Jamie Raskin doesn’t say whether the Jan 6 Committee will get Mike Pence to testify
With just hours to go before the start of the House January 6 select committee’s first prime-time hearing, former president Donald Trump took to Truth Social to claim the violent attack on the Capitol perpetrated by his supporters was “not simply a protest” but actually “the greatest movement” in US history.
Meanwhile, videotaped depositions from Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, could be presented publicly in the first of six public hearings.
According to committee aides, Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney will play excerpts of testimony taken from close confidantes of the ex-president at the outset of Thursday’s prime-time televised hearing, consisting of “a small … but meaningful portion” of the evidence in the committee’s possession.
Members of the committee are reportedly also sitting on roughly 14,000 hours of unreleased Capitol Police bodycam footage, which is expected to be released when the hearing gets underway at 8 pm ET Thursday.
A former GOP insider tells The Independent that Donald Trump will “lose his mind” when he watches the January 6 committee hearings on the Capitol riot on Thursday evening and realises no one is there to interject on his behalf.
Trump calls Jan 6 attack ‘greatest movement’ in US history hours ahead of hearing
Just hours before the House January 6 select committee was about to broadcast the first of six nationally televised hearings, Donald Trump came out raging that the very event the panel has spent the better part of year investigating was “the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again”.
The former US president took to Truth Social, which is currently the only social media platform where he is currently not blocked from airing his grievances.
In addition to slamming the “Unselect Committee” for misrepresenting the violent insurrection, which left more than 150 officers with injuries, the one-term president repeated “The Big Lie” that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen.
“The Unselect Committee didn’t spend one minute studying the reason that people went to Washington, D.C., in massive numbers, far greater than the Fake News Media is willing to report, or that the Unselects are willing to even mention, because January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
“It was about an Election that was Rigged and Stolen, and a Country that was about to go to HELL..& look at our Country now!”
Read the full report from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg below:
With just hours to go before the start of the House January 6 select committee’s first prime-time hearing, former president Donald Trump is now claiming the violent attack on the Capitol perpetrated by his supporters was “not simply a protest” but actually “the greatest movement” in US history.
Twitter blocks Jan 6 committee’s request for company’s internal Slack messages
Twitter is fighting back against the January 6 House Select Committee request for the social media company’s internal messages, including Slack messages concerning how they moderated tweets regarding the 2021 insurrection, according to a report.
The company is claiming its First Amendment rights to reject the committee’s request, Rolling Stone reported.
Committee members have grown frustrated at the pushback from Twitter, as they think the messages can help them show how online extremism boosted the violence and chaos on that day.
Twitter said in a statement to the magazine that “since last year, we have had an ongoing, productive engagement with the Select Committee, and have provided appropriate, relevant information to contribute to this important investigation”.
Gustaf Kilander has more on the social media giant digging its heels in against the Jan 6 committee.
Twitter is fighting back against the January 6 House Select Committee request for the social media company’s internal messages, including Slack messages concerning how they moderated tweets regarding the 2021 insurrection, according to a report.
Republican arrested for role in Capitol riot hours before first Jan 6 hearing
The FBI arrested Republican Ryan Kelley and charged the Michigan gubernatorial candidate on misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the 6 Jan riot at the US Capitol, according to a criminal complaint filed on Thursday as was reported by The Detroit Free Press.
The Detroit-based news outlet reported that the real estate broker from Allendale, who filed paperwork to launch his committee to run for the state’s governor early in 2021, is expected to appear before a federal court later on Thursday.
Video footage of the Michigan Republican reportedly surfaced where Mr Kelley was visible at the Capitol on the day of the violent January 6 insurrection.
Federal agents raided and searched Mr Kelley’s Michigan home just hours before the first public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot was to get underway.
In federal court records, Mr Kelley is described as being an active participant in the chaos that unfolded outside and inside of the Capitol, and that agents from the FBI opened up an investigation into his conduct within days of the riot, The Detroit Free Press reported.
“At approximately 2:20 pm, Kelley continued to gesture to the crowd, consistently indicating that they should move towards the stairs that led to the entrance of the U.S. Capitol interior spaces,” the criminal complaint reads.
Prosecutors have reportedly filed four charges against Mr Kelley, including: knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct; knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence against person or property in a restricted building or grounds; and willfully injuring or committing depredation against property of the US.
If Mr Kelley is found guilty and is convicted, he could serve a maximum punishment of up to 10 years in federal prison.
Rep Raskin: ‘There will be multiple breakthroughs and epiphanies’
While appearing on MSNBC ahead of the January 6 hearings, Rep Jamie Raskin informed Chris Hayes that the televised event will reveal some major “epiphanies” and “breakthroughs” that were otherwise unknown to the general populace.
“One of my Republican colleagues who’s not on our committee told me about 15 minutes ago that he was a little bit jealous that I was on a bipartisan committee where the two sides are actually working together,” said the Maryland congressman while appearing on All in With Chris Hayes on Wednesday night.
“I think there will be multiple breakthroughs and epiphanies for people along the way. And at the end, I think everybody is going to be able to answer for himself or herself — including members of Congress — is this something that we ever want to allow to happen again? And if not, they are going to have to listen to the final act of our committee which is we will be issuing recommendations on what should be done in order to fortify ourselves against coups and insurrections in the future.”
Just days earlier, Rep Raskin, a member of the House select committee, had teased that the panel had uncovered damning evidence during a Q&A with The Washington Post.
“But the Select Committee has found evidence about a lot more than incitement here, and we are going to be laying out the evidence about all of the actors who were pivotal to what took place on January 6th,” the Democratic lawmaker said ahead of the first prime time hearings.
Jan 6 committee teases unreleased video footage of Capitol riot
Lawmakers on the January 6 committee are sitting on unreleased on-the-ground footage of the Capitol riot that is expected to be released to the public during its hearings, which begin Thursday evening.
News of the unreleased footage was first reported by Good Morning America on Thursday morning, just hours before the committee’s first public hearing on Capitol Hill.
According to ABC News, the footage obtained by the panel includes the moments during which a crowd of previously peaceful Trump supporters turned into a violent mob who attacked the Capitol resulting in the deaths of several members of law enforcement.
In addition to the more than 1,000 people who were interviewed by the committee who were either directly or indirectly involved in the US Capitol insurrection, the pandel has reportedly also obtained roughly 14,000 hours of Capitol Police bodycam video.
Navarro complains about legal fees in letter to judge: ‘I’ll be eating dog food if I stay out of jail’
Peter Navarro, the former economic adviser to Donald Trump, told a federal judge on Wednesday that he is “at a severe disadvantage” and is facing trouble putting together a team of legal experts.
In a letter to judge Amit Mehta of the DC district court, Mr Navarro argued that although he remained without legal representation, the prosecution has begun filing motions to push for a speedy trial.
The justice department last Friday indicted Mr Navarro for contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a congressional subpoena from the select committee investigating the 6 January riot at the US Capitol. He was arrested on Friday morning as he was boarding a plane to Nashville.
