(WASHINGTON) — On Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol. The attack resulted in deaths, injuries, more than 700 arrests and former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment.
Dr. Simone Gold, a leading figure in the anti-vaccine moment, was sentenced to prison Thursday for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The founder of America’s Frontline Doctors, Gold and her coalition of physicians have pushed conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine and promoted disproven treatments like ivermectin. She pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack.
Christopher Cooper, U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia, sentenced Gold on Thursday to a 60-day prison term followed by 12 months of supervised release, and ordered her to pay a $9,500 fine.
In an interview with The Washington Post in January about her involvement in the riot, Gold said that she “regrets being there.”
Gold did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
In March, ABC News reported that despite the warnings from health agencies about unproven COVID-19 treatments, several physician groups like America’s Frontline Doctors had partnered with telemedicine platforms and pharmacies to offer easy access to drugs like ivermectin.
A House probe launched in October is investigating America’s Frontline Doctors and other organizations for allegedly “spreading misinformation and facilitating access to disproven and potentially hazardous coronavirus treatments, such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.”
“Attempts to monetize coronavirus misinformation have eroded public confidence in proven treatments and prevention measures and hindered efforts to control the pandemic,” Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, wrote in a letter to Gold when the investigation was launched in the fall.
(WASHINGTON) — The Jan. 6 committee is holding its third public hearing of the month Thursday with the focus on the pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The committee says it will detail efforts from then-President Donald Trump and his allies before and on Jan. 6 to get Pence to reject electoral votes Congress was certifying — as part of what it says was a plot to overturn the presidential election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:
Jun 16, 5:23 pm
Witness warns Trump allies ‘executing a blueprint’ to overturn 2024 election
Former federal judge Michael Luttig, in his closing comments before the committee, reiterated his comments in a New York Times op-ed in February that Trump and his allies were “a clear and present danger to democracy,” warning that Trump or his “anointed successor” could succeed in 2024 in overturning those presidential election results where they failed in 2020.
“The former president and his allies are executing a blueprint for 2024, in open and plain view of the American public,” Luttig told lawmakers.
“I don’t speak those words lightly. I would have never spoken those words I ever in my life,” he said. “Except that’s what the former president and his allies are telling us.”
Chairman Bennie Thompson thanked the witnesses for protecting the “foundation” of U.S. democracy and reiterated hit warning as well.
“There are now some who think the danger has passed. That even though there was violence and a corrupt attempt to overturn the presidential election, the system worked,” the Mississippi Democrat said. “I look at it another way: Our system nearly failed, and our democratic foundation destroyed but for people like you.”
Jun 16, 4:14 pm
Chair teases tip line, exhibits available to public online
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., closing out Thursday’s hearing, drew attention to the committee’s website — — where the public can view the evidence presented in the public hearings and send tips to the committee as its investigation is ongoing.
“Despite how you may not think it’s important, send us what you think,” he said. “I thank those that sent us evidence, for their bravery and patriotism.”
Jun 16, 4:09 pm
Cheney previews next hearing
With searing new evidence, the committee on Thursday sought to draw a direct link between Trump’s actions and the Capitol attack, which it maintained put Vice President Mike Pence’s life at serious risk.
Vice Chair Liz Cheney, in her closing statement, previewed evidence still to come, promising information in their next hearing on Tuesday about Trump’s efforts to apply pressure to Republican slate legislators, election officials and even federal officials to corrupt the electoral count vote.
“We will examine the Trump team’s determination to transmit material false electoral slates from multiple states to officials of the executive and legislative branches of our government,” she said, and “the pressures put on state legislators to convene to reverse lawful election results.”
After establishing Pence on Thursday as an “honorable man” who had the courage to carry out his constitutional duty on Jan. 6 despite a pressure campaign and threats to his life, Cheney ended by drawing a stark contrast with Trump.
“An honorable man receiving the information and advice that Mr. Trump received from his campaign experts and his staff, a man who loved his country more than himself would have conceded this election,” she said. “Indeed, we know that a number of President Trump’s closest aides urged him to do so.”
Jun 16, 4:03 pm
Eastman emailed Rudy Giuliani to be on ‘pardon list,’ committee says
Trump-allied attorney John Eastman, in the days after Jan. 6, emailed Rudy Giuliani about a possible pardon.
“I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works,” Eastman wrote to Giuliani, the committee showed.
Eastman wasn’t pardoned and when he was was deposed by the House panel, he pleaded the fifth 100 times, Rep. Pete Aguilar noted.
Jun 16, 3:51 pm
Pence’s life in danger as he hid for hours with rioters 40 feet away: Committee
Showing video footage of Secret Service agents rushing Pence down stairs in the Capitol, the committee said Pence was in hiding for four and a half hours, while, at times, rioters were just 40 feet away.
Greg Jacob, a former adviser to Pence who was with the vice president on Jan. 6 told the hearing room, “I could hear the din of the mob as we moved, but I don’t think I was aware,” when told how close they got.
“Approximately 40 feet, that’s all there was, 40 feet between the vice president and the mob,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., telling Jacob, “Forty feet is the distance from me to you roughly.”
“Make no mistake about the fact that the vice president’s life was in danger,” Aguilar said, arguing the “big lie” directly contributed to the Capitol attack and put Pence’s life at serious risk. “A recent court filing by the Department of Justice explains that a confidential informant from the Proud Boys told the FBI that the Proud Boys would’ve killed Mike Pence, if given the chance.”
Jun 16, 3:50 pm
Trump attorney pressured Pence to delay certification even after the riot, email shows
John Eastman, an attorney advising the Trump campaign, sent an email after the riot at the U.S. Capitol to once again pressure Pence to violate the Electoral Count Act, according to the committee’s presentation Thursday.
“I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation and adjourn for ten days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations,” Eastman wrote to Pence adviser Greg Jacob at 11:44 p.m. that day.
Jacob said he relayed Eastman’s message to Pence, who responded that the email was “rubber room stuff.”
“What did you interpret that to mean?” Rep. Pete Aguilar asked Jacob.
Jacob replied he translated that to mean Pence was calling it “certifiably crazy.”
Former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann told the committee that on Jan. 7, 2021, after Pence certified Joe Biden’s victory, Eastman called him to talk about a possible appeal in Georgia.
“I said to him, ‘Are you out of your f—— mind?’ I said, ‘I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth for now: orderly transition,” Herschmann recalled.
Jun 16, 3:39 pm
Trump aware of insurrection underway when he tweeted criticism at Pence: Committee
The committee displayed a slate of video testimony from those inside the White House and close to Trump to argue he was well aware of the violence underway on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 when he tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what was necessary” at 2:24 p.m.
Trump White House aide Sarah Matthews, in video testimony with the committee, recalled, “It felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that.”
