect today in downtown DC as well.

In a statement announcing the activation of the guard troops, Brigadier General Aaron R Dean II, the adjutant general of the DC National Guard, said the city is dedicated to providing a “safe environment for our fellow citizens to exercise their first amendment right”.

“This is our home, and we are dedicated to the safety and security of our fellow citizens of the District and their right to safely and peacefully protest,” Dean said.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

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