Trump calls Capitol attack an ‘insurrection hoax’ as public hearings set to begin

Former president intensifies attacks on Liz Cheney at Wyoming rally and endorses her Republican primary challenger in midterm elections

As the House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol by extremist supporters of Donald Trump prepares to start public hearings next week, the former president called the insurrection on January 6, 2021, a hoax.

Trump spoke at a rally in Wyoming on Saturday night in support of the Republican primary challenger in the midterm elections to congresswoman Liz Cheney. Cheney sits on the committee and has been vilified by Trump since she voted in favor of his historic second impeachment over the insurrection.

Continue reading...

Capitol rioter who sprayed police with fire extinguisher sentenced to three years

Matthew Ryan Miller from Maryland draped himself in a far right-affiliated flag and used a barricade as a ladder to scale walls

A Maryland man who draped himself in a far right-affiliated flag and sprayed a fire extinguisher at police during the deadly Capitol attack on January 6 has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison, according to federal court records.

Matthew Ryan Miller, 23, pleaded guilty in February to felony obstruction of an official proceeding – that day’s joint congressional session to certify Joe Biden’s win over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election – as well as assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden says US recession ‘is not inevitable’ despite rampant inflation – live

Poll finds 77% of Americans ‘pessimistic’ about cost of goods and services in coming months

US would defend Taiwan if attacked by China, says Joe Biden

• Capitol attack panel to hold six public hearings

Sign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to stage six public hearings in June on how Donald Trump and some allies broke the law as they sought to overturn the 2020 election results, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The hearings are set to be a pivotal political moment for the country as the panel aims to publicly outline the potentially unlawful schemes that tried to keep the former president in office despite his defeat at the hands of Joe Biden.

Continue reading...

‘You are a jackass’: video of Rudy Giuliani rant at Israel parade goes viral

Former Trump lawyer hurls profanities at parade attender in New York City days after reportedly testifying with January 6 panel

With a reporter’s cellphone recording him, Donald Trump’s sometime lawyer Rudy Giuliani hurled profanities at a pro-Israel parade attender in New York City and said, “You are probably as demented as Biden.”

The video of the former New York mayor’s verbal clash had racked up more than 440,000 views on Monday morning, just two days after he reportedly met for hours with the US House committee investigating the deadly Capitol riots on 6 January 2021.

Continue reading...

Trump pays $110,000 in fines after being held in contempt of court – live

The Washington Post said Friday it had obtained emails showing that Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, pressed Arizona lawmakers to set aside Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state and choose “a clean slate of electors”.

Thomas wrote to two unidentified lawmakers on 9 November 2020, the newspaper says, six days after the general election, arguing they needed to intervene because the vote had been marred by fraud.

Continue reading...

House panel not planning to seek Trump’s testimony on Capitol attack

After months of uncertainty, chairman says it is ‘not our expectation’ that investigators will summon former president

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is not expecting to call Donald Trump to testify about potentially unlawful schemes to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, its chairman said on Tuesday.

The panel has been weighing for months whether to seek voluntary cooperation or subpoena the former president in its wide-ranging inquiry in an effort to obtain his insight into unlawful schemes to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

But Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the select committee, told reporters on Capitol Hill that it was “not our expectation” to demand testimony from Trump.

Continue reading...

Subpoenas of Trump allies by January 6 panel set up high-stakes showdown

Before taking its decision, the select committee gamed out scenarios: what happens if Republicans defy the subpoenas?

The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack made a political and legal gambit when it issued unprecedented subpoenas that compelled five Republican members of Congress to reveal inside information about Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

The move sets into motion an extraordinary high-stakes showdown of response and counter-response for both the subpoenaed House Republicans – the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs and Mo Brooks – and the panel itself.

Continue reading...

Capitol attack panel subpoenas five Republicans in unprecedented step

Chair Bennie Thompson says panel has been ‘forced to take this step’ as Kevin McCarthy complains investigation ‘not legitimate’

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol has issued unprecedented subpoenas to five Republican members of Congress, seeking to compel their cooperation with the inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The select committee empowered the chairman, Bennie Thompson, to move ahead with subpoenas to the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama.

Continue reading...

Senate Democrats aim to reveal which Republicans oppose abortion ahead of midterms – live

Nancy Pelosi has assailed Republicans in her weekly “Dear Colleague” letter to fellow Democrats, saying once Roe v Wade abortion protections are overturned, basic human rights will be next.

In the missive, the House speaker says it is “urgent and essential” that Democrats share with the American public the “dangers of the Republican agenda” in the wake of the supreme court’s draft ruling ending almost half a century of constitutional abortion protections:

Republican state legislators across the country are already advancing extreme new laws, seeking to arrest doctors for offering reproductive care, ban abortion entirely with no exceptions, and even charge women with murder who exercise their right to choose.