“It was clear that it is escalating, and escalating quickly,” she said. “When the Mike Pence tweet was sent out, I remember us saying that that was the last thing that needed to be tweeted out. The situation was already bad.”
Earlier, Rep. Pete Aguilar noted that the Capitol building itself was breached at 2:13 p.m. As the attack continued, Trump tweeted to “stay peaceful” at 2:38 p.m., said “no violence” at 3:13 p.m., and finally, at 4:17, he tweeted a video that telling people to go home while also saying, “We love you,” and repeating the false claim the election was stolen.
Jun 16, 3:24 pm
Witnesses recount for first time ‘heated’ Jan. 6 call between Trump, Pence: ‘Wimp’
Ivanka Trump, former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann and others told the committee in previously taped testimony what they heard when Trump called Pence from the Oval Office on Jan. 6.
“The conversation was pretty heated,” Ivanka Trump recalled.
Nicholas Luna, Trump’s former assistant, described entering the Oval Office at the time to deliver a note and hearing Trump say the word “wimp.”
“I remember hearing the word ‘wimp’,” Luna told the committee. “Either he called him a wimp, I don’t remember if he said, ‘You are a wimp, you’ll be a wimp.’ Wimp is the word I remember.”
Gen. Keith Kellog, Pence’s national security adviser at the time, said in his deposition that Trump told Pence he wasn’t “tough” enough. Ivanka’s chief of staff, Julie Radford, told the committee that Ivanka said Trump called Pence “the p-word.”
Jun 16, 3:10 pm
Committee says Trump’s chief of staff discussed how plan was illegal
Committee members revealed evidence that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows knew — or was at least telling other aides that he agreed with their view — that Trump and his attorney John Eastman’s plan to overturn the election was illegal and that Pence had no ability to reject electoral votes for Biden sent to Congress.
In his taped interview with the committee, Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short told panel lawyers that that Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, said he agreed with Short and Pence that the vice president lacked such authority.
“Did Mr. Meadows ever explicitly … agree with you or say, ‘Yeah, that makes sense’?” interviewers asked.
“I believe that Mark did agree,” Short said. “But as I mentioned, I think Mark told so many people so many different things that it was not something that I would necessarily accept as … resolved.”
-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel
Jun 16, 3:04 pm
Pence’s chief of staff alerted Secret Service about VP’s safety on Jan. 5
Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, said he grew worried about the vice president’s safety as the disagreement between Pence and Trump escalated in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
“The concern was for the vice president’s security, so I wanted to make sure the head of the vice president’s Secret Service was aware that likely, as these disputes became more public, that the president would lash out in some way,” Short said in his taped deposition.
Short called the Secret Service on Jan. 5, 2021.
“After the recess, we will hear that Marc Short’s concerns were justified,” Rep. Pete Anguilar said. “The vice president was in danger.”
Jun 16, 2:58 pm
DOJ tells committee it’s ‘critical’ to provide investigation intel
As Attorney General Merrick Garland and his prosecutors are closely watching the hearings conducted by the committee this week, the Department of Justice sent a new letter telling the committee it is “critical” members “provide us with copies of the transcripts of all its witness interviews.”
In a letter to the committee’s chief investigator Wednesday, senior officials at the Justice Department said that the first two hearings this month showed the interviews conducted by the hearing “are not just potentially relevant to our overall criminal investigations but are likely relevant to specific prosecutions that have already commenced.”
The request suggests there are matters beyond violence on the ground on Jan. 6 that the Justice Department is already investigating — specifically alternate or fake electors as a part of the theory that Pence could unilaterally block the ceremony of Joe Biden as President.
Click here for more on potential federal crimes the committee has floated.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Jun 16, 3:23 pm
Attorney who pushed theory Pence could save Trump previously dismissed that same claim: Docs
Trump White House attorney John Eastman, at the center of the alleged scheme to send a false slate of electors to Congress and have Pence refuse to certify votes, based his reasoning on a theory the committee argued he never believed.
According to the committee, Eastman sought to take advantage of an ambiguity in the Electoral Count Act and claim the vice president could has the constitutional authority to reject electoral votes outright and use his capacity as presiding officer to suspend the proceedings.
“He described for me what he thought the ambiguity was in the statute. And he was walking through it at that time. And I said, ‘Hold on a second, I don’t understand you’re saying,'” said former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann in taped testimony.
Showing past documents, the committee said that Eastman had dismissed the same power he later claimed Pence could have used.
“In this letter, an idea was proposed that the vice president could determine which electors to count — but the person writing in blue negates that argument,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar. “Judge Luttig, does it surprise you that the author of those comments in blue, are in fact, John Eastman?
Former federal judge Michael Luttig responded “yes” and called it “constitutional mischief.”
Jun 16, 2:32 pm
Pence told Trump ‘many times’ he couldn’t overturn election: Marc Short
The committee aired several clips featuring Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Jason Miller, Steve Bannon and others publicly pressuring Pence to refuse the Electoral College votes that were in favor of Joe Biden.
“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Trump said in one video from his rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021. “He’s a great guy. If he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.”
Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, told the committee in previously recorded testimony that Pence directly conveyed his view to Trump “many times” that he didn’t have the authority to do what they were asking of him.
“He’d been consistent in conveying his position to the president?” the committee asked Short.
“Very consistent,” Short replied.
Jun 16, 2:09 pm
Pence and adviser found that ‘history was absolutely decisive’: He couldn’t help Trump
Greg Jacob, a former adviser to Pence, said they analyzed history and constitutional text to map out the vice president’s role when it came to certifying elections.
The two then examined “every single electoral vote count that had happened in Congress” since the country’s founding, Jacob testified. They found no vice president ever claimed to have the kind of authority Trump and his attorney John Eastman claimed Pence had.
“The history was absolutely decisive and again, part of my discussion with Mr. Eastman was, ‘If you were right, don’t you think Al Gore might have liked to have known in 2000 that he had authority to just declare himself president of the United States? Did you think that the Democrat lawyers just didn’t think of this very obvious quirk that he could use to do that?’”
Jun 16, 2:15 pm
Trump, Pence haven’t spoken in a year: Sources
Trump and Pence haven’t spoken to one another since last summer, according to sources familiar with their conversations.
Pence defended Trump through a slate of controversies during their administration. But, as the House committee is highlighting at its hearings, Pence drew a line at Trump’s alleged plot to overturn the election — breaking from the president and drawing the rage of the Trump mob on Jan. 6.
When ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl interviewed Trump for his book “Betrayal,” Karl asked about the “Hang Mike Pence” chants and whether Trump had been concerned for the safety of the man he chose to be his vice president.
“Well, the people were very angry,” Trump said.
“They said, ‘hang Mike Pence,’” Karl told Trump.
“It’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect,” Trump said. “How can you, if you know a vote is fraudulent, right, how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?”