Mr Navarro said in his letter that he is “very actively seeking a legal team” but facing “a number of hurdles”. Earlier, he had hinted at defending himself to avoid paying a large sum in legal fees.
Continue reading the full story from The Independent’sAlisha Rahaman Sarkar below.
Trump lands in New Jersey ahead of counterprogramming effort
Donald Trump arrived in New Jersey Thursday, hours before the first January 6 public hearing was scheduled to air.
The former US president was seen in a video meeting with House Republican Conference Chair and Trump ally Elise Stefanik, who has accused the January 6 select committee’s public hearings of being performative by scheduling the televised proceedings during prime time rather than being focused on uncovering the truth.
Four key questions for the January 6 committee hearings to answer
Over the year and a half since a mob of former president Donald Trump supporters assaulted police officers and overran the seat of America’s legislative branch in hopes of stopping certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, the nine-member panel has amassed a staff of more than 40 personnel — including many investigators and former prosecutors — working in teams to untangle multiple lines of inquiry regarding the facts and circumstances which led to the worst attack on the Capitol since Major General Robert Ross ordered British troops to set it ablaze in 1814.
Here are some questions the panel will need to answer over the course of its’ public hearings, as reported by Andrew Feinberg here:
January 6 opening hearing will feature top Trump aides and family members
The House January 6 select committee will have help presenting its findings from the members of Donald Trump’s inner circle who have given evidence in videotaped depositions, including Trump family members such as his daughter and former adviser, Ivanka Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner, also a senior advisor.
According to committee aides, Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney will play excerpts of testimony taken from close confidantes to the ex-president at the outset of Thursday’s prime-time televised hearing, consisting of “a small … but meaningful portion” of the evidence in the committee’s possession.
Confirmed for the first of six public hearings is British filmmaker Nick Quested, who recorded members of the far-right Proud Boys as they stormed the building, and Caroline Edwards, a US Capitol Police officer who was seriously injured in last year’s attack.
Greg Jacob, chief counsel for then-Vice President Mike Pence, is also expected to provide live testimony to the commitee, according to the Wall Street Journal’s reporting.
Keep reading the full story from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg.
A committee staffer says the panel’s opening presentation will ‘include senior Trump White House officials, senior Trump administration officials, Trump campaign officials, and indeed, Trump family members’
Botched assault on cradle of American democracy by misguided Donald Trump supporters remembered as deeply shameful climax to his chaotic and divisive reign, Joe Sommerlad writes:
Botched assault on cradle of American democracy by misguided Donald Trump supporters remembered as deeply shameful climax to his chaotic and divisive reign
Washington — A young student who survived the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, was among of group of witnesses who testified before House lawmakers at a hearing on gun violence, recalling how she smeared the blood of a classmate on herself to appear as if she were dead.
Miah Cerrillo, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School, appeared in a prerecorded video before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday morning. The hearing came hours before the House was set to begin debate on a package of gun restrictions aimed at preventing future mass shootings.
Detailing one of the most horrific accounts of the massacre, Cerrillo said her class was watching a movie when her teacher got an email and went to lock the classroom door, making eye contact with the gunman in the hallway. She said the teacher told them to hide behind the teacher’s desk and their backpacks. The gunman went into an adjoining classroom before coming into hers, where he told her teacher “good night” and shot her in the head, Cerillo said. He then shot Cerrillo’s classmates and a whiteboard.
“When I went to the backpacks, he shot my friend that was next to me, and I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I grabbed a little blood and put it all over me,” she said. “I got my teacher’s phone and called 911 … I told her that we need help, and to send the police in our classroom.”
Cerrillo said she wants “to have security” and that she doesn’t feel safe at school. “I don’t want it to happen again,” she said.
Speaking through tears, her father Miguel Cerrillo told the panel: “I wish something would change, not only for our kids, but for every kid in the world, because our schools are not safe anymore. Something needs to really change.”
Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, the committee’s chairwoman, said the witnesses “have endured pain and loss” and displayed “incredible courage by coming here to ask us to do our jobs.”
“My goal for today’s hearing is simple. I am asking every Member of this Committee to listen with an open heart to the brave witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories about how gun violence has impacted their lives,” Maloney said. “Let us hear their voices. Let us honor their courage. And let us find the same courage to pass commonsense laws to protect our children.”
Other witnesses at the hearing included Felix and Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was among those killed in Uvalde. Zeneta Everhart, the mother of one of the victims wounded in the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, also appeared, along with Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician from Uvalde.
Kimberly Rubio recounted the agonizing hours after the attack as she and her family tried to find Lexi, driving to the hospital and the local civic center seeking answers.
“Soon after we received the news that our daughter was among the 19 students and two teachers that died as a result of gun violence,” she said through tears. “We do not want you to think of Lexi as just a number. She was intelligent, compassionate, and athletic. She was quiet. Shy, unless she had a point to make. When she knew she was right, as she so often was, she stood her ground. She was firm, direct, voice unwavering.”
Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was an employee at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo and wounded in the shooting, implored lawmakers to pass gun restrictions to prevent future mass shootings.
“To the lawmakers who feel that we do not need stricter gun laws, let me paint a picture for you: My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg, caused by an exploding bullet from an AR-15. As I clean his wounds, I can feel pieces of that bullet in his back. Shrapnel will be left inside of his body for the rest of his life,” Everhart said. “Now, I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children. This should not be your story — or mine.”
Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician who has lived in Uvalde for his entire life, said he rushed from his clinic to the hospital once he learned of the shooting and found “parents outside yelling children’s names in desperation, and sobbing as they begged for any news related to their child.” He said the first patient he came across in the ER was Cerrillo.
“She was sitting in the hallway. Her face was still, still clearly in shock, but her whole body was shaking from the adrenaline coursing through it,” he said. “The white ‘Lilo and Stitch’ shirt she wore was covered in blood and her shoulder was bleeding from the shrapnel injury.”
Guerrero recounted the gruesome scene as two children killed in the massacre first arrived at the hospital.
“Two children, whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities were the blood-spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none,” Guerrero told lawmakers.
“Making sure our children are safe from guns, that’s the job of our politicians and leaders. In this case, you are the doctors and our country is the patient. We are lying on the operating table, riddled with bullets like the children of Robb Elementary and so many other schools. We are bleeding out, and you are not there,” he said. “My oath as a doctor means that I signed up to save lives. I do my job, and I guess it turns out that I am here to plead, to beg, to please, please do yours.”
The shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde have spurred renewed efforts by Democrats in Congress to pass more stringent gun control measures. Following Wednesday’s testimony, the Democratic-controlled House passed a package of legislation called the Protecting Our Kids Act, mostly along party lines, that that would raise the minimum age for buying semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, limit magazine sizes and ban so-called “ghost guns,” among other provisions.
Any meaningful changes to the nation’s gun laws, however, must also pass the evenly divided Senate, where the support of 10 Republicans is needed to advance legislation. A bipartisan group of senators has been negotiating a set of narrower reforms that could include strengthening background checks for gun sales and encouraging states to adopt “red flag” laws, which allow courts to order the confiscation of firearms from those deemed a threat to themselves or others.
BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) — Two British citizens and a Moroccan were sentenced to death Thursday for fighting on Ukraine’s side, in a punishment handed down by the country’s pro-Moscow rebels.
A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic found the three men guilty of working toward a violent overthrow of power, an offense punishable by death in the unrecognized eastern republic. They were also convicted of mercenary activities and terrorism.
Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported that the three — Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim — are set to face a firing squad. They have a month to appeal.
The separatists argued that the three fighters were “mercenaries” not entitled to the usual protections afforded prisoners of war. They are the first foreign fighters to be sentenced by Ukraine’s Russian-backed separatists.
Aslin’s and Pinner’s families had contended that the men, who are both said to have lived in Ukraine since 2018, were “long-serving” members of the Ukrainian military.
British Foreign Secretary Luz Truss condemned the sentencing as a “sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman Jamie Davies said that under the Geneva Conventions, POWs are entitled to immunity as combatants.
The three men fought alongside Ukrainian troops. Pinner and Aslin surrendered to pro-Russian forces in the southern port of Mariupol in mid-April, while Brahim did so in mid-March in the eastern city of Volnovakha.
The Russian military has argued that foreign mercenaries fighting on Ukraine’s side are not combatants and should expect a long prison term, at best, if captured. Another British fighter captured by the pro-Russian forces, Andrew Hill, is awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, Russian forces pounded the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk in fierce, street-by-street combat that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said could determine the fate of the Donbas, the country’s industrial heartland of coal mines and factories.
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian troops for years in the Donbas and held swaths of territory before the invasion.
“Fierce battles continue in the city itself, street battles are taking place with varied success in city blocks,” Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk province. “The army of Ukraine is fighting for every street and house.”
Sievierodonetsk is part of the very last pocket of Luhansk that the Russians have yet to seize.
Zelenskyy called the painstaking fight for the city the “epicenter” of the battle for the larger Donbas, which is comprised of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.
“In many ways, it is there that the fate of our Donbas is being decided,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday in his nightly video address, which was recorded in the street outside his office in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s top military official said the situation on the front line is “very difficult” and calls for “very quick” weapon supplies.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a Facebook post that up to 100 Ukrainian troops are being killed every day. “We as a country can’t afford to bleed, losing our best sons and daughters,” he said.
In other developments:
— Haidai said Russian forces are also targeting Lysychansk, the city that neighbors Sievierodonetsk, with “day and night shelling,” and trying to storm a key road leading from Lysychansk to the southwest.
— Russia claimed it struck a training facility west of the capital, far from the front lines. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it used air-launched missiles against a Ukrainian military base in the Zhytomyr region where it alleged mercenaries were being trained.
There was no immediate response from Ukrainian authorities to the Russian claims. Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of using mercenaries in the fighting.
November’s midterm elections are likely toshift the political landscape and impact what President Biden can accomplish during the remainder of his first term. Here’s what to know.
When are the midterm elections? The general election is Nov. 8, but the primary season is already underway. Here’s a complete calendar of all the primaries in 2022.
Today’s primaries: California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. Follow along for live updates.
Why are the midterms important? The midterm elections determine control of Congress: The party that has the House or Senate majority gets to organize the chamber and decide what legislation Congress considers.Thirty six governors and thousands of state legislators are also on the ballot. Here’s a complete guide to the midterms.
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has been sharply critical of both the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for their phone conversations with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. He compared the situation to having conversations with Adolf Hitler during the second world war.
In the days leading up to Joe Biden’s first in-person late-night interview of his presidency on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Fox News has been up in arms with claims that the appearance proves he’s not taking the country’s myriad problems seriously. But what those complaining neglected to remember is just how serious Jimmy Kimmel can be when he wants to.
After joking in his monologue that “as a precautionary measure” they had rounded up and removed anyone named “Brandon” from the audience, Kimmel shared a comprehensive montage that showed Donald Trump fielding “tough questions from real hard-hitting journalists” at Fox and sent his “thoughts and prayers” to get them through this “difficult time.”
When Biden finally joined Kimmel at the desk, the host reiterated Fox News’ concerns that he might not ask his guest “serious questions.”
“They really ask serious questions,” a sarcastic Biden replied before telling Kimmel he’s happy to have a real conversation with someone “really smart” like him.
Kimmel began by discussing an issue close to his heart, gun violence prevention, asking point blank, “Why haven’t we done anything about this?”
The president blamed “intimidation by the NRA” and the “MAGA party” that has taken control of the GOP before pivoting to praise Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for meaning what he says despite their many disagreements on the issues.
“Like when he said we can’t confirm a Supreme Court Justice with a year left and then said the opposite?” Kimmel asked in response.
Biden didn’t quite have an answer for that one, but while he said we need another assault weapons ban he would not “emulate Trump” by issuing any executive orders that potentially violate the Constitution. “I also get asked, ‘Look the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square?’” he added. “Well guess what, if we do the same thing they do, our democracy would literally be in jeopardy and that is not a joke.”
When Kimmel suggested that the Democrats are “playing Monopoly with someone who won’t pass Go and won’t follow any of the rules,” Biden said then we need to “send them to jail.”
From there, they moved to other areas that have failed to move significantly in a progressive direction despite Democrats controlling the presidency and both houses of Congress—at least until the midterms.
When Kimmel called Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema “iffy at best,” Biden cautioned against blaming Democrats—the vast majority of whom are united—for problems that 100 percent of Republicans have no interest in solving.
As Biden continued to explain all of the popular measures that a divided Congress will never allow to pass, Kimmel grew more frustrated. “Maybe it’s just that Americans aren’t as knowledgeable as they should be,” the host lamented. “Or maybe there’s a Death Star pumping false information into our brains.”
Biden rightly guessed that he was once again talking about Fox News.
“It’s enough already!” Kimmel continued. “And I think you need to start yelling at people!” And when Biden said he’s never been “so optimistic” in his life, he shot back, “Why are you so optimistic? It makes no sense!”
The president responded with an irrationally hopeful answer about the power of “young people” in America today and something nonsensical about “biracial couples” in TV ads, which Kimmel made a crack about before throwing to his own commercial break.
By the end of the 23-minute interview, Kimmel was marveling at just how bad things have gotten for the country in the two years since Biden took office—much of which can be traced back to his predecessor. “What a terrible job you have,” he said with a dark laugh. “I’m glad you’re doing it. But, boy oh boy, does this seem like a bad gig.”
“We should have done something about gun violence a long time ago, the climate—we could all look back at these days and go, ‘Oh my God, why didn’t we—’” Kimmel said, before Biden interrupted to say that we have made “some progress.”
“Some, some!” the host said in response, indicating that he feels it’s clearly not enough.
Responding to a recent wave of mass shootings, the House of Representatives passed a bill raising the age to purchase semiautomatic rifles to 21, requiring safe firearms storage, while seeking to crack down on illicit firearm trafficking.
The House passed the Protecting Our Kids Act on a 223-204 vote Wednesday that fell mostly on party lines. Congressional Democrats who swiftly assembled the package earlier this month say it will reduce gun violence. Five Republicans crossed over to support the legislation, which would be the most significant gun control measure passed by Congress in nearly two decades. However, it faces uncertainty in the Senate.
