Politics

(WASHINGTON) — Amid new pressure for gun control on Capitol Hill, lawmakers on Wednesday will hear what’s expected to be dramatic testimony from a fourth grader trapped in a Texas classroom for more than an hour as a gunman killed 19 of her classmates and two of her teachers.

Miah Cerrillo, who emotionally described to CNN smearing herself with her classmate’s blood and playing dead as the Uvalde rampage unfolded, is expected to describe the horror she experienced to the House Oversight Committee in a recorded video.

The 11-year-old girl is expected to be in the room with her parents when the video is played, a committee aide told ABC News.

The committee also will hear from other families traumatized by the massacres in Uvalde and in Buffalo, New York, that killed a total of 31 people just 10 days apart.

Also testifying are Felix Rubio and Kimberly Rubio, the parents of Lexi Rubio, a 10-year-old girl killed in Uvalde; Zeneta Everhart, the mother of Buffalo shooting survivor Zaire Goodman, who was shot in the neck while working at the store; and Roy Guerrero, a Uvalde pediatrician who treated the victims.

Guerrero told ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal and James Scholz on the eve of his testimony that the community is “strong” but they need more than “thoughts and prayers.”

“We need people to step up,” he said. “We need this to stop, basically. And I figured that if I didn’t take that step forward and take that initiative, I’d just kind of be sitting back doing nothing and not reaching my full potential with my obligation to these children.”

A second panel appearing before the House committee Wednesday includes various officials and advocacy group leaders: Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia; Greg Jackson, Jr., the executive director of the Community Justice Action Fund; Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association; and Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety.

ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott spoke exclusively with Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, on the eve of the committee’s hearing on the gun violence epidemic.

“It will break your heart to hear their stories and to know that it’s senseless and that it could be prevented,” Maloney, D-N.Y., told Scott Tuesday evening in a preview of what to expect today when survivors and families testify.

Maloney said the survivors and families reached out to her committee and insisted on traveling to the nation’s capital to share their experiences just mere weeks after witnessing horror — hoping to change the hearts and minds of lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“They wanted to tell their stories. They’re hoping that their stories will change the minds of some of the members of Congress so that we can find solutions,” Maloney said.

“We were saying maybe it would be too difficult,” she said, referring to Miah Cerrillo, of someone so young wanting to appear before Congress. “But she felt strongly and her parents supported her wish that she be able to testify and tell her story.”

“She felt very, very strongly that her story — she didn’t want the loss of her teachers, the loss of her friends, but also the quick thinking that she had to play dead to smear blood all over herself to save her life. It’s an incredible story,” Maloney added.

The hearing comes as negotiations continue on gun control. A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, are trying to reach a compromise this week on incremental measures like expanded background checks, incentives for states to implement red flag laws and funding for mental health programs.

Senate Democrats are looking for at least 10 Republican votes to get to the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. If they don’t reach that mark, they risk continuing a 30-year trend of inaction on gun reform even in the wake of such tragedies as Sandy Hook, Las Vegas and Parkland.

Murphy provided an update on the talks during an appearance on ABC’s The View on Tuesday, stating he’s never seen this much public pressure for elected officials to act and he’s hopeful Republicans are “picking up this sense of urgency.”

“While we are very different in our views, we do both agree that we are not willing to do anything that compromises people’s Second Amendment rights,” Murphy said. “We are focusing on keeping weapons out of the hands of dangerous people.”

President Joe Biden made an impassioned plea last week for more, including a ban on assault weapons like the AR-15 used in the Uvalde shooting, but most Republicans in Congress remain opposed to any gun restrictions.

“We spent hours with hundreds of family members who were broken, whose lives will never be the same,” Biden said in an address from the White House. “They had one message for all of us. Do something.”

Maloney said she feels there is a new air of urgency to get gun control legislation on Biden’s desk in light of the Uvalde mass shooting, and she’s hopeful Republicans will change their minds when they hear the witnesses speak firsthand.

“Absolutely, there’s a sense of urgency, and tomorrow we will be debating gun safety laws on the floor and voting. So, hopefully, their testimony will have an impact on the votes of these members of Congress,” Maloney said Tuesday.

In a letter to Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House will vote Wednesday afternoon on the Protect Our Kids Act, the gun control package assembled after the mass shootings in New York and Texas.

In all, 19 young children and two teachers were killed by a gunman wielding an AR-15-style assault weapon at Robb Elementary School on May 24. Funerals for the victims are continuing until June 25.

In Buffalo, 10 Black people were fatally shot in a Tops grocery store on May 14. The Department of Justice is investigating the shooting as a “hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.”