While Pence himself isn’t testifying and has not sat before the committee, a range of former Pence aides cooperated with the investigation.
Since his term ended, Pence has publicly reiterated he had no power to overturn the 2020 results. But like other conservatives, he has said “election integrity” should be a national priority.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders
Jun 16, 1:40 pm
Inside the hearing room
Notable faces were spotted across the hearing room as proceedings kicked off Thursday.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Capitol Police Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges and former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who testified at the committee’s first hearing last year on their experience defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, were all present.
Former Pence national security adviser Olivia Troye, who resigned from the administration in 2020, was spotted sitting next to Gonell as well as Allison Gill, a former high-level Veterans Affairs official who was secretly recording a podcast on the weekends about Robert Mueller’s investigation that attracted thousands of listeners.
A couple of members of Congress have been spotted in the back of the room including Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., sitting together. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who along with Vice Chair Liz Cheney has been ostracized by the Republican Party for speaking out against Trump, also stopped by.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel
Jun 16, 1:35 pm
Retired judge says Trump risked throwing country into ‘revolution’
In his testimony on Thursday, former federal judge Michael Luttig painted a dire picture of what he believed would have happened had Pence followed through with Trump’s plea to remain in power.
“That declaration of Donald Trump as the next president would have plunged America into what I believe would’ve been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America,” Luttig said, “which in my view, and I am only one man, would’ve been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the republic.”
Luttig is one of the panel’s two live witnesses in today’s hearing. The former judge informally advised Pence on his role in affirming the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Jun 16, 1:35 pm
Clip played of Pence saying Trump was ‘wrong’
In her opening statement, Vice Chair Liz Cheney played a clip of a Pence pushing back against Trump’s claim that he had the power to overturn the 2020 election in the weeks after the Jan. 6 attack.
“President Trump is wrong,” Pence said in a speech in February before The Federalist Society. “I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
Cheney said the select committee will now reveal the details of that pressure campaign.
Jun 16, 1:10 pm
Thompson commends Pence’s ‘courage’ in rejecting Trump’s orders
The House select committee has kicked off its third of seven public hearings slated for this month.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gaveled in the hearing just after 1 p.m.
“Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to do something no other vice president has ever done,” Thompson said in his opening remarks. “The former president wanted Pence to reject the votes and either declare Trump the winner or send the votes back to the states to be counted again. Mike Pence said no. He resisted the pressure. He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong. We are fortunate for Mr. Pence’s courage on Jan. 6. Our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe. That courage put him in tremendous danger.”
Jun 16, 11:22 am
Live witnesses for Thursday
Pence himself will not appear before the committee, but his adviser Greg Jacobs — who was with the former vice president the day of the Capitol insurrection — is slated to testify. Jacobs, who is an attorney, pushed back against legal theories that Pence could single-handedly stop Joe Biden from becoming president.
Former federal judge Michael Luttig will also testify in front of lawmakers. Luttig previously told ABC News that if Pence had attempted to keep Trump in power, he would’ve “plunged the country into a constitutional crisis of the highest order.”
In addition to the live witnesses, the committee is expected to include pre-recorded video testimony from Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, and others who have been deposed behind closed doors.
Jun 16, 11:02 am
Rep. Pete Aguilar to lead hearing
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., is going to be leading this third hearing, which he said will “lay out new evidence about the pressure campaign against Vice President Pence asking him to reject the votes of millions of people.”
Former U.S. Attorney John Wood will also be questioning the witnesses on Thursday, according to committee aides. Wood was federal prosecutor during the George W. Bush administration and is now a senior investigative counsel for the House committee.
Aguilar told reporters earlier this week that through these public hearings, the committee is making the point that “Trump was at the center of a coordinated strategy to overturn the results of a free and fair election.”
Jun 16, 10:29 am
Thursday to focus on Trump pressuring Pence
The House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol will convene its third public hearing of the month at 1 p.m. with members set to focus on how former President Donald Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence with “relentless effort” to intervene to help overturn the 2020 election.
“President Trump had no factual basis for what he was doing and he had been told it was illegal,” Vice Chair Liz Cheney said in a video teasing Thursday’s hearing. “Despite this, President Trump plotted with a lawyer named John Eastman and others to overturn the outcome of the election on Jan. 6.”
A key component of evidence is never-before-seen photos of Pence and his family taken by an official White House photographer on Jan. 6 itself. In one — obtained by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl ahead of the hearing — second lady Karen Pence is seen hurriedly closing the curtains of the vice president’s ceremonial office at the Capitol, apparently fearful the mob outside could see where they were.
Last week, at the prime-time kickoff to this round of hearings, Cheney teased testimony to come around Trump’s awareness of rioters’ “hang Mike Pence” chants. Quoting from witness testimony, Cheney said Trump suggested as the attack was underway: “Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it.”
(WASHINGTON) — Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker this week acknowledged he has three more children in addition to the son, Christian, he has publicly helped raise for the last 20 years.
Walker’s statements on the matter, issued via his campaign, come after a series of reports in The Daily Beast about his other kids — all of whom have remained out of the spotlight cast on their father, a businessman and college football legend in his home state.
Walker, who has talked about the importance of his being a dad to Christian, had not previously discussed his role as a parent to multiple children.
The issue of Walker’s involvement as a father has brought renewed focus to the fact that he has repeatedly touted the importance of being an active father and, in particular, has said “the fatherless home is a major, major problem” for Black people.
It is, however, unclear what role Walker has played in the life of his children beyond Christian, a budding conservative social media influencer whom he shares with his first wife.
In statements to ABC News, Walker pushed back on any criticism that his kids were kept out of view.
“I have four children. Three sons and a daughter. They’re not ‘undisclosed’ – they’re my kids,” he said on Thursday. “I support them all and love them all. I’ve never denied my children, I confirmed this when I was appointed to the President’s Council on Sports Fitness and Nutrition, I just chose not to use them as props to win a political campaign. What parent would want their child involved in garbage, gutter politics like this?”
He continued: “Saying I hide my children because I don’t discuss them with reporters to win a campaign? That’s outrageous. I can take the heat, that’s politics — but leave my kids alone.”
A court order obtained by ABC News shows Walker admitted in 2013 to being the youngest boy’s father after the boy’s mother filed a paternity petition that April.
In an initial statement on Wednesday, Walker’s campaign manager, Scott Paradise, insisted that the 10-year-old boy wasn’t being hidden.
“Herschel had a child years ago when he wasn’t married. He’s supported the child and continues to do so. He’s proud of his children,” Paradise said. “To suggest that Herschel is ‘hiding’ the child because he hasn’t used him in his political campaign is offensive and absurd.”
Paradise pointed to Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s court fight with his ex-wife over their child custody arrangement. (Walker hopes to unseat Warnock in November.)
