The Hill’s Morning Report — Jan. 6 panel piles evidence against Trump

The House committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 on Tuesday said former President Trump recklessly stoked a mob to attack the Capitol in a brazen attempt after weeks of desperate efforts to retain presidential power by force and intimidation.

In a bombshell disclosure in the final minutes of the hearing, committee Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Trump phoned an unnamed witness set to appear at a future hearing. The individual did not take the call and reported it to the committee through a lawyer, and the committee, in turn, reported the contact to the Justice Department, she said (The Hill). Cheney last month referenced witness tampering, a possible crime.

Members of the committee have used words such as conspiracy, plot and sedition in general summations, indicating that investigators believe the former president’s actions tied to the election outcome and Jan. 6 could be criminal based on witness testimony and evidence. The Justice Department has been vague about whether it would pursue criminal referrals from the panel involving Trump.

Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who led the questioning on Tuesday, told reporters after the hearing that they did not have more details about the witness to whom Cheney referred in her closing remarks. He said that as more individuals from Trump’s former inner circle come forward to describe what they saw and heard in 2020 and 2021, the committee wanted to emphasize that witness tampering is a crime and “people should not be approaching witnesses to try to get them to alter their testimony.”

Tuesday’s seventh public hearing relied on videotaped, sworn testimony and communications, including from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, to assert that Trump carefully plotted a closely held plan about Jan. 6 after he was repeatedly advised by senior government officials and campaign aides that he lost the 2020 election.

According to testimony and evidence, Trump rejected the facts and was swayed by loyalists, who had been labeled “the crazies” by some senior advisers, to try to retain power through a combination of force and falsehoods.

Senior Trump administration officials described how Trump personally sought to use the federal government to seize voting machines. In videotaped testimony played on Tuesday, former Attorney General William Barr said Trump asked him to use the Justice Department to seize machines, a request that Barr denied. “Absolutely not,” he said he had replied. “There’s no probable cause, and we’re not going to seize any machines” (The New York Times).

The former White House counsel, in videotaped testimony obtained by the panel on Friday, recounted how he opposed the idea, even as a group of outside allies urged that Trump move ahead.

“To have the federal government seize voting machines? That’s a terrible idea for the country. That’s not how we do things in the United States,” Cipollone testified (CNN).

After the machine-seizure idea was discussed by the former president’s allies at the White House at a Dec. 18, 2020, meeting, Trump posted a tweet the next day that summoned supporters to Washington on Jan. 6 with a description that a planned event “will be wild.” Far-right commentators and extremists seized on the post and encouraged followers to storm the Capitol and commit violence, the committee showed using contemporaneous messages.

▪ The Hill: Five takeaways from a Jan. 6 hearing focused on Trump post-election chaos.

▪ The Associated Press: “Screaming” and a Trump tweet never sent.

▪ Niall Stanage: The Memo: Jan. 6 panel is hurting Trump but not helping President Biden or Democrats.

The committee postponed a primetime hearing originally planned on Thursday because of additional information it received.

Raskin said a hearing next week “will be a moment of reckoning” for the country. It is likely to focus on Trump’s resistance on Jan. 6 to advice from many quarters to urge supporters to cease the violence at the Capitol and go home.

The events of Jan. 6 contributed to the deaths of four people who had been in the crowd. Subsequently, U.S. Capitol Police officers who had been on duty also died, including from suicide, and are included by many lawmakers as among the total fatalities (The New York Times).

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Cheney says Trump’s team has changed its Jan. 6 strategy to blame the “crazies.”

▪ The Hill: Trump ally Stephen Bannon predicted “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow” after a call with Trump on Jan. 5.

▪ NBC News: Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty last month in the Jan. 6 attack, testified he regrets believing Trump’s false claims: “We basically were just following what he said.” On Tuesday, Ayres approached former U.S. Capitol Police officers seated in the hearing room to apologize and shake their hands. He will be sentenced in September.

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LEADING THE DAY

➤ CONGRESS 

The Senate confirmed Steve Dettelbach to become the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Tuesday, making him the first head of the agency to get the OK from the upper chamber in seven years.

Dettelbach was confirmed 48-46, with two Senate Republicans — Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio) and Susan Collins (Maine) putting his nomination over the top. Both lawmakers also voted for Dettelbach to advance him through the Judiciary Committee last month.

Tuesday’s action comes only weeks after Congress passed the bipartisan gun reform package, giving Biden a small win amid a rise in mass shootings across the country.

Questions surrounded when the Dettelbach vote might take place due to a number of absences on the Democratic side due to COVID-19. Six senators ultimately did not vote: Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), James Risch (R-Idaho) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.).

The Hill: Sen. John ​Cornyn (D-Texas) shuts door on additional gun control talks.

