The Hill’s Morning Report — How opening night went for Jan. 6 panel

During a dramatic primetime hearing on Thursday, the House Jan. 6 committee asserted that former President Trump knew in November that he had lost the 2020 election, conspired with his allies for weeks to violate his oath and the Constitution to scheme to try to remain in office and knowingly “lit the flame” of a “coordinated and planned,” hours-long insurrection at the Capitol, which he viewed on TV at the White House while rejecting multiple entreaties to halt it.

“Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup,” said Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) as he described more public hearings next week and later in June. “This scheme was an attempt to overthrow the will of the people.”

Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), daughter of a former vice president and a staunch conservative who invited Trump’s ire when she joined Democrats to impeach Trump in 2021, previewed the committee’s detailed indictment of the former president (The Hill).

She and Thompson made the case for nearly two hours using video excerpts of witness testimony, texts, phone calls and tweets, that Trump encouraged others, including former Vice President Mike Pence, to participate in a web of what they assert were “illegal” acts and knowing lies.

Pence did not testify to the panel, but the committee used his own words from a recent Federalist Society speech to underscore that the former vice president rejected Trump’s plan to try to get him to overturn election results in swing states. “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said.

Cheney joined Thompson in stating the committee has already been working with the Department of Justice to share evidence it has gathered, and she hinted that the committee views some current and former House members as Trump allies who abetted an attempted coup (The Hill).

“As Americans, we all have a duty to make sure that what happened on Jan. 6 never happens again,” she said.

▪ Niall Stanage: The five most dramatic moments from the Jan. 6 hearing.

▪ Politico: Jan. 6 panel lets Trump allies narrate the case against him.

The Wyoming Republican mentioned at one point that Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who aided in Trump’s push to overturn the election, and other GOP members contacted the White House about possible pardons in the weeks after the Capitol attack (a Perry spokesman denied the claim) (The Hill).

The committee referred to testimony from former Attorney General William Barr, Ivanka Trump and her husband, former White House aide Jared Kushner, as well as a powerfully constructed 10-minute video timeline of violent footage from the Capitol on Jan. 6, including views of members of the extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, assembled from security cameras, social media communications, news coverage and police body cam footage.

Scenes of brutal hand-to-hand combat between the mob and police across the Capitol grounds were riveting as well as emotional, not just to viewers watching on television, but also to some who had been there on Jan. 6, and who were seated in the hearing room on Thursday.

British documentary filmmaker Nick Quested and Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, both witnesses to the Jan. 6 violence and what Edwards called “carnage,” testified live to the committee.

The Hill: Edwards describes Jan. 6 chaos like “a war scene.”

At one point, video showed a rioter with a bullhorn reading to the mob a Trump tweet on the afternoon of Jan. 6 stating that Pence “didn’t have the courage” not to certify the election results. The crowd chanted “Hang Mike Pence.” Additional footage showed protesters assaulting police officers, cascading into the Capitol and into locales such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office, and staffers evacuating from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) office.

“We’ve lost the line. We’ve lost the line. All [Metropolitan Police Department officers] step back,” an officer says at 2:28 p.m.

Contrasting the clips showing protesters rushing Capitol doors and through windows and running down hallways inside the symbol of American democracy, the committee added a snippet from a Trump interview in July 2021.

“They were peaceful people. These were great people. The crowd was unbelievable, and I mention the word love — the love in the air, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said.

Some former Trump administration officials, watching on TV like many Americans, found the committee’s video presentation impactful.

“That video was stunning … and more powerful than anything [Thompson or Cheney] said,” Mick Mulvaney, a former White House chief of staff under Trump, tweeted (The Hill).

Trump was watching, too.

“So the Unselect Committee of political HACKS refuses to play any of the many positive witnesses and statements, refuses to talk of the Election Fraud and Irregularities that took place on a massive scale, and decided to use a documentary maker from Fake News ABC to spin only negative footage. Our Country is in such trouble!” Trump wrote on TruthSocial.

The committee’s next round of hearings are set for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Thompson teased the hearing would center on examining “the lies that convinced” individuals to attack the Capitol.

Related Articles

▪ The New York Times: Jan. 6: The story so far.

▪ The Washington Post: Photos: The scene at the hearing.

▪ Department of Justice and PBS: DOJ has arrested and charged more than 800 people for crimes committed on Jan. 6. No one has been arrested for pipe bombs planted at Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the night before the insurrection.

▪NBC News: Trump’s super PAC says it bought $500,000 in TV and digital advertising to counter the Jan. 6 committee.

LEADING THE DAY

➤  MORE IN CONGRESS

Senate negotiators on Thursday said that they do not expect a deal on a gun violence package by the end of the week, but maintained that they are making steady progress as they push to reach an accord in the coming days or weeks.

Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) met once again on Thursday to nail down parameters of a potential framework proposal, but a final deal remains at large.