A spokeswoman for Warnock, Meredith Brasher, told ABC News on Wednesday he is a “devoted father who is proud to continue to co-parent his two children as he works for the people of Georgia.”
Walker, who easily won the Republican nomination in the state’s primary in May, has previously faced scrutiny about his personal life. That includes allegations of violent behavior and his diagnosis with dissociative identity disorder, or D.I.D., a complex mental health condition characterized by some severe and potentially debilitating symptoms.
Walker has denied some of the past allegations of domestic violence, physical threats and stalking; others he claimed not to remember.
His campaign previously referred ABC News to his 2008 memoir, which detailed his D.I.D. diagnosis, and a 2008 interview he did with ABC News in which he discussed its effects on his first marriage.
ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Pete Madden and Stephanie Lorenzo contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Jan. 6 committee is holding its third public hearing of the month Thursday with the focus on the pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence.
The committee says it will detail efforts from then-President Donald Trump and his allies before and on Jan. 6 to get Pence to reject electoral votes Congress was certifying — as part of what it says was a plot to overturn the presidential election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern:
Jun 16, 3:51 pm
Pence’s life in danger as he hid for hours with rioters 40 feet away: Committee
Showing video footage of Secret Service agents rushing Pence down stairs in the Capitol, the committee said Pence was in hiding for four and a half hours, while, at times, rioters were just 40 feet away.
Greg Jacob, a former adviser to Pence who was with the vice president on Jan. 6 told the hearing room, “I could hear the din of the mob as we moved, but I don’t think I was aware,” when told how close they got.
“Approximately 40 feet, that’s all there was, 40 feet between the vice president and the mob,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., telling Jacob, “Forty feet is the distance from me to you roughly.”
“Make no mistake about the fact that the vice president’s life was in danger,” Aguilar said, arguing the “big lie” directly contributed to the Capitol attack and put Pence’s life at serious risk. “A recent court filing by the Department of Justice explains that a confidential informant from the Proud Boys told the FBI that the Proud Boys would’ve killed Mike Pence, if given the chance.”
Jun 16, 3:50 pm
Trump attorney pressured Pence to delay certification even after the riot, email shows
John Eastman, an attorney advising the Trump campaign, sent an email after the riot at the U.S. Capitol to once again pressure Pence to violate the Electoral Count Act, according to the committee’s presentation Thursday.
“I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation and adjourn for ten days to allow the legislatures to finish their investigations,” Eastman wrote to Pence adviser Greg Jacob at 11:44 p.m. that day.
Jacob said he relayed Eastman’s message to Pence, who responded that the email was “rubber room stuff.”
“What did you interpret that to mean?” Rep. Pete Aguilar asked Jacob.
Jacob replied he translated that to mean Pence was calling it “certifiably crazy.”
Former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann told the committee that on Jan. 7, 2021, after Pence certified Joe Biden’s victory, Eastman called him to talk about a possible appeal in Georgia.
“I said to him, ‘Are you out of your f—— mind?’ I said, ‘I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth for now: orderly transition,” Herschmann recalled.
Jun 16, 3:39 pm
Trump aware of insurrection underway when he tweeted criticism at Pence: Committee
The committee displayed a slate of video testimony from those inside the White House and close to Trump to argue he was well aware of the violence underway on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 when he tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what was necessary” at 2:24 p.m.
Trump White House aide Sarah Matthews, in video testimony with the committee, recalled, “It felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that.”
“It was clear that it is escalating, and escalating quickly,” she said. “When the Mike Pence tweet was sent out, I remember us saying that that was the last thing that needed to be tweeted out. The situation was already bad.”
Earlier, Rep. Pete Aguilar noted that the Capitol building itself was breached at 2:13 p.m. As the attack continued, Trump tweeted to “stay peaceful” at 2:38 p.m., said “no violence” at 3:13 p.m., and finally, at 4:17, he tweeted a video that telling people to go home while also saying, “We love you,” and repeating the false claim the election was stolen.
Jun 16, 3:24 pm
Witnesses recount for first time ‘heated’ Jan. 6 call between Trump, Pence: ‘Wimp’
Ivanka Trump, former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann and others told the committee in previously taped testimony what they heard when Trump called Pence from the Oval Office on Jan. 6.
“The conversation was pretty heated,” Ivanka Trump recalled.
Nicholas Luna, Trump’s former assistant, described entering the Oval Office at the time to deliver a note and hearing Trump say the word “wimp.”
“I remember hearing the word ‘wimp’,” Luna told the committee. “Either he called him a wimp, I don’t remember if he said, ‘You are a wimp, you’ll be a wimp.’ Wimp is the word I remember.”
Gen. Keith Kellog, Pence’s national security adviser at the time, said in his deposition that Trump told Pence he wasn’t “tough” enough. Ivanka’s chief of staff, Julie Radford, told the committee that Ivanka said Trump called Pence “the p-word.”
Jun 16, 3:10 pm
Committee says Trump’s chief of staff discussed how plan was illegal
Committee members revealed evidence that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows knew — or was at least telling other aides that he agreed with their view — that Trump and his attorney John Eastman’s plan to overturn the election was illegal and that Pence had no ability to reject electoral votes for Biden sent to Congress.
In his taped interview with the committee, Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short told panel lawyers that that Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, said he agreed with Short and Pence that the vice president lacked such authority.
“Did Mr. Meadows ever explicitly … agree with you or say, ‘Yeah, that makes sense’?” interviewers asked.
“I believe that Mark did agree,” Short said. “But as I mentioned, I think Mark told so many people so many different things that it was not something that I would necessarily accept as … resolved.”
-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel
Jun 16, 3:04 pm
Pence’s chief of staff alerted Secret Service about VP’s safety on Jan. 5
Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, said he grew worried about the vice president’s safety as the disagreement between Pence and Trump escalated in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
“The concern was for the vice president’s security, so I wanted to make sure the head of the vice president’s Secret Service was aware that likely, as these disputes became more public, that the president would lash out in some way,” Short said in his taped deposition.
Short called the Secret Service on Jan. 5, 2021.
“After the recess, we will hear that Marc Short’s concerns were justified,” Rep. Pete Anguilar said. “The vice president was in danger.”
Jun 16, 2:58 pm
DOJ tells committee it’s ‘critical’ to provide investigation intel
As Attorney General Merrick Garland and his prosecutors are closely watching the hearings conducted by the committee this week, the Department of Justice sent a new letter telling the committee it is “critical” members “provide us with copies of the transcripts of all its witness interviews.”
In a letter to the committee’s chief investigator Wednesday, senior officials at the Justice Department said that the first two hearings this month showed the interviews conducted by the hearing “are not just potentially relevant to our overall criminal investigations but are likely relevant to specific prosecutions that have already commenced.”
