(WASHINGTON) — Two U.S. veterans from Alabama, Andy Huynh, 27, and Alexander Drueke, 39, volunteered to fight alongside the Ukrainian military against Russia, but haven’t been heard from in days.
Family members are desperately waiting for word after two Americans who volunteered to assist Ukrainian forces have gone missing amid unconfirmed reports of their capture. U.S. officials revealed they’re also aware of a third American who has been reported missing during the war.
U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday they have been asked by the families of the former service members from Alabama — Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh — for their help in locating them.
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., said in a statement her office is helping a family locate Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“Earlier this week, the mother of Alexander Drueke, a Tuscaloosa Army Veteran who volunteered to assist the Ukrainian Army in combating Russia, reached out to my office after losing contact with her son. According to his family, they have not heard from Drueke in several days,” she said in a statement.
Sewell said her office has been in contact with the State Department, the FBI and other members of the Alabama Congressional delegation.
Drueke, an Army veteran, reportedly went to Ukraine in mid-April to volunteer to help train the Ukrainian forces, his mother, Lois “Bunny” Drueke, told “Good Morning America.”
“He wanted to go over and help train the Ukrainian soldiers and show them how to use the equipment that the U.S. has been sending over there for them,” she said.
She said she last heard from her son in a text message on June 8.
“He said that he was going dark for a day or possibly two. And I responded to stay safe, that I loved him and he responded, ‘Yes, ma’am. I love you too,'” she said. “And that was my last communication with him.”
She said he was with Huynh at the time, whom he had met since going to Ukraine, and there are unverified reports that they may have been captured by Russian forces.
Drueke was a chemical operations specialist in the Army Reserve from 2002 to 2014 and held the rank of staff sergeant at the end of his service, an Army official confirmed to ABC News. He was deployed to Kuwait from December 2004 to December 2005 and to Iraq from November 2008 to July 2009, the official said.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said his office is helping in the search for Huynh, 27, of Trinity, Alabama, after his family reached out to the congressman’s office this week.
“According to Huynh’s family, they have not been in contact with him since June 8, 2022, when he was in the Kharkiv area of Ukraine,” he said in a statement.
Aderholt said his office has reached out to the State Department and FBI to “get any information possible.”
Huynh, a former Marine, spoke to Huntsville, Alabama, ABC affiliate WAAY in early April about his decision to help defend Ukraine.
“I’ve made peace with the decision. I know there’s a potential of me dying. I’m willing to give my life for what I believe is right,” he told the station.
Huynh served in the Marines from 2014 to 2018, reaching the rank of corporal, a Marine Corps spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
He got engaged in March, before he left for Ukraine the following month.
“We just really want him back,” his fiancée, Joy Black, told “Good Morning America” through tears. “He’s got such a big heart. He knew this wasn’t the easy thing, but this was the right thing.”
“Even though not great things have happened I’m still really, really proud of him,” she continued.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday afternoon that he “can’t confirm the reports” of two Americans captured in Ukraine.
“We’ll do the best we can to monitor this and see what we can learn about it,” he said. “Obviously, if it’s true, we’ll do everything we can to get them safely back home.”
The State Department also is aware of the “unconfirmed” reports, a spokesperson said.
“We are limited in terms of what we know at the moment,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Thursday. “We’re closely monitoring the situation, we are in contact with Ukrainian authorities, as well as with the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the families of the two reported missing U.S. citizens.”
Price said the State Department had not had any direct communication with Russia concerning the whereabouts of the two men.
“If we feel that such outreach through our embassy in Moscow or otherwise would be productive in terms of finding out more information on the whereabouts of these individuals, we won’t hesitate to do that,” he said, adding that the department had not “seen anything from the Russians indicating that two such individuals are in their custody.”
Price said the department is also aware of a third, unidentified American who reportedly traveled to Ukraine to fight and whose “whereabouts are unknown.”
“Similarly, our understanding was that this individual had traveled to Ukraine to take up arms,” Price said, adding that the person was identified as missing “in recent weeks” and that the State Department was also in contact with their family.
The State Department has warned U.S. citizens against traveling to Ukraine during the war and that Russian security officials could be “singling out” U.S. citizens.
When asked about the two missing Americans in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that he did not have any information about it.
“Perhaps the Defense Ministry has some information, but I don’t,” Peskov said at a press briefing Thursday.
Several Westerners have been taken prisoner during the war, including two men from the United Kingdom who were sentenced to death this month by Russian-backed separatists who accused them of being mercenaries.