“We don’t have an agreement. We still have some work to do.  I think it’s important that we have a framework and then draft text too. But we still haven’t gotten there,” Murphy said (CNN).

Further talks are set to take place today virtually as the Senate recessed for the weekend on Thursday. Cornyn told reporters “there is a possibility we will wrap up our remaining issues,” but cautioned there is “no guarantee.”

“We’re making good progress,” Cornyn told CNN, adding that he is optimistic a deal can reach the floor by month’s end despite opposition in some corners of the GOP. “Some people will not want to touch this with a 10 foot pole because they’re concerned about the politics of it. … But I think this is a time where hopefully we can transcend that personal political interest and do what we think will save lives.” 

“You can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Cornyn added.

Alexander Bolton, The Hill: Senate leaves town without a deal on gun legislation.

Related Articles

▪ The Hill: Cornyn asks GOP colleagues to keep “powder dry” in gun talks. 

▪ Politico: Conservatives lay off Senate gun negotiations. 

▪ CNN: Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) pledge support for Biden’s nominee to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

▪ The New York Times: New documents show heavily armed Uvalde, Texas, police waited for over an hour to confront the gunman barricaded in a classroom with children because the school district police chief feared a risk to officers’ lives. 

© Associated Press / Patrick Semansky | Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) talks to reporters on Thursday.

Across the Capitol complex, the House passed legislation on Thursday to nationalize red flag laws. The bill, known as the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order, passed 224 to 202 (The Hill).

Five Republicans — Reps. Fred Upton (Mich.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Chris Jacobs (N.Y.) — crossed party lines to vote for it, while Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voted against it (The Hill).

Passage of the measure came one day after the lower chamber advanced a more comprehensive gun violence package that included provisions to raise the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic weapon from 18 to 21 and to ban civilian use of high-capacity magazines. The same five House Republicans — four of whom are retiring — voted for that bill.

The Hill: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.): House will vote next week to boost security for Supreme Court families.

IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES

➤  MORE IN POLITICS & PRIMARIES

Ryan Kelley, 40, a Michigan GOP candidate for governor and ardent Trump defender, was charged with misdemeanors Thursday for his role in the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, further complicating an already messy Republican primary (The Associated Press and The New York Times). Kelley’s campaign posted two words ​​on Facebook: “political prisoner.”

🎙 In Miami, Cuban exiles object to Democratic operatives’ and donors’ efforts in an election year to purchase Spanish-language radio stations, arguing it’s a strategy to stifle conservative voices (The Associated Press). A deal reached in June, still awaiting Federal Communications Commission approval, has stirred controversy among Florida Republicans, from the Cuban American House delegation to Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Ron DeSantis. Opponents are exploring legal ways to contest the sale by Televisa/Univision of 18 AM and FM stations in 10 U.S. cities to the Latino Media Network, a startup founded by two political strategists with ties to former President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Democrats have pointed to some shows on Radio Mambi and other Spanish-language radio stations when complaining about disinformation, especially following the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington.

The Hill: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wades into the Nevada House primary to back Amy Vilela, a former Nevada state co-chair during his 2020 presidential bid, who is challenging Rep. Dina Titus (D).

✔  A Trump endorsements tracker for the 2022 primaries is HERE, courtesy of Politico.

📚 Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch are among the Supreme Court colleagues who have recently profited from book deals, according to financial reports released on Thursday (The Associated Press). Barrett received $425,000 for a yet-to-be-released book and likely the first installment on a reported $2 million deal she signed soon after joining the court in 2020. Gorsuch received $250,000 in royalties last year from HarperCollins for a new book that has yet to be published. He previously reported $650,000 from Penguin Random House for his book, “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” published in 2019. Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor in the past each received more than $1 million each for book advances. Sotomayor has earned more than $3 million in advances and royalties for her memoir, “My Beloved World,” and other books. Justice Stephen Breyer, who is weeks away from retiring from the court, reported $7,800 in royalty income from Penguin Random House.

📝 Introducing NotedDC, The Hill’s curated commentary on the beat of the Beltway. Click here to subscribe to our latest newsletter.

OPINION

■ The boiling over of America, by Peggy Noonan, columnist, The Wall Street Journal. https://on.wsj.com/3xicPLK

■ Christian nationalism is thriving: Where is the religious left? by Bernard Driskell, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/3H9zhv6

WHERE AND WHEN

The House meets at noon on Monday.

The Senate convenes on Monday at 3 p.m. and resumes consideration of the Honoring our PACT Act of 2021.

The president is in Los Angeles. Biden will deliver remarks at the Port of Los Angeles from the Battleship Iowa. He will host a leaders retreat and working luncheon with counterparts as part of the Summit of the Americas. The president will headline two fundraising receptions for the Democratic National Committee. … On Saturday, Biden will be in New Mexico to meet with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) to discuss wildfire response preparations among federal, state and local emergency personnel and first responders.