Speaking on the House floor, Representative Jerry Nadler referenced the recent elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
“Who will be able to tell their constituents that they stood with them and not with the gun lobby?” said Nadler. “Americans are watching. They are begging us to protect them and their loved ones from gun violence, who among us will answer their call?”
The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Nadler, earlier this month passed the legislation, considered in an emergency session, on a 25-19 party line vote.
The legislation creates new federal offenses for selling or manufacturing large-capacity magazines and using “straw” purchasers for gun trafficking. So-called “bump stocks,” devices used to make semiautomatic rifles fire in rapid succession, would be banned by the legislation. Also banned would be “ghost guns,” firearms assembled at home that law enforcement have difficulty tracking.
While the bill stops short of banning semiautomatic rifles called for by gun control advocates, it raises the age of purchase to 21. Proponents of the provision have cited that gunmen in recent mass shootings were under the age of 21. The bill also creates penalties for gunowners who don’t use proper storage or safety devices to keep firearms out of the hands of minors.
During the floor debate, House Republicans blasted the bill, calling it an unworkable, unconstitutional overreach.
“This could turn millions of illegal guns into contraband and law abiding gun owners into felons,” Minnesota Representative Michelle Fischbach said on the floor. “[The bill] is another reminder that Democrats fundamentally have no respect for the Second Amendment rights.”
Fischbach said the safe-storage requirements violated the Fourth Amendment‘s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Tracing requirements would also mean multiple parts of the same gun would need their own serial number.
Saying, “it is not the guns, it is the people,” Florida Representative Kat Cammack said the bill does nothing to address the country’s mental health crisis and could leave domestic violence victims defenseless.
The legislation faces difficulty in the evenly split Senate, where Republicans have signaled some willingness to consider the issue.
Texas Senator John Cornyn, a Republican negotiator on gun control in the Senate, on Wednesday posted a video of a speech on the status of the talks that included few specifics. He identified mental health as a major factor behind mass shootings and evaluating security at schools.
While he expressed optimism the talks would produce a bill, he pushed back against “artificial deadlines” for votes on any legislation.
Newsweek reached out to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for comment.
A handful of House Republicans bucked their party to vote for gun legislation on Wednesday, supporting measures that were introduced after the mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas last month.
The marquee piece of legislation that cleared the chamber was the Protecting Our Kids Act, a package of bills that seek to tighten gun restrictions. Among the provisions are raising the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic weapon from 18 to 21 and banning civilians from using high-capacity magazines.
The legislation is doomed in the Senate because of widespread GOP opposition. The package passed the House in a largely party-line vote of 223-204. One Republican did not vote.
Five Republicans broke from the party in supporting the measure: Reps. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.) and Fred Upton (Mich.).
Kinzinger, Gonzalez, Jacobs and Upton are all not seeking reelection this year. Jacobs bowed out of seeking another term last week after he came under fire within the party for expressing support for an assault weapons ban.
The lawmakers voted for the package despite party leadership advocating against the legislation. Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office sent a memo to House GOP offices on Tuesday encouraging members of the conference to vote “no” on the sweeping measure.
“In the wake of the senseless, malevolent shootings seen in recent months, the Majority has thrown together this reactionary package comprised of legislation that egregiously violates law-abiding citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights and hinders Americans’ ability to defend and protect themselves and their families,” the memo read.
In addition to voting on the entire package, the House also held votes on each individual provision. The full package, however, is the only piece of legislation that will be sent to the Senate for consideration.
Last week, Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the House would vote on each provision “to place Republicans on record on each of these issues relating to gun safety.”
Six of the seven provisions passed in largely party-line votes, with only a handful of Republicans joining Democrats. The last provision, however, had widespread bipartisan support. It orders the attorney general to submit a report to congressional committees detailing individuals who could not purchase a firearm because they failed a background check.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, recommended that members vote against the first six provisions, but signaled support for the final one.
Kinzinger, Fitzpatrick and Jacobs supported all six provisions that Jordan recommended the conference oppose. A number of other Republicans joined the trio in voting for some of the individual measures.
The provision that would impose a ban on bump stocks for civilians received the most GOP support among the measures that Jordan recommended voting against.
The initiative passed in a 233-194 vote, with 13 Republicans bucking the party: Reps. Mike Turner (Ohio), John Katko (N.Y.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Chris Jacobs (N.Y.), Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.), Chris Smith (N.J.), Maria Salazar (Fla.), David Valadao (Calif.), Ken Calvert (Calif.) David Joyce (Ohio), Kinzinger, Upton and Jacobs.
The provision that calls for raising the minimum age for purchasing a firearm from 18 to 21 cleared the House in a 228-199 vote. Ten Republicans supported that effort: Turner, Katko, Upton, Gonzalez, Fitzpatrick, Kinzinger, Jacobs, Malliotakis, Smith and Salazar.
The list of GOP defectors was similar for the measure to mandate that untraceable firearms and guns without serial numbers, also referred to as ghost guns, undergo background checks and receive serial numbers.
The House passed the provision in a 226-194 vote, with eight “yes” votes: Fitzpatrick, Kinzinger, Jacobs, Katko, Malliotakis, Upton, Gonzalez and Smith.
On a provision creating new federal crime offenses for gun trafficking and straw purchases of firearms, which is when people who are not able to clear background checks purchase firearms through a proxy, 7 Republicans bucked the party to support the measure in a 226-197 vote.
Fitzpatrick, Kinzinger, Malliotakis, Gonzalez, Jacobs, Salazar and Katko all voted “yes.”
Four Republicans voted for the provision that calls for prohibiting civilian use of ammunition magazines that have more than 15 rounds: Kinzinger, Jacobs, Upton and Fitzpatrick. The measure passed in a 220-207 vote.
The provision that received the least GOP support seeks to bolster safe storage of guns in homes where minors may have access to the firearms. Kinzinger, Fitzpatrick and Jacobs were the only GOP defectors. The effort, however, ultimately cleared the House in a 220-205 vote.
Washington — A young student who survived the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, was among of group of witnesses who testified before House lawmakers at a hearing on gun violence, recalling how she smeared the blood of a classmate on herself to appear as if she were dead.
Miah Cerrillo, a fourth grader at Robb Elementary School, appeared in a prerecorded video before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday morning. The hearing came hours before the House was set to begin debate on a package of gun restrictions aimed at preventing future mass shootings.
Detailing one of the most horrific accounts of the massacre, Cerrillo said her class was watching a movie when her teacher got an email and went to lock the classroom door, making eye contact with the gunman in the hallway. She said the teacher told them to hide behind the teacher’s desk and their backpacks. The gunman went into an adjoining classroom before coming into hers, where he told her teacher “good night” and shot her in the head, Cerillo said. He then shot Cerrillo’s classmates and a whiteboard.
“When I went to the backpacks, he shot my friend that was next to me, and I thought he was going to come back to the room, so I grabbed a little blood and put it all over me,” she said. “I got my teacher’s phone and called 911 … I told her that we need help, and to send the police in our classroom.”
