FBI director ‘appalled’ by video of Tyre Nichols’s fatal encounter with police – latest updates

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The Guardian’s Victoria Bekiempis and Richard Luscombe report that Memphis’s police chief has warned of the distressing content in the video of the police stop of Tyre Nichols, which is expected to be released this evening:

The chief of the Memphis police warned on Friday morning that the video of officers beating Tyre Nichols is “perhaps worse” than the infamous footage of Rodney King being attacked by police in Los Angeles more than 30 years ago.

The police department intends to release the video to the public on Friday evening.

In her first interview since five officers were charged with murder on Thursday, police chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis told CNN that she was “outraged” after seeing the “alarming” video of the traffic stop of Nichols, 27, who died three days after a 7 January apprehension spiraled into a fatal physical attack.

Davis said there appeared to be no legitimate reason for the traffic stop, and that she did not see any of the five officers intervene to stop excessive force by their fellow officers, saying they appeared to be in a state of “groupthink” as they confronted Nichols and became violent.

“I was in law enforcement during the Rodney King incident and it’s very much aligned with that type of behavior … sort of groupthink. I would say it’s about the same if not worse,” Davis said in a live interview on Friday morning.

Joe Biden sent condolences to the family of Tyre Nichols in a statement released yesterday, while issuing a vague call for “meaningful reform” of policing, an issue on which he has had mixed success during the first two years of his presidency.

“Jill and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of Tyre Nichols and the entire Memphis community. Tyre’s family deserves a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his death,” Biden said.

“As Americans grieve, the Department of Justice conducts its investigation, and state authorities continue their work, I join Tyre’s family in calling for peaceful protest. Outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable. Violence is destructive and against the law. It has no place in peaceful protests seeking justice.”

He also noted “the fact that fatal encounters with law enforcement have disparately impacted Black and Brown people.” Nichols was Black, as were the five officers charged with murder following his death.

“To deliver real change, we must have accountability when law enforcement officers violate their oaths, and we need to build lasting trust between law enforcement, the vast majority of whom wear the badge honorably, and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect,” Biden said. He pointed to his failed effort to see the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed, which led him to last year sign an executive order intended to increase police accountability.

The president didn’t call for any specific action following Nichols death, instead closing his statement with, “Today, we all must re-commit ourselves to the critical work that must be done to advance meaningful reforms.”

Joe Biden pulled off several unlikely legislative victories in Congress over the past two years, but one goal that eluded him was reforming the police.

Elected months after the death of George Floyd in 2020, Biden rejected many activists’ calls to defund the police, but encouraged lawmakers to pass legislation that would ban officers from using chokeholds and better document police officers’ use of force. But despite lengthy negotiations between Democrats and Republicans, the bill went nowhere, forcing Biden to turn to less-impactful executive orders to accomplish his criminal justice priorities.

Late last year, the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland took a look at the state of criminal justice reform nationwide, and found a mixed record:

Instead, throughout the midterm election season, Republicans fell back on the “tough on crime” rhetoric that has supported America’s mass incarceration crisis for decades.

Progressive officials at the local level, including reformist district attorneys such as Larry Krasner in Philadelphia and Andrew Warren in Tampa, Florida, have seen themselves directly targeted as a result of this regression to the hard right.

In Florida, the far-right governor, Ron DeSantis, suspended Warren for his refusal to enforce the state’s hardline anti-abortion laws. In Philadelphia, Krasner faces a Republican-led impeachment process in the state legislature, accused of contributing to the city’s increasing gun violence because of progressive reforms. (Krasner has labeled the process unconstitutional, and academic research has concluded there is no evidence to link reformist prosecutors with rising violent crime.)

Biden’s statement released in the wake of Tyre Nichols‘s killing and the arrest of five officers involved noted his executive orders, and Congress’s failure to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, as the broad police reform was known. In a sign of how the political winds have shifted on the issue, it did not call on lawmakers to act again.

Good morning, US politics blog readers. This evening, police in Memphis will release video of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by five officers who were yesterday charged with murder. Amid fears the footage could raise tensions over policing and racial justice nationwide, Joe Biden yesterday called for “peaceful protest” and condemned acts of violence. At the Capitol, police are reportedly increasing security to get ahead of potential unrest. The president spent much of the last two years encouraging lawmakers to pass a bill that would have reformed policing with the aim of stopping such killings, but the effort ultimately failed. We’ll see if such legislation gets renewed momentum amid the outrage over Nichols’ death.

Here’s what else is happening today:

The GOP is convening in California to elect a new chair of the Republican National Committee, with incumbent Ronna McDaniel facing challenges from Harmeet Dhillon and Mike Lindell. Some in the party, most notable the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, have said it’s time for change at the top of the GOP after it underperformed in two consecutive elections.

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, will brief reporters at 2pm.

The House of Representatives has convened and will consider a bill to restrict the president’s ability to withdraw oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve unless there is an increase in the percentage of federal land from which oil and gas is being produced. Biden and the Democrats oppose the measure.