Politico: Sidelined by COVID-19, Schumer goes hard from Brooklyn.

© Associated Press / Carolyn Kaster | ATF Director Steve Dettelbach and President Biden, April 11.

Elsewhere on the Senate side, Democrats are grappling with their response to the Supreme Court’s decision striking down Roe v. Wade last month.

As The Hill’s Alexander Bolton writes, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the decision Tuesday and Democrats, including Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), said they’re open to court reform. Another top proposal is a code of ethics for justices.

“Definitely better disclosure of guests and hospitality has momentum because, although the Supreme Court tried to duck it, the Judicial Conference is looking into it,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a Judiciary Committee member, referring to a national policymaking body for the federal courts.

The Hill: Ultimatum by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) endangers China competition bill.

Finally, Senate negotiators are planning to release their annual government appropriations bills by the end of the month amid a struggle by lawmakers to hash out a larger bipartisan deal on how to fund the government amid disagreements over defense spending.

A spokesperson for the Senate Appropriations Committee told The Hill’s Aris Folley that appropriators are working to draft funding legislation “to release to the public at the end of July,” with Congress slated to enter the monthlong August recess shortly after.

The Hill: Democrats put IRS in spotlight after audits.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤ ADMINISTRATION

Nearly two decades of work came into public view on Tuesday as NASA released the first set of images from the James Webb Space Telescope of a universe not previously seen.

Launched into space in December, the telescope produced the first full-color, high-resolution images and marked a new phase of space exploration featuring galactic evolution, life cycle of stars and moons across the outer solar system (Reuters).

The telescope is currently situated nearly 1 million miles from Earth.

“Every image is a new discovery and each will give humanity a view of the humanity that we’ve never seen before,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on Tuesday (The Associated Press).

© Associated Press / NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI via AP | The NASA image reveals previously obscured areas of star birth, Tuesday.

Separately on Tuesday, Biden hailed an agreement with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that calls for the Mexican government to spend $1.5 billion to boost “smart” border technology. Biden and his counterpart struck the deal Tuesday in Washington, with talks also centering on the possibility of increasing the number of U.S.-issued work visas.

“I see, we see Mexico as an equal partner,” Biden said on Tuesday alongside López Obrador in the Oval Office, “You and I have a strong and productive relationship and I would argue a partnership” (The Associated Press).

Reuters: U.S., Japan agree to tackle currency, economic impact of Ukraine war.

Biden’s meeting on Tuesday came only hours before he departed for Israel, the first stop of a three-day jaunt to the Middle East.

However, it’s the final leg of the trip that will steal headlines as Biden makes his first appearance in Saudi Arabia of his presidency. The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant and Laura Kelly preview the president’s trip, which will focus on the U.S.’s ability to procure more energy from Riyadh as gas prices remain high across the country, though they have dipped over the past month.

In Saudi Arabia, Biden will attend a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the Saudis. He is also expected to discuss oil production with members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

“We will convey our general view … that we believe that there needs to be adequate supply on the global market to protect the global economy and to protect the American consumer at the pump,” Sullivan said Monday.

▪ The Associated Press: Biden seeks new chapter in troubled Middle East.

▪ Politico: Biden wants a Middle East air defense “alliance.” But it’s a long way off.

▪ The Hill: Top ISIS leader killed by a U.S. airstrike.

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OPINION

■ What it would take for Democrats to dump Biden, by Jonathan Bernstein, columnist, Bloomberg Opinion. https://bloom.bg/3z1x1DV

■ Is the Democrats’ problem Biden or inflation? by Perry Bacon Jr., columnist, The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/3nY6lxj

WHERE AND WHEN

The House will meet at 10 a.m.

The Senate convenes at 10:30 a.m. to resume consideration of the nomination of Michael Barr to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

The president arrives in Tel Aviv, Israel, at 3:20 p.m. local time and speaks during an airport arrival ceremony. At the airport, Biden will receive a briefing at 4:20 p.m. local time about the Iron Dome and Iron Beam air defense systems. The president flies 20 minutes later from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and arrives at Yad Vashem at 5:25 p.m. local time to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony. Biden remains overnight in Jerusalem.

Vice President Harris, during a half-day White House summit, will announce $40 billion in spending from American Rescue Plan funds for workforce best practices.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is in Tokyo where she meets with Nakajima Junichi, Japan Financial Services Agency commissioner, before departing for Bali, Indonesia, to participate in the Group of 20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors on Friday and Saturday.

Economic indicator: The Labor Department will report at 8:30 a.m. on the consumer price index in June, offering data that will dominate economic discussions this week amid high inflation and energy costs, the Federal Reserve’s rising interest rates and midyear and recession worries in households and businesses (US News).