The request suggests there are matters beyond violence on the ground on Jan. 6 that the Justice Department is already investigating — specifically alternate or fake electors as a part of the theory that Pence could unilaterally block the ceremony of Joe Biden as President.
Click here for more on potential federal crimes the committee has floated.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Jun 16, 3:23 pm
Attorney who pushed theory Pence could save Trump previously dismissed that same claim: Docs
Trump White House attorney John Eastman, at the center of the alleged scheme to send a false slate of electors to Congress and have Pence refuse to certify votes, based his reasoning on a theory the committee argued he never believed.
According to the committee, Eastman sought to take advantage of an ambiguity in the Electoral Count Act and claim the vice president could has the constitutional authority to reject electoral votes outright and use his capacity as presiding officer to suspend the proceedings.
“He described for me what he thought the ambiguity was in the statute. And he was walking through it at that time. And I said, ‘Hold on a second, I don’t understand you’re saying,'” said former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann in taped testimony.
Showing past documents, the committee said that Eastman had dismissed the same power he later claimed Pence could have used.
“In this letter, an idea was proposed that the vice president could determine which electors to count — but the person writing in blue negates that argument,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar. “Judge Luttig, does it surprise you that the author of those comments in blue, are in fact, John Eastman?
Former federal judge Michael Luttig responded “yes” and called it “constitutional mischief.”
Jun 16, 2:32 pm
Pence told Trump ‘many times’ he couldn’t overturn election: Marc Short
The committee aired several clips featuring Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Jason Miller, Steve Bannon and others publicly pressuring Pence to refuse the Electoral College votes that were in favor of Joe Biden.
“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Trump said in one video from his rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021. “He’s a great guy. If he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.”
Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, told the committee in previously recorded testimony that Pence directly conveyed his view to Trump “many times” that he didn’t have the authority to do what they were asking of him.
“He’d been consistent in conveying his position to the president?” the committee asked Short.
“Very consistent,” Short replied.
Jun 16, 2:09 pm
Pence and adviser found that ‘history was absolutely decisive’: He couldn’t help Trump
Greg Jacob, a former adviser to Pence, said they analyzed history and constitutional text to map out the vice president’s role when it came to certifying elections.
The two then examined “every single electoral vote count that had happened in Congress” since the country’s founding, Jacob testified. They found no vice president ever claimed to have the kind of authority Trump and his attorney John Eastman claimed Pence had.
“The history was absolutely decisive and again, part of my discussion with Mr. Eastman was, ‘If you were right, don’t you think Al Gore might have liked to have known in 2000 that he had authority to just declare himself president of the United States? Did you think that the Democrat lawyers just didn’t think of this very obvious quirk that he could use to do that?’”
Jun 16, 2:15 pm
Trump, Pence haven’t spoken in a year: Sources
Trump and Pence haven’t spoken to one another since last summer, according to sources familiar with their conversations.
Pence defended Trump through a slate of controversies during their administration. But, as the House committee is highlighting at its hearings, Pence drew a line at Trump’s alleged plot to overturn the election — breaking from the president and drawing the rage of the Trump mob on Jan. 6.
When ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl interviewed Trump for his book “Betrayal,” Karl asked about the “Hang Mike Pence” chants and whether Trump had been concerned for the safety of the man he chose to be his vice president.
“Well, the people were very angry,” Trump said.
“They said, ‘hang Mike Pence,’” Karl told Trump.
“It’s common sense, Jon. It’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect,” Trump said. “How can you, if you know a vote is fraudulent, right, how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?”
While Pence himself isn’t testifying and has not sat before the committee, a range of former Pence aides cooperated with the investigation.
Since his term ended, Pence has publicly reiterated he had no power to overturn the 2020 results. But like other conservatives, he has said “election integrity” should be a national priority.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders
Jun 16, 1:40 pm
Inside the hearing room
Notable faces were spotted across the hearing room as proceedings kicked off Thursday.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Capitol Police Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges and former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who testified at the committee’s first hearing last year on their experience defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, were all present.
Former Pence national security adviser Olivia Troye, who resigned from the administration in 2020, was spotted sitting next to Gonell as well as Allison Gill, a former high-level Veterans Affairs official who was secretly recording a podcast on the weekends about Robert Mueller’s investigation that attracted thousands of listeners.
A couple of members of Congress have been spotted in the back of the room including Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., sitting together. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who along with Vice Chair Liz Cheney has been ostracized by the Republican Party for speaking out against Trump, also stopped by.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel
Jun 16, 1:35 pm
Retired judge says Trump risked throwing country into ‘revolution’
In his testimony on Thursday, former federal judge Michael Luttig painted a dire picture of what he believed would have happened had Pence followed through with Trump’s plea to remain in power.
“That declaration of Donald Trump as the next president would have plunged America into what I believe would’ve been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America,” Luttig said, “which in my view, and I am only one man, would’ve been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the republic.”
Luttig is one of the panel’s two live witnesses in today’s hearing. The former judge informally advised Pence on his role in affirming the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Jun 16, 1:35 pm
Clip played of Pence saying Trump was ‘wrong’
In her opening statement, Vice Chair Liz Cheney played a clip of a Pence pushing back against Trump’s claim that he had the power to overturn the 2020 election in the weeks after the Jan. 6 attack.
“President Trump is wrong,” Pence said in a speech in February before The Federalist Society. “I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
Cheney said the select committee will now reveal the details of that pressure campaign.
Jun 16, 1:10 pm
Thompson commends Pence’s ‘courage’ in rejecting Trump’s orders
The House select committee has kicked off its third of seven public hearings slated for this month.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gaveled in the hearing just after 1 p.m.
“Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to do something no other vice president has ever done,” Thompson said in his opening remarks. “The former president wanted Pence to reject the votes and either declare Trump the winner or send the votes back to the states to be counted again. Mike Pence said no. He resisted the pressure. He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong. We are fortunate for Mr. Pence’s courage on Jan. 6. Our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe. That courage put him in tremendous danger.”
Jun 16, 11:22 am
Live witnesses for Thursday
Pence himself will not appear before the committee, but his adviser Greg Jacobs — who was with the former vice president the day of the Capitol insurrection — is slated to testify. Jacobs, who is an attorney, pushed back against legal theories that Pence could single-handedly stop Joe Biden from becoming president.
Former federal judge Michael Luttig will also testify in front of lawmakers. Luttig previously told ABC News that if Pence had attempted to keep Trump in power, he would’ve “plunged the country into a constitutional crisis of the highest order.”
In addition to the live witnesses, the committee is expected to include pre-recorded video testimony from Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, and others who have been deposed behind closed doors.
Jun 16, 11:02 am
Rep. Pete Aguilar to lead hearing
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., is going to be leading this third hearing, which he said will “lay out new evidence about the pressure campaign against Vice President Pence asking him to reject the votes of millions of people.”