Vice President Harris will speak at the South Carolina Democratic Party Blue Palmetto dinner at 7:30 p.m. held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia, S.C.

Economic indicator: The Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. reports the U.S. Consumer Price Index for May. Analysts are looking for any sign that prices might be easing, but forecasts are going in the other direction with anticipation of a large, 0.7 percent increase — more than double the rise seen in April (MarketWatch). The year-over-year inflation rate is expected to remain near a 40-year high. Wall Street worries that inflation is embedding in services, shifting from goods, which would be a negative omen and hard to reverse.

First lady Jill Biden is in Los Angeles. At noon local time, she will host a lunch at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for spouses attending the Summit of the Americas and she will give a speech.

Obama will deliver livestreamed closing remarks at 10 a.m. ET at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit hosted by the Alliance of Democracies and will join with participants of the Obama Foundation’s Europe Leaders program.

🖥  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

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov asked the West to speed up deliveries of sophisticated weapons systems to try to turn the tide against Russia’s military superiority in a grinding battle for Sievierodonetsk in the east. “Ukraine desperately needs heavy weapons, and very fast,” he said. “The situation at the front lines is difficult,” Reznikov said. “Every day, we have up to 100 of our soldiers killed and up to 500 wounded” (The New York Times). … The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol is at risk of a cholera outbreak, the British Defense Ministry said Friday (Reuters). … Russia appears intent on control over a vast and resource-rich swath of eastern Ukraine. The military defense goals of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have varied during his recent public remarks. Ukrainian forces appeared last week to withdraw from Sievierodonetsk, only to mount a counterattack that has drawn Russian forces into close-quarters urban combat (The New York Times). … At least 4.8 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded across Europe, the United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday. … In Russia, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday compared himself to Peter the Great, describing the land he conquered as rightfully Russian (The New York Times).

At a Summit of the Americas this week in Los Angeles focused on Central, South and North American nations, Biden sought consensus but struggled with a unifying vision for the Western Hemisphere. The president and other heads of state today will announce a regional partnership at the end of the event, which they call the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, to address migration flows (The Hill). The United States is asking all governments along the migratory route “to establish and fortify asylum processing in each of their respective countries while more effectively enforcing their borders, conducting screenings and removing those individuals who do not qualify for asylum.”

The summit has been marked by divisions and absences, disparities in wealth, governance and national interests that make hemispheric partnerships a challenge (The Associated Press).

➤  PANDEMIC & POX

The possibility that the coronavirus could have escaped from a Chinese lab warrants “further investigations,” a group of World Health Organization scientists said in an inconclusive report released Thursday. The organization again urged all countries, particularly China, to be transparent and cooperative by sharing data and samples without governmental interference (The Hill).

Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (trackers all vary slightly): 1,010,805. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 306, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

➤ DEPARTMENT OF “OH COME ON” OR CHE COSA?!

Two American tourists caused $27,000 worth of damage to the famed Spanish Steps in Rome when the two inebriated individuals — one woman and one man — threw an electric scooter down them. The incident occured on June 3 in the wee hours of the morning when the two tourists were stopped by police for the scooter toss. Each was fined about $430, while the woman who physically threw the scooter may face additional charges. Both were barred from the site for six months (The New York Times).

© Associated Press / Karl Ritter | The Spanish Steps (Rome) in 2020.

➤ SWEET ESCAPE

🍫 Two workers were rescued on Thursday after falling into a chocolate tank at the Mars M&M factory in Elizabethtown, Pa. Each was extricated by first responders through an emergency hole cut in the tank. It was unclear on Thursday how they fell in or their conditions after being taken to local hospitals. According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the chocolate is believed to have been up to waist high on the workers (The Hill).

THE CLOSER

And finally … 👏👏👏 Morning Report Quiz winners successfully sorted through recent news reports about things short and shrinking!

Skilled puzzlers taking a petite victory lap this morning: Richard Baznik, Tom Chabot, Ki Harvey, Lou Tisler, Pam Manges, Mary Anne McEnery, Patrick Kavanagh, John Donato, Joe Erdmann, Terry Pflaumer, Harry Strulovici, Steve James, Luther Berg, Lynn Gardner and Stephen Delano. 

They knew that as inflation soars, size shrinkage (without lower prices, in most cases, a phenomenon known as “shrinkflation”) has occurred with a wide array of consumer products, including a few mentioned in the Quiz question. The correct answer was “all of the above” (The Daily Mail and The Associated Press).

A fossil expert from the University of Edinburgh said the physical size of humans could shrink over time in response to hotter temperatures and the climate crisis.

The Federal Reserve announced it is strategically shrinking its portfolio of $8.9 trillion.

A short film (see what we did there) shown during the recent Platinum Jubilee festivities in the U.K. featured Queen Elizabeth II with Paddington Bear in her first “acting” role. (Her Majesty reveals the yummy stash in her purse during tea time. See the full 2:29-minute video HERE.)

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