On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from the son of one of the Buffalo victims as part of a hearing on domestic terrorism.

Garnell Whitfield Jr., the oldest son of Ruth Whitfield, an 86-year-old woman killed in the shooting, held back tears as he urged lawmakers to take action or “yield their positions” in Congress.

“You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again. And what are you doing?” he said. “You’re elected to protect us, to protect our way of life.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is in active discussions with former White House counsel Pat Cipollone regarding a potential public appearance in one of their upcoming hearings, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Cipollone and former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin previously met with committee investigators for an informal interview in April.

Cipollone was one of the few aides who was with then-President Donald Trump in the West Wing on Jan. 6. ABC News previously reported that in the days following the attack on the Capitol, he advised Trump that Trump could potentially face civil liability in connection with his role encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol.

According to sources, there are a number of circumstances that could serve to complicate any eventual appearance by Cipollone — including the issue of who questions him and for how long; whether there are any ongoing issues of privilege; and whether Trump would approve of his appearance.

Michael Purpura, the former deputy White House counsel who was part of the legal team defending Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial, is representing Cipollone in his discussions with committee investigators, sources said.

Cipollone has also made clear that his testimony would be restricted to the effort undertaken by former top Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to use the powers of the DOJ to further Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the deliberations said.

Representatives for Cipollone did not respond to ABC’s request for comment. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment.

The committee hopes to secure Cipollone’s public testimony on a panel with former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his then-deputy Richard Donoghue, along with one of DOJ’s former top attorneys, Steve Engel, sources said. Both Rosen and Donoghue have received formal invitations from the committee to appear.

Both Cipollone and Philbin were part of a Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting where Trump insisted on replacing Rosen with Clark, a Trump loyalist who had vowed to use the Department of Justice to investigate the election.

The officials in that meeting also debated a proposal by Clark to send a letter to state officials in Georgia urging officials in the state to investigate unfounded claims of fraud with an eye toward overturning President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

According to Donoghue, Cipollone and Philbin made it clear to Trump that they would resign if Clark were installed, with Cipollone describing the Georgia letter as a “murder-suicide pact” that would “damage anyone and anything that it touches,” according to a Senate committee report released last year that detailed instances where Trump and his allies sought to use the DOJ to overturn the election.

ABC News previously obtained and published emails dated Dec. 28, 2020, showing Clark circulating that draft letter, which he wanted Rosen and Donoghue to sign off on.

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(WASHINGTON) — New details are emerging about how the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol plans to begin presenting its findings to the American people this Thursday, June 9.

The prime-time hearing, kicking off at 8 p.m. EDT, will feature never-before-seen footage, including a dramatic 10-minute video, and witness testimony as lawmakers aim to explain what they say was a “coordinated, multi-step effort” to undermine democracy and overturn results of the 2020 presidential election.

It was revealed this week that the panel brought in a seasoned television executive, former ABC News President James Goldston, to help produce the hearing and capture public attention after nearly a year’s worth of work conducted behind the scenes, a development first reported by Axios and confirmed to ABC News by congressional sources. Goldston, who left ABC News last year, started working with the committee several weeks ago.

One of the witnesses planned for Thursday’s hearing is documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who was embedded with the extremist far-right group the Proud Boys during the assault on the Capitol, ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reported.

The hearing will be the first time Quested shares his story publicly. Lawmakers are also expected to air material captured by Quested and his crew. While his documentary has not been released, some of his footage has been used in a Department of Justice case related to Jan. 6.

Earlier this week, Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and four other members were indicted on seditious conspiracy charges. They all were previously indicted on less serious conspiracy charges related to their involvement in what transpired on Jan. 6. All previously pleaded not guilty and there is a hearing scheduled in their case for later this week.

Another expected witness is Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered a head injury in the attack. She told ABC News last October that she was still struggling months after the incident.

“You kind of have this, this guilt of like, ‘Am I, am I making this up?’ — because I can’t tell you know I can’t show in a tangible way that I’m injured, but you know I really have to tell people I’m not feeling good today,” Edwards said.

The Jan. 6 committee’s presentation will be the culmination of more than 11 months of work including more than 1,000 interviews and over 140,000 documents.

The panel — including seven Democrats and two Republicans — has talked to Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner as they investigate former President Donald Trump’s role in efforts to subvert the election outcome. Trump has consistently attacked the panel, calling it the “Unselect Committee.”