Former U.S. Attorney John Wood will also be questioning the witnesses on Thursday, according to committee aides. Wood was federal prosecutor during the George W. Bush administration and is now a senior investigative counsel for the House committee.
Aguilar told reporters earlier this week that through these public hearings, the committee is making the point that “Trump was at the center of a coordinated strategy to overturn the results of a free and fair election.”
Jun 16, 10:29 am
Thursday to focus on Trump pressuring Pence
The House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol will convene its third public hearing of the month at 1 p.m. with members set to focus on how former President Donald Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence with “relentless effort” to intervene to help overturn the 2020 election.
“President Trump had no factual basis for what he was doing and he had been told it was illegal,” Vice Chair Liz Cheney said in a video teasing Thursday’s hearing. “Despite this, President Trump plotted with a lawyer named John Eastman and others to overturn the outcome of the election on Jan. 6.”
A key component of evidence is never-before-seen photos of Pence and his family taken by an official White House photographer on Jan. 6 itself. In one — obtained by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl ahead of the hearing — second lady Karen Pence is seen hurriedly closing the curtains of the vice president’s ceremonial office at the Capitol, apparently fearful the mob outside could see where they were.
Last week, at the prime-time kickoff to this round of hearings, Cheney teased testimony to come around Trump’s awareness of rioters’ “hang Mike Pence” chants. Quoting from witness testimony, Cheney said Trump suggested as the attack was underway: “Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it.”
(LONDON) — An estimated 185,000 children in eastern Ethiopia are suffering from severe malnutrition as the region experiences a “once-in-a-lifetime” drought, the charity Save the Children said on Thursday.
UNICEF previously warned of an “explosion of child deaths” in the Horn of Africa without immediate action, with over 1.7 million children across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia in need for treatment for severe acute malnutrition.
Experts have said that climate change has intersected with man-made crises to worsen the famine, withrecent fighting in Ethiopia and the disruption to global food supplies brought by the war in Ukraine exacerbating the situation.
Earlier this month, UNICEF’s deputy regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Rania Dagash, made a desperate plea to the international community to intervene.
“[I]f the world does not widen its gaze from the war in Ukraine and act immediately, an explosion of child deaths is about to happen in the Horn of Africa,” she said. “Four rainy seasons have failed in the space of two years – killing crops and livestock and drying up water sources. Forecasts suggest the next October to December rains are likely to fail too.”
In a new report, Save the Children warned that the situation is set to worsen over the coming months as food prices continue to rise. The unprecedented conditions have also led to a change in animal behaviors, the charity said, as desperate monkeys and warthogs are encroaching on human communities in search of food and water. In the Shabelle zone of the Somali region, families have reported witnessing monkeys attacking children out of desperation.
“We have been receiving reports that many families have had to fend off hungry monkeys with sticks,” Abdirizak Ahmed, Save the Children’s area operation manager in the east of Ethiopia, said. “The monkeys never normally attack people, but the situation is so terrible that they are resorting to unnatural behavior like this especially in Dawa and Shebelle areas, the first areas affected by the drought and the driest. We understand the children were unharmed, but it’s filled people with fear about what the future will bring.”
Twenty-three million people are experiencing extreme hunger across Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, Save the Children said. The charity is urgently calling for donors to help avert the humanitarian crisis.
“Children — especially small children — are bearing the brunt of a harrowing and multifaceted crisis in Ethiopia,” said Xavier Joubert, Save the Children’s director in Ethiopia. “A prolonged, expanding, and debilitating drought is grinding away at their resilience, already worn down by a grueling conflict and two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday dramatically escalated its fight to dial back historic inflation, raising its benchmark interest rate by 0.75%, the largest rate hike since 1994. The move offers hope that sky-high prices for essentials like fuel and groceries will eventually come down.
The decision will impact the average American and the economy as a whole in profound and largely negative ways, experts told ABC News.
An increase to the benchmark interest rate raises borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, which in theory should slash inflation by slowing the economy and eating away at demand. That means borrowers will likely soon face higher costs for everything from car loans to credit card debt to mortgages, the experts said.
Plus, the rate hike could exacerbate the ongoing stock market decline — a fear validated by early trading on Thursday as all three major stock indexes fell at least 2%. A sustained further decline would hammer portfolios, including 401(k)s that are often pegged to the S&P 500.
On top of that, the strategy all but guarantees an economic slowdown and risks tipping the economy into a recession, the experts added. The hot job market will likely cool, leading to fewer openings for job seekers, slower wage growth and possible layoffs, they said.
“Everybody’s income statement and balance sheet will look a little less attractive here,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “They need to buckle in.”
What the rate hike means for you
In general, an interest rate hike makes borrowing more expensive. So any purchase that requires a loan — for a home, car, or higher education — could be affected. Credit card rates are also highly sensitive to Federal Reserve moves, so card holders should expect higher payments in the coming months.
Purchasing a home, for example, will likely involve higher mortgage rates. Since mid-March, when the Fed instituted its first rate hike of the year, the average 30-year fixed mortgage has jumped from 4.45% to 6.03%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
That rate could reach as high as 7% or 8%, Derek Horstmeyer, a finance professor at George Mason University’s School of Business, told ABC News. Each single percentage point increase in a mortgage rate can add thousands or tens of thousands in additional cost each year, depending on the price of the house, according to Rocket Mortgage.
“Any sort of asset that you need to borrow money to acquire,” Horstmeyer said. “Will be much more expensive.”
Alongside the heightened cost of loans, investors will face the prospect of a further downturn in the markets for assets like stocks and cryptocurrency. As economic prospects dim and companies face higher borrowing costs themselves, traders may turn elsewhere for safer investments. In addition, the excess income that some put into the stock market during the pandemic will likely be harder to come by.
But economists disagree about how much of the market downturn so far this year has come in anticipation of further hikes from the Fed.
Since many investors already expected rate hikes like the 0.75% increase on Wednesday, the strategy at the Fed may have little effect on the market. But a further market downturn would move stock portfolios, 401(k)s, and likely cryptocurrency holdings even lower, and could delay an eventual market recovery.
The S&P 500 fell deeper into bear market territory in early trading on Thursday, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is down more than 30% since its last all-time high.
“A lot of the drop is priced in already,” said Horstmeyer, the finance professor, before the stock market fell early on Thursday. “Maybe 5% more to go but knock on wood we don’t go much lower than that.”
What the rate hike means for the economy
By design, the rate hike intends to slow the economy, which should cut demand for goods and labor and in turn reduce inflation.
Despite a contraction of the economy over the first three months of the year, the labor market remains tight and consumer spending has proven resilient. But the rate hike on Wednesday should cool off the labor market and consumer demand, experts said.
As people face higher borrowing costs, their spending will decrease and businesses will see revenue decline. When business performance slows, companies will freeze hiring or even impose layoffs, which will loosen demand for workers and slow wage growth, experts said. In turn, people will have even less money to spend, reinforcing the economic slowdown.