Cerrillo said she wants “to have security” and that she doesn’t feel safe at school. “I don’t want it to happen again,” she said.
Speaking through tears, her father Miguel Cerrillo told the panel: “I wish something would change, not only for our kids, but for every kid in the world, because our schools are not safe anymore. Something needs to really change.”
Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, the committee’s chairwoman, said the witnesses “have endured pain and loss” and displayed “incredible courage by coming here to ask us to do our jobs.”
“My goal for today’s hearing is simple. I am asking every Member of this Committee to listen with an open heart to the brave witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories about how gun violence has impacted their lives,” Maloney said. “Let us hear their voices. Let us honor their courage. And let us find the same courage to pass commonsense laws to protect our children.”
Other witnesses at the hearing included Felix and Kimberly Rubio, whose daughter Lexi was among those killed in Uvalde. Zeneta Everhart, the mother of one of the victims wounded in the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, also appeared, along with Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician from Uvalde.
Kimberly Rubio recounted the agonizing hours after the attack as she and her family tried to find Lexi, driving to the hospital and the local civic center seeking answers.
“Soon after we received the news that our daughter was among the 19 students and two teachers that died as a result of gun violence,” she said through tears. “We do not want you to think of Lexi as just a number. She was intelligent, compassionate, and athletic. She was quiet. Shy, unless she had a point to make. When she knew she was right, as she so often was, she stood her ground. She was firm, direct, voice unwavering.”
Everhart, whose son Zaire Goodman was an employee at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo and wounded in the shooting, implored lawmakers to pass gun restrictions to prevent future mass shootings.
“To the lawmakers who feel that we do not need stricter gun laws, let me paint a picture for you: My son Zaire has a hole in the right side of his neck, two on his back and another on his left leg, caused by an exploding bullet from an AR-15. As I clean his wounds, I can feel pieces of that bullet in his back. Shrapnel will be left inside of his body for the rest of his life,” Everhart said. “Now, I want you to picture that exact scenario for one of your children. This should not be your story — or mine.”
Dr. Roy Guerrero, a pediatrician who has lived in Uvalde for his entire life, said he rushed from his clinic to the hospital once he learned of the shooting and found “parents outside yelling children’s names in desperation, and sobbing as they begged for any news related to their child.” He said the first patient he came across in the ER was Cerrillo.
“She was sitting in the hallway. Her face was still, still clearly in shock, but her whole body was shaking from the adrenaline coursing through it,” he said. “The white ‘Lilo and Stitch’ shirt she wore was covered in blood and her shoulder was bleeding from the shrapnel injury.”
Guerrero recounted the gruesome scene as two children killed in the massacre first arrived at the hospital.
“Two children, whose bodies had been pulverized by bullets fired at them, decapitated, whose flesh had been ripped apart, that the only clue as to their identities were the blood-spattered cartoon clothes still clinging to them, clinging for life and finding none,” Guerrero told lawmakers.
“Making sure our children are safe from guns, that’s the job of our politicians and leaders. In this case, you are the doctors and our country is the patient. We are lying on the operating table, riddled with bullets like the children of Robb Elementary and so many other schools. We are bleeding out, and you are not there,” he said. “My oath as a doctor means that I signed up to save lives. I do my job, and I guess it turns out that I am here to plead, to beg, to please, please do yours.”
The shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde have spurred renewed efforts by Democrats in Congress to pass more stringent gun control measures. Following Wednesday’s testimony, the Democratic-controlled House passed a package of legislation called the Protecting Our Kids Act, mostly along party lines, that that would raise the minimum age for buying semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, limit magazine sizes and ban so-called “ghost guns,” among other provisions.
Any meaningful changes to the nation’s gun laws, however, must also pass the evenly divided Senate, where the support of 10 Republicans is needed to advance legislation. A bipartisan group of senators has been negotiating a set of narrower reforms that could include strengthening background checks for gun sales and encouraging states to adopt “red flag” laws, which allow courts to order the confiscation of firearms from those deemed a threat to themselves or others.
With 100,000 votes counted, the San Francisco Board of Elections put votes for the recall of Chesa Boudin, the district attorney, at 61 percent. At the pro-recall watch party, the crowd erupted with elation, shouting, “Sixty-one! Sixty-one!”
Good news for sea turtles: President Biden announced on Monday that he hopes to designate the aquatic Hudson Canyon as a national marine sanctuary.
About 100 miles southeast of New York City, Hudson Canyon is the largest underwater canyon in the U.S. portion of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s also a biodiversity hotspot: home to sensitive species including sperm whales, cold-water coral and, yes, sea turtles.
A diver explores Grecian shipwreck at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Comparable in scale to the Grand Canyon, the site is occasionally more than seven miles wide and more than two miles deep at its lowest point. The site is also said to be the home of a number of shipwrecks, including freighters and U.S. military radar platforms, with some dating back to the 19th century.
Making the Hudson Canyon a sanctuary would mean that the federal government has more say in the types of activities allowed in the sanctuary. The rules will be developed after a public comment period.
“The canyon’s rich biodiversity is integral to the region’s economy,” the government said in a statement, “underpinning commercial and recreational fisheries, recreational diving, whale-watching and birding.”
The newest in a big system of underwater parks
Hudson Canyon is the second marine sanctuary Biden has backed, after advancing a proposal last year for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of central California.
Before he took office, Biden pledged to conserve 30% of U.S. land and water by 2030 — part of a global push to address climate change.
The national marine sanctuary system currently comprises 15 underwater parks and two national monuments in the United States, a network of more than 620,000 square miles of aquatic ecosystems.
“A sanctuary near one of the most densely populated areas of the Northeast U.S. would connect diverse communities across the region to the ocean and the canyon in new and different ways,” Richard Spinrad, NOAA’s administrator, said in a statement.
In addition to conservation and education, the agency said that the Hudson Canyon site could also be used as an environmental bellwether to monitor the effects of climate change.
The exact boundaries of the site — and an official designation — have yet to be finalized. The public can comment on the proposal online or at a series of virtual and in-person meetings over the summer.
Part of Biden’s recent environmental push
Alongside the national sanctuary announcement, the administration said that the Department of the Interior will phase out the sale of single-use plastic products like bottled water in national parks and other public lands by 2032 — reviving a ban first proposed under the Obama administration that was later nixed by former President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Biden unveiled a number of other measures including a two-year tariff exemption for the U.S. solar industry, a move meant to mitigate the knock-on effects of a federal investigation that had dramatically reduced the number of new solar energy projects.
Biden also invoked the Defense Production Act to expand American solar panel manufacturing, as well as other clean energy technology like building insulation and efficient heat pumps for buildings.
When the House 6 January select committee convenes its first hearing to examine the worst attack on the US Capitol since 1814, the nine-member panel and the two witnesses who will testify Thursday will be the highest-profile occupants of the ornate Cannon House Office Building Caucus Room since the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee used it for hearings in the mid-20th century.