🖥  Hill.TV’s “Rising” program features news and interviews at http://thehill.com/hilltv, on YouTube and on Facebook at 10:30 a.m. ET. Also, check out the “Rising” podcast here.

ELSEWHERE  

➤ INTERNATIONAL

Russian and Ukrainian military officials who are gathered in Turkey today are scheduled to discuss a United Nations plan to export blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea. Turkish military and U.N. representatives will be present. The aim is to try to reach a deal to unblock millions of tons of grain sitting in silos amid the war in Ukraine to get shipments out of ports toward the Mediterranean. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, and Russia’s war has created severe shortages in grain exports needed in Africa and globally (The Associated Press).

The Washington Post: The man who has Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ear — and may want his job.

Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom announced on Tuesday that it will cap passengers at 100,000 a day this summer through Sept. 11. The problem? The airport says limited manpower and resources have resulted in long lines, baggage delays and flight cancellations, which it wants to address through the carriers. The antidote? The airport is asking airlines to stop selling (and overselling) tickets to flights that are vulnerable to being curtailed (Reuters and CNN). Lufthansa, which has already canceled thousands of departures from Frankfurt and Munich for the summer season, said it might make further adjustments to its schedule “for traffic peaks in August.” Some analysts said the unusual effort to constrain demand through major European hubs could raise airline ticket prices, aggravating inflation. … Other airlines announcing summer changes include Air Canada, British Airways, Scandinavian Airlines and Delta (Insider).

In Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife fled protesters into exile in the Maldives early Wednesday. Demonstrators upset with economic conditions quickly trained their anger at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, storming his office and demanding his resignation. Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe to lead the country “while the president is overseas.” The island nation has been in turmoil for months because of severe shortages of food and fuel; the country essentially is out of foreign-currency reserves necessary to buy essential imports (The Associated Press and The New York Times).

➤ ECONOMY

The Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hikes have quickly made an impact on the housing market as home prices in hot spots have already taken a dip after the pandemic helped create a seller’s market. Housing experts tell The Hill’s Sylvan Lane that while the Fed’s rate hikes will likely dampen housing prices, they may not yield the long-term relief for millions of Americans priced out of the market.

➤ PANDEMIC & POX

Worried about the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant of omicron, White House coronavirus coordinator Ashish Jha on Tuesday unveiled a renewed public campaign to urge vaccination and boosters, which protect against severe illness and death but do not prevent infection by the most prevalent versions of COVID-19 circulating in the U.S. (STAT News).

The Hill: The White House did not announce any major new steps on Tuesday, instead signaling that effective vaccines and antiviral treatments are enough to handle BA.5.

© Associated Press / ​​Susan Walsh | White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, June 2.

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,021,853. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 306, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Monkeypox as of Tuesday surged in the United Kingdom to 1,735 cases, primarily confirmed in London. British scientists estimate the outbreak is doubling in size about every two weeks, largely circulating among gay men, bisexual men and men who have sex with men. They said that in nearly 80 percent of cases, there is no information about whether patients had contact with a confirmed case of the once-rare virus, meaning the disease is spreading undetected. Reports suggest some infected patients do not manifest customary monkeypox lesions. A minority of patients require hospitalization and no deaths have been reported, according to the report (The Associated Press).

➤ TV TIME

The Emmy nominations have arrived, and “Succession” once again rules the roost. The HBO drama and dark comedy topped all shows with 25 nominations, including for outstanding drama series, which the HBO series won in 2020. “Ted Lasso” and “The White Lotus” trailed with 20 nominations each, with “Hacks” and “Only Murders in the Building” taking 17 nominations. “Squid Game” also became the first non-English-speaking show to be nominated for the top drama accolade (The Associated Press).

THE CLOSER

© Associated Press / Mary Altaffer | Adorable beagle that competes as a show dog, March 15.

And finally … 👏👏👏  Department of Agriculture inspectors, working with a federal judge last week, engineered the rescue of about 4,000 beagles from a Virginia breeding facility that was found guilty of dozens of federal violations. The facility’s practices left many dogs bred for research underfed, ill, injured and, in some cases, dead (The New York Times).

The government, working with the Humane Society of the United States and many beagle-loving volunteers, was given 60 days to move the dogs out of the Envigo facility and to find new homes for them.

“It’s just a great feeling to save a life and give them a love that they have never known before,” said Cassie Staubus, who signed up with the Beagle Freedom Project, a nonprofit animal rescue opposed to using dogs in research, to foster some of the beagles once they’re released. She’s willing to drive from her home in Minnesota to Virginia to help.

Beagles, a popular breed in the pet trade, are used for research because of their small size and docile temperaments, considered financial pluses by companies that specialize in selling dogs for experimentation.

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