Eventually, the slowdown should ease inflation, providing relief for households struggling to afford gas, groceries, and other necessities.
“At this point, a hard landing is unavoidable,” Eric Sims, a professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame, told ABC News. “There will be some short-term pain.”
But the most recent rate hike — and the additional ones signaled by the Fed on Wednesday — should eventually restore the economy to a healthy rate of inflation, said Jeremy Siegel, a professor emeritus of finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. The central bank’s target inflation rate is 2%, well below the rate of 8.6% recorded in May.
“You need medicine to cure inflation,” Siegel said. “The sooner you give the medicine, the quicker the patient will recover.”
But the strategy of rate hikes risks slowing down the economy so much that it brings about a recession, the experts said. A recession, however, would likely be mild, they said.
And the upcoming months are crucial in determining whether the economy tips into a recession, said Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
“All the negatives for the economy are at their apex right now,” he said.
“If we can weather this immediate storm of high interest rates, high inflation and slowing growth, I think we’ll make our way through without a recession,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Thousands of cattle in Kansas have died as a national heat wave scorches the U.S., leaving one of the country’s leading cattle farming states with a loss amid rising production costs.
At least 2,000 cattle have died as of Tuesday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment told ABC News.
The cattle deaths happened throughout the weekend, as extreme heat and humidity persisted through Saturday and Sunday.
AJ Tarpoff, associate professor and beef extension veterinarian at Kansas State University, told ABC News that multiple factors led to the heat stress that caused the cattle to die.
“The temperature spiked, the humidity spiked, but the wind speed dropped,” Tarpoff said. “This is quite rare for this region of western Kansas, and it lasted for over one day.”
Tarpoff added that since nighttime temperatures were higher than usual, the cattle did not receive the normal cooling time they need to counter heat stress.
Scarlett Hagins, a spokesperson for the Kansas Livestock Association, said there was a 10 to 15-degree spike over Saturday night, which was a drastic jump in temperatures for the area.
“There was little wind, and the temperature didn’t really cool down overnight,” Hagins told ABC News. “The cattle just didn’t have time to acclimate because it happened so fast.”
Tarpoff said cattle are generally adaptable animals, but this weather event was particularly stressful because of the fast temperature change.
“Cattle are a robust animal; they can adapt to all kinds of weather all over the world,” Tarpoff said. “Some animals just did not have time to adapt [from the spring season] and some were still shedding their winter coats.” “Going forward, cattle can adapt quickly, as long as the wind keeps. It all depends on nighttime cooling hours and wind speed.”
Hagins said Kansas markets 5.5 million cattle each year, so while the loss of these 2,000 was unfortunate, this event should not affect market prices or the supply chain for beef.
“People shouldn’t worry about seeing beef on the shelves or seeing the price of beef go up,” Hagins said.
Hagins said ranchers in Kansas have mitigation protocols to deal with summer heat, which usually does not spike as it did over the weekend.
“Heat stress is always a concern, but there are mitigation protocols in place and we usually can protect against these kinds of deaths,” Hagins said.
Hagins said many ranchers make sure to increase water availability for cattle as temperatures rise, and also adjust feeding schedules for the animals.
“They will change what time they are feeding or what kind of food they are feeding the cattle so that they are not digesting during the hot hours because when cattle digest, their bodies get warmer,” Hagins said.
The cattle deaths come amidst a national heat wave that has nearly 100 million Americans under heat advisories.
U.S. residents from California to Pennsylvania face heat indexes nearing or surpassing triple digits.
For even the country’s hottest regions, such temperatures are abnormal for early summer, and extreme weather events persist among the increasing effects of climate change.
(WASHINGTON) — COVID-19 vaccinations for kids under age 5 could be available as early next week after an advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted Wednesday to recommend authorization for both Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines.
Before shots can be administered to kids, the FDA must issue its official authorization, which could happen within days.
This Friday and Saturday, an advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet and then present its recommendation to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who gives the final green light.
At the start of the pandemic, scientists studied vaccines in adults first because they have a higher risk of dying of COVID-19. That means parents of children under the age of 5 have waited over two years, since the start of the pandemic, for a COVID-19 vaccine for their kids.
Now that the vaccine is one step closer to being available, parents may have questions about everything from which vaccine and how many doses their child should receive to how safe and effective the vaccines are.
Here are answers from pediatricians across the country to common questions from parents.
1. Which vaccine should my child get, Pfizer or Moderna?
The short answer is that both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are safe and good options for kids under 5, pediatricians say.
“Basically, they’re both very good choices,” Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, professor of pediatrics at Stanford University and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told ABC News. “It’s always a great idea to have a choice for vaccines.”
Among the factors that will come into play on vaccine choice include which vaccine is available locally, parents’ preference and pediatricians’ recommendations, according to Maldonado.
The main difference between the two is that Moderna’s vaccine is delivered in two shots, taken 28 days apart, and Pfizer’s vaccine requires three shots over the course of around three months.
Pfizer’s data shows that fuller protection against COVID-19 does not kick in until the third shot, meaning a child who gets that vaccine will take longer to be protected against the virus.
Moderna says its vaccine is about 40 to 50% effective after two shots, and the company expects to roll out a booster, or third shot, in the coming months.
The Pfizer vaccine has already been available for those who are 5 and older but would now be available for kids ages 6 months through 4 years.
Moderna’s vaccine has previously been available only for people ages 18 and older. The latest vaccine authorization will be for kids ages 6 months to 5 years.
2. Does it matter that Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines have different doses?
No, according to Dr. Vandana Madhavan, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Mass General Hospital and professor at Harvard Medical School.
“What is most important is that both vaccines have the lowest doses given to the youngest children so that they are protected without increased side effects,” she said. “The actual dose is less important than the level of protective antibody that a particular vaccines pushes the immune system to make.”
The Pfizer vaccine is 3 micrograms — one-tenth of the adult dose — given in three doses.
The Moderna vaccine is 25 micrograms — one-fourth of the adult dose — given in two doses.
3. Will my child have side effects from the vaccine?
The side effects in children who get vaccinated against COVID-19 are typically mild, according to Madhavan.
“The most common side effect from the COVID-19 vaccine in all age groups is a sore arm at the site of an injection,” said Madhavan. “Children might get a low-grade fever, generalized fatigue and crankiness but these side effects are less common and self-resolved, going away in a couple of days.”
4. Why does my child need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 at such a young age?
While COVID-19 has had a more deadly impact on older adults, there have still been nearly 500 deaths in kids under 5 and over 30,000 hospitalizations in the U.S.
“One of the main issues is parents thinking that COVID-19 is a very mild disease, and the vaccines are very unsafe,” said Dr. Diego R. Hijano, pediatric infectious disease specialist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “And we cannot emphasize that the opposite is true.”