These draconian measures could even criminalize contraceptive care, in vitro fertilization and post-miscarriage care, dragging our nation back to a dark time decades into the past.

Continue reading...

San Francisco judge rejects Trump lawsuit challenging Twitter suspension

The former president was banned from from the social media platform after the deadly US Capitol attack

A US judge on Friday dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter that challenged his suspension from the platform.

In a written ruling, US district judge James Donato in San Francisco rejected Trump’s argument that Twitter violated his right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the first amendment of the US constitution.

Continue reading...

Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified to run for re-election, Georgia official says

Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger accepts judge’s findings and says far-right congresswoman, a Trump ally, is eligible to run

The Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, has accepted a judge’s findings and said the far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified to run for re-election.

A group of voters filed a challenge saying Greene should be barred under a seldom-invoked provision of the 14th amendment concerning insurrection, over her links to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.

Continue reading...

New York judge’s son who stormed US Capitol gets prison sentence

Aaron Mostofsky sentenced to eight months in prison and a year under federal supervision with 200 hours of community service

A New York state judge’s son who dressed like a caveman and helped a pro-Donald Trump mob storm the US Capitol has received a prison sentence for his role in the 6 January 2021 attack.

Aaron Mostofsky, 35, must spend eight months in prison – and after his release, he must spend a year under federal supervision while also performing 200 hours of community service, a US district court judge in Washington DC ruled Friday.

Continue reading...

Donald Trump Jr testifies before the committee on the events of January 6

House panel also released text messages in which Donald Trump’s son begged the White House to get his father to condemn the riot

Donald Trump’s oldest son has met with the congressional committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The interview Tuesday with Donald Trump Jr comes as the bipartisan House committee moves closer to the former president’s inner circle of family members and political advisers.

Continue reading...

Militia group leader tried to ask Trump to authorize them to stop the transfer of power

The justice department has alleged that Oath Keepers leadership called the president’s confidant to allow them to use force

Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers militia group leader charged with seditious conspiracy over the January 6 attack on the Capitol, asked an intermediary to get Donald Trump to allow his group to forcibly stop the transfer of power, the justice department has alleged in court papers.

The previously unknown phone call with the unidentified individual appears to indicate the Oath Keepers had contacts with at least one person close enough to Trump that Rhodes believed the individual would be a good person to consult with his request.

Continue reading...

Trump or no Trump: Asa Hutchinson mulls run for president in 2024

Republican Arkansas governor says he would not be deterred by former president in party in wrong over January 6 insurrection

The Arkansas governor, Asa Hutchinson, is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and would not be deterred if Donald Trump made an expected bid to return to the White House.

“No, it won’t [deter me],” Hutchinson told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.

Continue reading...

January 6 committee set to subpoena Trump allies, Republican Kinzinger says

Members of Congress involved in attempt to overturn election have refused to testify voluntarily before June public hearings

The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol will decide “in the next week or two” whether to issue subpoenas trying to force Republican lawmakers to testify about Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, one of two Republicans on the panel said on Sunday.

“If that takes a subpoena, it takes a subpoena,” Adam Kinzinger said.

Continue reading...

Mark Meadows claims US Capitol attack panel leaked texts to ‘vilify’ him

Argument made in federal court filing in Washington, where Trump’s chief of staff sued to invalidate subpoenas

Donald Trump’s last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has accused the congressional committee investigating the US Capitol attack of leaking all the text messages he provided in what he says is an effort to vilify him publicly.

The argument was made in a filing on Friday in federal court in Washington, where Meadows sued in December to invalidate subpoenas issued for his testimony and to Verizon for his cellphone records.

Continue reading...

Marjorie Taylor Greene accused of lying in hearing in Capitol attack case

Lawyers for groups challenging Republican say text Greene sent to Meadows, released by House panel, shows she lied in testimony

Lawyers for voters seeking to bar the far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress over her support for the January 6 insurrection have accused her of lying in a hearing in the case.

In a filing Friday, lawyers for groups challenging Greene said a text from the Georgia congresswoman to then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, released by the House committee investigating January 6, shows she lied in testimony.

Continue reading...

Trump claims he doesn’t have documents New York attorney general is seeking – as it happened

Nancy Pelosi says the House will vote to pass Joe Biden’s $33bn request for aid for Ukraine “as soon as possible.”

Speaking at her weekly press briefing on Friday morning, the House speaker framed the administration’s request as one of a number of “emergencies” Congress needed to address urgently.

Continue reading...

Capitol attack panel set to issue letters to Kevin McCarthy and other key Republicans

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert among those poised to receive letters requesting voluntary cooperation, sources say

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol is expected to issue letters requesting voluntary cooperation from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and around a dozen other Republican members of Congress, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The panel intends to issue a letter to McCarthy – the top House Republican – and is considering further letters to Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mo Brooks, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs, as well as some Republican senators, the sources said.

Continue reading...