Seventy-four years after Hollywood luminaries like acclaimed screenwriter Dalton Trumbo were blacklisted after failing to answer that committee’s questions about whether they had “now or … ever been” members of the Communist Party, one of the film industry’s finest will once again be a star witness in the exact same room.
The select committee on Tuesday announced that one of the first two witnesses to testify in what is expected to be a series of at least eight hearings will be Nick Quested, the award-winning documentarian who earned an Oscar nomination for his film Restrepo in 2010. The other will be Caroline Edwards, a US Capitol Police officer who was one of the first to be on the receiving end of blows delivered by the pro-Trump mob who stormed the Capitol in hopes of preventing Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Both witnesses will testify during the second hour of the two-hour hearing, following opening presentations by the select committee’s chairman – Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi – and Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice-chair.
The Independent has learned that the panel’s aim in putting Ms Edwards and Mr Quested in the spotlight for the first prime time hearing on the 6 January insurrection is to highlight the role played by the pro-Trump extremist groups in starting and escalating the violence.
Mr Quested, who spent the days leading up to the riot embedded with leaders of the Proud Boys gang as part of a documentary project, has already provided US authorities with footage of a 5 January 2021 meeting between then-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Elmer Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the Oath Keepers.
The footage of Mr Tarrio and Mr Rhodes meeting on the eve of the insurrection appears to have figured prominently in grand jury proceedings which led to last week’s unsealing of an indictment against Mr Tarrio and four other Proud Boys members for seditious conspiracy.
Mr Rhodes, a Yale-educated attorney, was himself indicted on charges of seditious conspiracy in January by a District of Columbia grand jury. According to his attorney, Mr Rhodes has also met with members of the select committee, and has reportedly told them he still considers the 2020 election to have been “illegitimate”.
Both pro-Trump extremist groups are understood to have played major roles in the initial attacks on the Capitol. Members of the Proud Boys gang were among the first to assault police officers and breach outer barriers before ascending the Capitol steps and breaking windows. One Proud Boys member who also faces seditious conspiracy charges, Dominic Pezzola, was allegedly one of the first to enter the Capitol itself after using a stolen police shield to smash a window. Meanwhile, another group of Oath Keepers made their way through the melee on the Capitol’s West Front by moving up the steps in a “stack” formation before fighting their way past police into the building.
Sources familiar with the panel’s investigation who have spoken to The Independent have said the hearings will reveal that many of the events that transpired that day – events which have heretofore appeared spontaneous – were in fact part of a multi-pronged, multi-faceted effort by former president Donald Trump and his supporters to overturn results of the 2020 election, and to knowingly do so with the aid of a violent mob.
Specifically, the panel intends to use the hearings to make clear that it has not found any evidence to support Republican claims that what happened on 6 January 2021 was a peaceful protest gone bad or that other occurrences of violence that day were spontaneous or accidental. The committee will also use evidence it has gathered, including witness testimony and unreleased documents, to show connections between a violent extremist core group of Mr Trump’s supporters who responded to his call for a “wild” protest that day and Mr Trump’s expansive coterie of outside confidantes, sounding boards, and allies in the right-wing political and media ecosystems.
And unlike in previous congressional inquiries into Mr Trump’s conduct, committee members will not have to contend with grandstanding, filibustering, showboating, or interruptions from Mr Trump’s allies in Congress. That’s because House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has refused to allow the members he put forth to participate after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two of his picks – Representatives Jim Jordan and Jim Banks – on grounds that they might end up being called as witnesses.
Allies of Mr Trump who’ve questioned the panel’s legitimacy in lawsuits seeking to block the committee from obtaining documents have pointed to the lack of GOP members when arguing that the panel is improperly constituted, but multiple federal courts have rejected such arguments.
Kurt Bardella, a former adviser to ex-GOP House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa, and who now advises the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Independent that Mr McCarthy’s decision to withdraw all his picks in a fit of pique was a “massive strategic error” that has left the former president without anyone to defend or run interference for him.
He also predicted the former president would “lose his mind” when he watches the select committee’s hearings and realises no one is there to interject with talking points representing his side of the argument.
For the most part, committee members have kept mum about what exactly viewers will see when they tune in Thursday night. It has been reported that the programme is being produced with the aid of a former top ABC News executive James Goldston, and will rely heavily on video evidence, including video taken during interviews of Mr Trump’s top advisers.
One of the seven Democrats on the panel, Representative Elaine Luria of Virginia, declined to answer questions from The Independent as she left the House floor late Wednesday, but told MSNBC host Ali Velshi the “ultimate work product” of the panel will not be the programming produced during the hearings, but the written report it will release later this year.
“The report from this committee, that information that we put out within hearings, I think will paint a very clear picture from beginning to end, to the present day, of all the things that happened that led up to this, [and] the dangers that still exist,” she said. “Some of that information will clearly be new to the public, and perhaps new to others who are also looking carefully at these events”.
Another select committee member, Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, told reporters the committee has obtained an abundance of evidence that it is ready to present.
When asked what he hoped people would learn from the hearings, he replied: “The truth”.
But it’s unclear whether the viewers who need the most convincing will even tune in to Thursday’s hearing – or any of the subsequent ones. Because the most-watched cable news channel in the US, Fox News, is declining to air the hearings live on its flagship network, the 3 million viewers who rely on the channel’s right-wing opinion programming for news will have no exposure to what is revealed on Thursday. Fox will stream the hearings online without authentication and will provide coverage on Fox Business Network.
“The Committee needs to make the case to the American people that what happened on January 6th was the culmination of a scheme that was in the works for months, choreographed by those closest to the President,” Mr Bardella said.
Mr Bardella also told The Independent that the panel must use the hearings to “underscore the ongoing threat posed by those same forces at this very moment”.
“These hearings need to be a call to action, not just a detailed recap of how we got here,” he said.
Another prominent Republican turned critic of the GOP, ex-Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele, told The Independent the panel needs to captivate their audience on Thursday for the good of the country.
“This is one of those moments in our history, where everything needs to stop. Everything needs to take a pause. And people need to just sit down where they are. Turn on the television. And listen, because this is not partisan,” he said, adding later that in his opinion, the Democrats should not do much to coordinate messaging around the hearings and instead let the evidence speak for itself.
“The members of the committee are going to have to carve out this moment for the American people in a way that grabs their attention and walks them through everything that led up to what occurred on January 6th and what came after that,” he said.
One of the panel’s two Republican members, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, appeared confident that the select committee’s presentation will have an impact when he spoke to reporters late Tuesday.
Asked whether he hoped the series of hearings will change anyone’s minds, he said he “hope[d] they would” before offering an even bolder prediction.
UPDATE, 9:05 PM PT: The Boston Celtics are now ahead 2-1 in their NBA Finals series against the Golden State Warriors after tonight’s win at home, but the biggest player around was actually out on the West Coast on Wednesday.
In his first live in-studio appearance since taking off last year in the midst of a global pandemic, President Joe Biden sat down today in the City of Angels with Jimmy Kimmel. Watch the full nearly 24-minute interview above.
The interview showed why the White House has turned to late night to get its message out: Biden was facing friendly questions, in a relaxed environment, from a host who is in sync with him on a number of issues.