Dr. Tanya Altmann, a California-based pediatrician and school physician, said getting a child vaccinated against COVID-19 can not only help prevent immediate illness but also protect them from longstanding complications from the virus.
“Kids under age 5 deserve and need protection just as older kids and adults against the potentially serious complications from COVID-19 infection,” said Altmann. “The vaccine has reduced hospitalizations from COVID-19 in all other age groups and emerging data also shows a decrease in long COVID.”
Madhavan stressed that it is important to get as many children vaccinated as possible amid summer travel and camps and a return to school in the fall.
“We can’t predict what the summer and fall will bring with respect to new variants and how transmissible, how serious these variants will be,” said Madhavan. “We do know that thus far, vaccines are very effective at preventing serious disease from all variants.”
5. How do experts know the vaccine is safe for young kids?
Both Pfizer and Moderna released data to the FDA prior to Wednesday’s advisory meeting. The data shows the vaccines proved safe in clinical trials for kids ages 6 months through 4 years, or 5 years for the Moderna shot.
Dr. Jay Portnoy, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and a member of the FDA advisory committee, called the vaccines “very safe to use.”
“Our question today is, does the benefit outweigh the risks of this vaccine? And I think that the evidence is pretty clear,” Portnoy said at Wednesday’s meeting. “For preventing severe disease, hospitalization, emergency visits, this vaccine is very effective, very safe to use.”
6. How do I get a vaccine for my child?
Parents should talk to their child’s pediatrician about where and how to get a vaccine.
Pediatricians’ offices, children’s hospitals and family doctors’ offices will all be among the top sites for kids under 5 to get vaccinated.
If the authorization process for Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines moves forward as planned, vaccines could be available for kids as early as Tuesday.
“Remember, pediatricians get vaccines all the time. It’s a large part of what they do,” said Maldonado, adding that the American Academy of Pediatrics has already been working with the CDC and local health departments to coordinate the vaccine rollout for kids under 5. “They’re used to rolling out new vaccines on a regular basis.”
7. If my child had COVID, do they still need to get vaccinated?
Yes, pediatricians say.
“Individuals who have a combination of infection and vaccines have the best protection of all,” said Hijano, describing a concept called hybrid immunity. “They are better than those who only got the vaccines and significantly better than those who only got infected.”
According to Hijano, getting kids vaccinated, including those have already had COVID-19, will be especially important as the virus contains to change and new variants emerge.
Kids can get vaccinated as soon as they are out of isolation from COVID-19. They do not have to wait a certain amount of time, according to Hijano.
Priya Jaisinghani, M.D., is an endocrinologist at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell and a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — A federal magistrate on Thursday urged federal prosecutors to quickly decide whether to seek the death penalty for alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron, citing the expense to taxpayers of defending a death-eligible defendant.
Gendron, 18, said at the U.S. District Court hearing that he has all of $16 to his name, prompting U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth Schroeder to assign him “learned counsel” — attorneys with experience in death penalty cases — from the Federal Public Defenders Office.
“This case has now been around for a month. I would hope the Department of Justice would undertake steps that would reasonably bring about” a decision whether to seek the death penalty, Schroeder said.
Prosecutors told the judge they will inform their superiors of his request, but noted no decision could be made before an indictment is returned.
Gendron made his first appearance in federal court, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the 26 federal counts against him and met with loved ones of the victims in Buffalo.
Schroeder read the charges and the potential penalties before declaring, “Those are the charges you are now facing as a result of this criminal complaint.”
Gendron gave mostly one-word answers to a series of questions involving his finances in order to establish that he’s eligible for court-appointed counsel.
“When was the last time you had gainful employment approximately?” Schroeder asked.
“A year,” Gendron replied.
Gendron allegedly “wrote about his acquisition of firearms, ammunition, firearm magazines, body armor, a GoPro camera, and other supplies for the attack,” according to the criminal complaint, but the document did not say how Gendron paid for the items.
The suspect is charged with 10 federal counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death; three counts of committing a hate crime involving an attempt to kill; 10 counts of using a firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence; and three counts of using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Gendron did not enter a plea to the charges.
“The Complaint further alleges that Gendron’s motive for the mass shooting was to prevent Black people from replacing white people and eliminating the white race, and to inspire others to commit similar attacks,” the Department of Justice said in a statement released Wednesday.
Gendron of Conklin, New York, which is more than 200 miles southeast of Buffalo, is accused of storming a Tops grocery store on May 14 and gunning down people outside and inside the market with an AR-15-style weapon that he legally purchased near his home, authorities said.
Garland said Wednesday that Gendron allegedly planned the massacre for months, including driving to the store to sketch the layout and count the number of Black people present.
Garland also revealed that at one point during the attack, Gendron allegedly aimed his Bushmaster XM rifle at a white Tops employee, who was shot in the leg and injured. He alleged that Gendron apologized to the victim before continuing the attack.
Gendron allegedly livestreamed part of the attack on the Internet before his feed was cut, according to the federal complaint.
Gendron was also indicted this month on25 state charges, including 10 counts of first-degree murder. He is also the first person in New York state history to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate, a crime enacted in the state in November 2020.
He is charged in state court with 10 counts of second-degree murder as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and one count of criminal possession of a weapon. During his June 2 arraignment on the state charges, Gendron’s court-appointed lawyers entered a plea of not guilty to all of the charges on his behalf.
(WASHINGTON) — Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters Thursday that the Jan. 6 committee will “soon” invite Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and an avid Trump supporter, to speak with the panel.
“We think it’s time that we would, at some point, invite her to come talk to the committee,” Thompson said in the wake of revelations about emails that sources said she exchanged with right-wing lawyer John Eastman, a former clerk to Justice Thomas.
The committee has said Eastman was the mastermind behind the legal scheme to fraudulently overturn the election, in part by pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject some states’ legitimate electoral votes on Jan. 6 when Congress met to certify the election results.
Thompson didn’t give any details about public or private testimony and when the committee would make a formal invitation.
An aide to Jan. 6 committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said she agrees it is time to formally ask Ginni Thomas to speak with the committee.
It is still unclear when the committee would ask Thomas to come and in what form they would request to speak with her.
ABC News has reached out to her lawyer for comment.
Sources confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that the committee has come into possession of emails between Eastman and Ginni Thomas.
The existence of the emails was first reported by the Washington Post.
It’s unclear what the communications between Eastman and Ginni Thomas say, but Eastman has fought the committee’s document requests in court.
A federal judge has ruled twice that he must turn some of these documents over and the committee has just recently begun receiving the second tranche of them.
Investigators are discussing next steps and deciding how much of a focus they should put on Thomas and her communications with people like Eastman and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows during its public hearings.