ABC News’ Devin Garbitt, Benjamin Stein, Ben Gittleson, Shannon Crawford and Matt Seyler contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday the recall of more than 407,000 over-the-counter pill bottles, citing the products do not meet the child resistance packaging required by the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA).
Aurohealth recalled nearly 137,300 units of the Walgreens brand Acetaminophen. Consumers can contact Aurohealth for information on how to return the product to their nearest Walgreens store to receive a full refund.
Aurohealth also recalled about 25,660 units of Kroger brand arthritis pain acetaminophen. Time-Cap Labs recalled nearly 209,430 units of Kroger brand aspirin and ibuprofen. Further, Sun Pharma also recalled about 34,660 units of Kroger brand acetaminophen.
Consumers can contact Kroger for information on how to properly dispose of the product and receive a full refund.
The pill bottles have been sold at supermarkets nationwide.
(EL PASO, Texas) — The U.S. saw the largest number of migrants arrested or encountered along the southern border since Customs and Border Protection began counting numbers of migrants encountered since the year 2000, statistics released by CBP, on Wednesday show.
CBP encountered 239,416 migrants along the southwest land border in May, a 2% increase compared to April, and 25% of those those encountered were previously arrested and deported by CBP.
The past four months, according to CBP statistics, migrant numbers along the southern border have increased steadily over 200,000 each month.
The amount of unaccompanied minors also saw a 20% increase from this month to last.
Drug seizures along the southern border were down in May in double digits, according to CBP.
“Our message to those who would try and gain illegal entry to the United States remains the same – don’t make the dangerous journey only to be sent back,” said CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus in a statement. “As temperatures start to rise in the summer, human smugglers will continue to exploit vulnerable populations and recklessly endanger the lives of migrants for financial gain.”
The numbers come as Title 42 — the Trump administration policy, continued by the Biden administration that expelled migrants along the southern border under the auspices of the pandemic, was ordered to be kept in place by a federal judge in May.
The Justice Department, which handles litigation for the federal government, has appealed the ruling.
“Current restrictions at the U.S. border have not changed: single adults and families encountered at the Southwest Border will continue to be expelled, where appropriate, under Title 42,” Magnus said.
(WASHINGTON) — Members of the House select committee appeared divided this week on whether they should make a criminal referral against former President Donald Trump at the conclusion of their investigation, with Chairman Bennie Thompson telling reporters it’s “not our job” to prosecute Trump before Vice Chair Liz Cheney said the decision to refer findings hasn’t been made.
The back-and-forth has reignited questions on the merits of sending a criminal referral to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department. A referral is not required for the agency to investigate Trump, nor will one guarantee it, but public hearings outlining Trump’s “seven-point plan” to overturn the 2020 presidential election have amped up pressure on Garland to bring criminal charges against Donald Trump — the first in history against a former president.
While a criminal referral from the Jan. 6 committee might, on paper, end up being a mostly symbolic gesture, experts told ABC News the move deserves careful consideration.
“I don’t think that there is any member of that committee who has any doubt about whether Donald Trump violated the law or questions the actual merits of a criminal referral,” said Claire Finkelstein, director of the Center for Ethics and Rule of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. “What I suspect is that it has much more to do with trying to preserve Congress’ authority and not wanting division between those who are trying to hold Donald Trump accountable in Congress and the Justice Department.”
“But,” she added, “the calculation that says, ‘We will hold back, and therefore preserve our own authority,’ is mistaken.”
Pros and cons
Amid concerns that Republicans will paint a criminal referral, and any subsequent DOJ investigation, as politically-motivated, the committee may decide to leave its findings in a public report, which would then serve as an indirect “handoff” to the Justice Department, said Ryan Goodman, a professor at New York University School of Law, who outlined some reasons that might give the committee pause.
“The downside with a referral could be that if Garland’s Justice Department does move ahead, that it would be perceived as potentially political by some parts of the American public,” he said. “It could be better for the Justice Department to appear more independent than seeming as though it’s responding to a direct referral coming out of the committee.”
On the other hand, Goodman said, while a referral doesn’t have any compulsory force tied to it, “I think Garland has shown us time and again that he is reactive, not proactive — and what he reacts to are other institutions, forcing the question.”
Garland told reporters that he and his prosecutors are closely watching the committee’s hearings this week, and the Department of Justice sent a new letter on Wednesday telling the committee’s chief investigator it is “critical” members “provide us with copies of the transcripts of all its witness interviews,” which the committee so far has declined to do. The request suggests there are matters DOJ is investigating beyond the violence on the ground on Jan. 6 it is already prosecuting — specifically alternate or fake electors as part of the discredited theory that Pence could unilaterally block the certification of Joe Biden as president.