Biden also was allowed to make the case for his administration’s accomplishments on climate and the economy, while acknowledging that “inflation is the bane of our existence.” When it comes to the price of gasoline, Biden pinned the blame on oil companies for not exercising oil leases already in place, telling Kimmel, “they make more money not drilling and buying back their own stock.”
The president also suggested that the White House has not been able to communicate its message in a way that pierces through the daily noise, while also pointing to changes in the media landscape in which reporters “have to get the clicks on the nightly news.”
“Everything gets sensationalized in ways … but I am convinced we can get through this. We have to get through it.”
He also warned of the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade, as expected, and some states imposed limitations. “They are going to cause a mini revolution and they are going to vote a lot of folks out of office,” Biden said.
Kimmel also tried to riff a bit with Biden on Republicans’ shift to the right.
“It’s like you are playing Monopoly with somebody who won’t pass go, won’t follow any of the rules. How will you make any progress if they aren’t following any of the rules?” he said.
“We got to send them to jail. That little box,” Biden quipped.
Biden last visited Kimmel in 2019, but this was his first in studio appearance, on any late-night talk show, since becoming president. He visited Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show in December, but the guest spot didn’t have as much impact because it was virtual. But unlike Trump, who shunned and slammed late-night hosts during his presidency, Biden likely will return to the format again and again. The Fallon and Kimmel interviews were hardly hardball Q&As, and the president already had a rapport with Stephen Colbert of The Late Show, although he has yet to do a guest spot. Don’t be surprised if he does.
PREVIOUSLY, 8:07 PM PT: “What I don’t want to do, and I’m not being facetious, is I don’t want to emulate Trump’s abuse of the Constitution, and constitutional authority,” President Joe Biden told Jimmy Kimmel today of why he hasn’t inked an Executive Order to try to stop the murderous gun violence that America has tragically seen in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, to name a few, in recent weeks.
“I often get asked, well the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square,” Biden added in his first live in-studio late night sit-down since taking office in January 2021. “Well, guess what? If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy,” he went on to tell an agreeing Kimmel in what was not an entirely unexpected exchange.
With a Monopoly shout-out in the cards, take a preview peek at POTUDS onJimmy Kimmel Live! below:
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) June 9, 2022
Flying in from DC for a four-day visit to the Southland, Biden today went straight from handshakes with the Governor and the Mayor on the LAX tarmac to Hollywood to tape Kimmel. Arriving at the El Capitan just after 2:30 PM PT, the President’s security net saw Hollywood and Highland under lockdown for the hour or so Biden was in the studio with the ABC late nighter. Bookending the third game of the 2022 NBA Finals, the Kimmel chat with President Biden airs at 11:30 PM ET tonight
As these pics below show, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden was there in-studio too today:
— Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) June 9, 2022
Dr. Biden actually arrived in LA yesterday to give a commencement speech at Los Angeles City College
After filming Kimmel, the Bidens whipped to DTLA for the official opening of the ninth Summit of the Americas. POTUS has a pretty full dance card at the regional gathering, on and off site. In addition, Biden is strolling over the Hollywood ATM for a double dip on this trip out West. No stranger to exacting Tinseltown A-listers from their cash, the President has two deep pocket DNC fundraisers set for June 10.
The first event over on the westside is an intimate gathering of high rollers. With tickets ranging from $1000 to $35,000, the second fundraiser is at Haim and Cheryl Saban’s Beverly Hills pad.
Unleashing the City of Angels from the BidenJam that comes from a Presidential visit, Biden will split LA on Saturday morning. Staying out West a bit long, POTUS is traveling to New Mexico from California – let them battle the traffic.
“This is not our Miah. This is not our TikTok dancer. This is not our playful Miah, you know? This is not our Miah,” her father, Miguel Cerrillo, said in an interview moments after he briefly testified at the House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on gun violence Wednesday. “She’s outgoing, but it’s not … it’s not our daughter. It’s not daddy’s little girl anymore. It’s a whole different story. She’s way different now.”
Washington — A California man who was allegedly armed with a gun, knife and various tools when he was arrested in the early morning near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland has been charged with attempted murder, federal officials said in court papers filed Wednesday.
The man was detained around 1:50 a.m. after making threats against Kavanaugh, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Maryland. The suspect was transported to Montgomery County Police 2nd District in Bethesda, Maryland, Supreme Court spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said.
The affidavit identified the man as Nicholas John Roske, a 26-year-old from Simi Valley, California. He is charged with attempt to murder a Supreme Court justice. If convicted, Roske faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Roske appeared before Magistrate Judge Timothy Sullivan on Wednesday afternoon, where he consented to remain in custody. He was assigned a court appointed attorney, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 22.
U.S. Deputy Marshals reported seeing a person dressed in black clothing and carrying a backpack and suitcase get out of a taxi that stopped in front of a current justice’s house at roughly 1:05 a.m., according to the affidavit. The person looked at the two marshals and turned to walk down the street, the FBI agent wrote.
The Montgomery County Emergency Communications Center then received a call from a person, who identified himself as Roske, saying he was having suicidal thoughts and had a firearm in his suitcase. Roske also said he came from California to kill a “specific United States Supreme Court justice,” according to the filing.
Montgomery County police officers were dispatched to the location, where they found Roske. He was taken into custody without incident, and authorities seized his backpack and suitcase. Police found in his belongings a black tactical chest rig and tactical knife, a Glock 17 pistol with two magazines and ammunition, pepper spray, zip ties, a hammer, screwdriver, nail punch, crow bar, pistol light, duct tape, hiking boots with padding on the outside of the soles, and other items, the affidavit states.
After he was transported to the police department in Bethesda, Roske told a detective he was upset about the recent leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion in a blockbuster abortion case and the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The Supreme Court is also set to issue a decision in the coming days and weeks in a case involving a New York law imposing limits on concealed carry of handguns in public.
“Roske indicated that he believed the Justice that he intended to kill would side with Second Amendment decisions that would loosen gun control laws,” according to the affidavit. “Roske stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice after finding the Justice’s Montgomery County address on the Internet. Roske further indicated that he had purchased the Glock pistol and other items for the purpose of breaking into the Justice’s residence and killing the Justice as well as himself.”
Montgomery County police said the FBI are investigating the incident. The Washington Post was first to report on the arrest.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that President Biden condemned the actions targeting Kavanaugh “in strong terms.”
“As the president has consistently made clear, public officials, including judges, must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety or that of their families, and any threats of violence or attempts to intimidate justices have no place in our society,” she said.
Following the release last month of a draft Supreme Court opinion indicating a majority of the justices voted to overturn the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide, the Supreme Court police reported a “significant increase in violent threats,” including threats made on social media and directed at members of the court, according to an intelligence bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security.
Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the U.S. Marshals Service to provide additional support to the Marshal of the Supreme Court to ensure the safety of the justices amid the public backlash to the draft decision.