Regardless of whether the committee makes a formal criminal referral, each legal expert ABC News spoke with said it would be concerning if the government did not, at the very least, open a criminal investigation.
“As a matter of constitutional theory and law and accountability and the separation of powers, if Merrick Garland doesn’t at least try, even if the Justice Department loses, there’s no disincentive left for any future president to not use the massive powers of the White House to commit widespread crimes,” said Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a former assistant U.S. attorney. “It’s a green light for a crime spree in the White House because every other lever of accountability has failed.”
Then sentiment is clearly shared by Cheney, who has taken the tone of a criminal prosecutor in the hearings, arguing that Trump and his allies engaged in criminal activity, using video testimony of Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann recalling how he suggested that Trump White House attorney John Eastman “get a great effing criminal defense lawyer.”
Using the clip to tease Thursday’s hearing, Cheney pointedly noted how a federal judge already found Trump’s pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to obstruct the congressional count of electoral votes “more likely than not” violated two federal criminal statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
“President Trump had no factual basis for what he was doing and he had been told it was illegal. Despite this, President Trump plotted with a lawyer named John Eastman and others to overturn the outcome of the election on Jan. 6,” Cheney said.
Trump, in a 12-page statement sent to reporters on Monday night, blasted the panel illegitimate and their presentation one-sided, calling it “a smoke and mirrors show.”
While the committee weighs sending a formal criminal referral, here’s a look at federal statutes the committee and experts say Trump and his allies may have violated:
Obstruction of an official proceeding – 18 U.S.C. § 1512
The committee has outlined an alleged “sophisticated seven-point plan” it says Trump and his allies engaged in with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power, including “corruptly” planning to replace federal and state officials with those who would support his fake election claims and pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to violate his oath to the Constitution.
Acting on a plan with the intent to stop the counting of electoral votes would likely violate 18 U.S.C. § 1512, which makes it a felony to attempt to “corruptly obstruct, influence, or impede any official proceeding,” such as a presidential election, and comes with up to 20 years in prison.
“If there is enough evidence to prove that Trump knew he had lost the election, then it’s obvious that he was acting with corrupt intent,” Goodman said. “You can’t try to pressure the vice president to overturn the election if you know you actually lost.”
Cheney, raising texts sent to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows urging Trump to call for violence to stop on Jan. 6, mirrored language in the statute Monday to raise the question, “Did Donald Trump, through action — or inaction — corruptly seek to instruct or impede Congress’ proceedings to count electoral votes?”
The committee has attempted to make the case that even without a “smoking gun” such as Trump admitting on tape he knew the election was lost, a preponderance of evidence should have made that clear to him, and members will lead their case next to the potential legal culpability of Trump’s direct — and indirect pressure — on the Justice Department and state election officials.
Conspiracy to defraud the United States – 18 U.S.C. § 371
This statute, also raised by Cheney ahead of Thursday’s hearing, criminalizes the agreement between two or more persons to “impair, obstruct or defeat the lawful government functions” and is punishable by up to five years in prison.
As part of the “seven-point plot” Cheney has laid out, the committee argues Trump’s legal team violated this federal criminal statute when instructing Republicans in battleground states to replace Biden electors with slates of Trump electors and send those votes to Congress and the National Archives.
While Trump’s intent to defraud would need to be proved for a conviction, experts interviewed by ABC News say, how Trump relates to other potential defendants would be considered when weighing potential criminal charges to bring, and they note some of his closest allies “have very significant criminal exposure.”
Former Trump White House attorney John Eastman, in drafting a plan for Trump to cling to power by falsely claiming Pence could reject legitimate electors, as well as Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who allegedly with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, told then- Attorney General Bill Barr that Trump was “becoming more realistic” that he lost as they were “working on it,” may have a harder defense to make.
“If those individuals know Trump lost and indicated it, it’s going to be easier to prove the case against them,” Goodman said.
And if those close to Trump are charged, it may be easier to prove he agreed to participate in the conspiracy.
“For example,” Finkelstein said, “if John Eastman is found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States or obstruction of an official proceeding and Donald Trump was found to be in a conspiracy with John Eastman, the exact nature of his intent may not have to be the same as if he is a principal defendant because, under federal conspiracy law, he only needs to have agreed to the object to the conspiracy.”