The draft decision, the authenticity of which was confirmed by the Supreme Court, sparked protests outside the high court — now surrounded by a large fence — and the homes of the court’s conservative justices, including Kavanaugh. In response to the demonstrations, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to boost security for members of the court by allowing Supreme Court police to provide around-the-clock protection to justices and their families if such protection is deemed necessary.
The incident involving Kavanaugh invited calls from Senate Democrats and Republicans alike for the House to act swiftly on the bill.
“Protecting our judiciary and their staff and families is an important part of protecting our democracy,” Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware who co-sponsored the measure, told reporters in response to the arrest near Kavanaugh’s house.
Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas who is the other co-sponsor, said the arrest proves threats to the justices’ lives are “horrifyingly real.”
“Speaker Pelosi must keep the House in session until they pass my bill,” he said in a statement. “Every day they don’t the threat to the Justices grows, the potential for tragedy becomes more likely, and House Democrats achieve a new apex of political dysfunction.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, called it “timely and important” for the House to send the measure to President Biden’s desk.
“Violence is never acceptable,” he said, noting he welcomes changes changes or additions to the proposal.
Jack Turman and Gillian Morley contributed to this report.
The Ukrainian parliament’s Ruslan Stefanchuk delivers a speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday in Strasbourg, France.
Jean-Francois Badias/AP
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Jean-Francois Badias/AP
The Ukrainian parliament’s Ruslan Stefanchuk delivers a speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday in Strasbourg, France.
Jean-Francois Badias/AP
As Wednesday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day:
Russia turned over the bodies of 210 Ukrainian soldiers killed in Mariupol, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said. Many of the troops died defending the last holdout in the southeastern city, the Azovstal steel plant. Russia seized control of Mariupol in May after a weeks-long siege culminated in fierce fighting against a Ukrainian regiment at the steel plant. Russia said more than 2,400 of the fighters surrendered. Ukraine’s government said remains of fallen Azovstal defenders arrived in Kyiv following an exchange of war dead with Russia.
Ukraine’s parliament speaker made a plea for European Union membership at the European Parliament. Ruslan Stefanchuk warned in a speech to lawmakers that any signal otherwise would only encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin. EU leaders are expected to take up Ukraine’s application for EU candidate status later this month.
The Turkish and Russian foreign ministers held talks in Ankara, but failedto reach a breakthrough toward shipping millions of tons of grain and sead stuck in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Ukraine is a big exporter of key foods like wheat that countries in Africa and the Middle East rely on, but Russia’s invasion has blocked Ukraine’s ports. Turkey said if Russia agreed to create a safe corridor, the West should consider Moscow’s demand to lift sanctions. Ukraine was not part of the talks and raised objections to the proposal for the corridor, saying security guarantees are needed. Russia has also demanded that Ukraine remove mines from the Black Sea.
Ukraine continued to defend parts of the eastern Donbas region from Russia’s assault, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The areas hit hardest by fighting were the city of Sievierodonetsk, he said, as well as the towns of Popasna and Lysychansk. Russia’s defense minister said his country controls 97% of the Luhansk province. But according to British defense intelligence and Zelenskyy, Ukrainian forces were holding on. The United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine made successful counterattacks in the southwestern Kherson region, regaining a foothold on the eastern bank of the Inhulets River.
With 100,000 votes counted, the San Francisco Board of Elections put votes for the recall of Chesa Boudin, the district attorney, at 61 percent. At the pro-recall watch party, the crowd erupted with elation, shouting, “Sixty-one! Sixty-one!”
The House on Wednesday passed a sweeping gun bill that would raise the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle in the U.S. from 18 to 21, even though the legislation doesn’t stand much of a chance in the Senate.
The bill, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, would also bar the sale of large-capacity magazines and institute new rules that dictate proper at-home gun storage.
The Democratic-held chamber approved the legislation in a 223-204 vote. It passed in a mostly party line vote: Five Republicans supported the measure, while two Democrats opposed it.
The House earlier voted by a 228 to 199 margin to include the purchasing age provision — under heavy scrutiny after two recent massacres carried out by 18-year-olds — in the broader bill.
The package is a collection of several pieces of legislation designed to limit access to guns and other firearm equipment in the wake of last month’s mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, that left 31 Americans dead.
Another component of the legislation, called the Untraceable Firearms Act, would bolster regulations around so-called ghost guns, or those firearms without a serial number. It is far more difficult for law enforcement to track ownership and possession of firearms that lack serial numbers.
While House Democrats passed stronger gun laws in response to the massacres, their success is largely symbolic. Senate Republicans, who have the power to block legislation with a filibuster that requires 60 votes to overcome, are united in their opposition to the House’s restrictions on guns and will block the bill from advancing.
The 50-50 split in the Senate, which gives Vice President Kamala Harris the key tie-breaking vote, means Democrats must persuade 10 Republicans to endorse any legislation. A bipartisan group of senators are negotiating a narrower compromise bill that they say would strengthen background checks, improve mental health services and bolster school security.
Political analysts say that neither the May 24 elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Texas, nor the May 14 racist rampage at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, are likely to drum up enough support for the bill passed by the House.
Kimberly Rubio, mother to slain 10-year-old Lexi Rubio, told lawmakers through tears that she doesn’t want her daughter remembered as “just a number.”
“She was intelligent, compassionate and athletic. She was quiet, shy unless she had a point to make,” Rubio told the House Oversight Committee. “Somewhere out there, there is a mom listening to our testimony thinking, ‘I can’t even imagine their pain,’ not knowing that our reality will someday be hers. Unless we act now.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, are leading those deliberations, which have thus far focused on stronger background checks and red flag laws.
Red flag laws allow family members, co-workers or police to petition a court to seize an individual’s weapons for a set amount of time if the person is deemed to be a threat to themselves or the public.
The bipartisan Senate ideas — while far less stringent — are Democrats’ best shot to send any gun legislation to the desk of President Joe Biden for signature into law. The president, who has called upon federal lawmakers to pass any tighter gun laws, met with Murphy on Tuesday to discuss the bipartisan negotiations.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Biden supports red-flag laws and more-rigorous background checks.
“We understand not every component of what the president is calling for is going to stop every tragedy,” Jean-Pierre said. “But we have to take the steps, and we have to move forward, and we have to do something.”
Despite overwhelming support from congressional Democrats and the White House, new gun legislation faces difficult odds in the Senate, aides say, since the vast majority of Republicans would never vote for even slightly-more-strict gun bills.
Cornyn acknowledged that political reality from the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, but struck an upbeat tone on the cross-party talks.
“I’m glad to say on this topic we are making steady progress. It is early in the process, but I’m optimistic about where things stand right now,” he said. “What am I optimistic about? I’m optimistic that we can pass a bill in the Senate, it can pass the House and it will get a signature by President Biden. And it will become the law of the land.”
The Texas Republican said he’s focused on the importance of ensuring young adults have access to mental health services and that schools have sufficient security protocols.
He also noted that another idea under consideration is a law that would require states to upload juvenile records into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
“Because this young man in Uvalde turned 18 and there was no lookback at his juvenile record, he passed a background check. It’s as if he were born on his 18th birthday and that nothing that had happened before was important,” Cornyn said. “That’s obviously a problem.”
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