Seditious conspiracy – 18 U.S.C. § 2384
Seditious conspiracy is defined as when two or more people in the U.S. conspire to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force” the U.S. government, or to oppose by force and try to prevent the execution of any law. It comes with 20 years in prison if convicted.
Since the use of force is an element of this crime, and Trump was not on the Capitol grounds during the attack, experts cautioned that the burden of proof might be more difficult in this instance.
“It must mean that Trump acted with foreknowledge and intend to use force and violence, and I think that’s going to be very hard to prove, though there is a lot of evidence that points in that direction,” Goodman said.
The Justice Department last week announced an indictment charging the then-leader and four other members of the extremist far-right group the Proud Boys with seditious conspiracy. Three have pleaded not guilty, and two others are set to enter not guilty pleas on Thursday. In an apparent suggestion the two were linked, the committee has argued that hundreds of Proud Boys traveled to Washington specifically for an insurrection, as indicated by members of the group marching on the Capitol before Trump even began speaking.
If the committee accuses Trump of conspiring with Proud Boys or other far-right extremist groups who are accused of organizing the Capitol attack, there’s more potential for a seditious conspiracy charge, which could then trigger Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits those who had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same [United States], or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” from serving in government.
“But in some sense,” Goodman cautioned, “it’s easier to prove that Trump might have had more knowledge that his supporters would try to enter the Capitol and occupy the Capitol physically but not use violence.”
Fraud by wire, radio or television – 18 U.S.C. § 1343
The committee introduced evidence this week of Trump and his allies fundraising $250 million off fraudulent election claims, asking for money for an “Official Election Defense Fraud” fund — but the panel said no such fund existed — with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., casting the “big lie” as “a big rip-off.”
“Claims that the election was stolen were so successful, President Trump and his allies raised $250 million, nearly $100 million in the first week after the election,” said Amanda Wick, senior investigative counsel to the committee, in a taped video. “Most of the money raised went to this newly created PAC, not to election-related litigation.”
The allegation has raised questions over potential wire fraud charges, or the attempt to defraud another through physical or electronic mail.
However, experts told ABC News this charge might be more difficult to prove, going back to the question of Trump’s intent. Prosecutors would have to convince a grand jury that Trump intended to mislead.
“He can say, ‘I wasn’t in charge of setting up those fundraising efforts, I didn’t know that they were potentially illegal,'” Wehle said. “So that’s a thornier case.”
To charge or not to charge
The experts ABC spoke with agreed the Jan. 6 committee has made a compelling case so far, and that the onus is on Garland and the Justice Department to follow the roadmap it’s laid out.
They argue the rule of law is at risk.
“What’s at stake is the very structure of our democracy and our ability to hold public officials to the confines of the law,” Finkelstein said.
“The committee’s public hearings have raised the stakes enormously for the country, in the sense that the criminal activity shown to have gone on is so brazen, that if the Justice Department does not enforce the law in this case, it really does further erode the rule of law and democracy,” Goodman said.
“Even if the effort fails, at least there’s a message sent that there is a cop on the block,” Wehle added. “Because we’re headed for a very, very dark era of American history if something doesn’t happen.”
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(WORCESTER, Mass.) — A bishop has declared that a Massachusetts school “may no longer identify itself as Catholic.”
A bishop has declared that a central Massachusetts school “may no longer identify itself as Catholic” because it refuses to remove Black Lives Matter and Pride flags it began flying on campus last year.
Arguing that the flags “embody specific agendas and ideologies (that) contradict Catholic social and moral teaching,” Bishop Robert McManus of the Diocese of Worcester issued a decree on Thursday punishing the Nativity School of Worcester, a tuition-free private middle school that serves about 60 boys from under-resourced communities.
The decree prohibits the school from calling itself Catholic and prevents Mass and sacraments from taking place on school grounds.
In a statement, the school said it began displaying the flags in Jan. 2021 at the request of its students, the majority of whom, it noted, are people of color.
“As a multicultural school, the flags represent the inclusion and respect of all people. These flags simply state that all are welcome at Nativity and this value of inclusion is rooted in Catholic teaching,” said the school.
According to the school, when McManus became aware of the flags in March of this year, he asked the school to take them down. Later that month, an unknown person removed them, the school said, “[causing] harm to our entire community. The flags were later raised again.
In May, McManus threatened to punish the school in an open letter, where he claimed the Church is “100% behind the phrase ‘black lives matter’” but accused “a specific movement with a wider agenda” of “co-opt[ing] the phrase.”
The school said it would seek to appeal the bishop’s decision while continuing to fly the flags.
A spokesperson for the diocese did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(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.”