Committee members have also interviewed former Attorney General Bill Barr; former national security adviser Michael Fynn; Trump’s former personal assistant Nick Luna; former aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson; and Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary and chief of staff to Melania Trump.

Most major news networks are expected to carry Thursday’s hearing live in their prime-time slot, with the exception of Fox News.

The conservative outlet announced Tuesday that their prime-time programs will cover the hearings “as news warrants.” At 11 p.m. EDT, “Fox News @ Night” anchor Shannon Bream will host a two-hour live special analyzing the hearings.

Instead, Fox Business will be covering the hearings live, with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as anchors. Local Fox affiliates around the country, the Fox website and Fox Nation app will also be able to air the Fox Business feed.

The Jan. 6 committee’s second hearing is slated for June 13 at 10:00 a.m. The dates of the other hearings have not been released.

The committee has set a fall deadline to share its complete findings, a release that would coincide with the 2022 midterm elections.

The committee can refer cases for prosecution, but only the Justice Department can decide whether to file any charges.

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., was meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House on Tuesday to personally update him on ongoing gun negotiations in the Senate as lawmakers try to reach a deal this week, which he outlined to ABC’s The View beforehand.

Murphy said negotiators hope to announce a framework by the end of the week, allowing a package to advance for votes thereafter, adding that the pressure on lawmakers, this time, feels unprecedented with constituents reaching out to offices “at a rate that I’ve never seen before.”

Murphy told the co-hosts ofThe View that he and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the lead Republican on negotiations, were part of talks Monday “that went into the wee hours of last night” and that an increasing number of Republicans are supporting the efforts.

“While we are very different in our views, we do both agree that we are not willing to do anything that compromises people’s Second Amendment rights. We are focusing on keeping weapons out of the hands of dangerous people,” Murphy said. “We can’t find agreement right now on an issue like an outright ban on assault weapons, but we can find an agreement that saves lives around making sure that only law-abiding citizens get access to really powerful firearms.”

In a prime-time address last week, Biden called for an assault weapons ban, and if not, he said, then to raise the age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21. Instead, lawmakers are considering measures like expanded background checks, incentives for states and localities to institute red flag laws, and increased funding for school security and mental health programs.

“I’ve failed so many times before in these talks that I’m sober-minded about our chances, but you normally as time goes on after one of these cataclysmic mass shootings the momentum fades. The opposite seems to be happening this time,” Murphy added. “There are more Republicans every single day, who want to help us get to a product.”

Murphy said most Republicans realize there’s a “public urgency” to act.

“But I also think Republicans understand that this is good politics — that it’s going to be really hard to go back to their constituencies and say that they rejected a pretty reasonable offer to tighten up our nation’s firearms laws that are completely compliant with the Second Amendment,” he added.

However, without the support of 10 Senate Republicans to gain the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, Congress could soon enter its third decade without having passed major gun safety reforms.

Pressed on the prospect of an assault weapons ban or raising the age to buy assault weapons, Murphy said, “I’m not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

“Right now, we don’t have 10 Republican votes to ban these AR-15 assault-style weapons,” Murphy said. “Of course, I support banning assault weapons. I support universal background checks, but I don’t think that we can stand by and let our politics stop us from finding a compromise.”

“It won’t be everything I want. But I think it’ll give parents and kids in this country, a sense that we are taking seriously this epidemic and that we’re willing to make progress,” he added.

Throughout negotiations, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been on the defensive on Biden’s involvement as some have questioned whether the president should be taking a larger role in talks. She has argued Biden has been involved for decades and is giving senators “a little space” to work. Murphy has spoken with the White House every single day since the negotiations began, she said, but that can be on the staff level, not directly with Biden.

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(WASHINGTON) — A son of the oldest victim in the Buffalo supermarket shooting, appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday in a hearing on domestic terrorism, called on lawmakers to “yield your positions” if they’re unwilling to meet “the urgency of the moment” in the wake of the apparent racially-motivated attack that left 10 Black people dead, including his 86-year-old mother.

“You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again. And what are you doing?” Garnell Whitfield Jr., the oldest son of Ruth Whitfield, a victim of the Buffalo shooting, asked the Senate panel. “You’re elected to protect us, to protect our way of life.”

“I ask every one of you to imagine the faces of your mothers as you look at mine, and ask yourself, ‘Is there nothing that we can do?’ Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy and the domestic terrorism that inspires?” he continued, maintaining his composure but holding back tears. “Because if there is nothing, then respectfully senators, you should yield your positions of authority and influence the others that are willing to lead on this issue. The urgency of the moment demands, no less.”

“My mother’s life mattered — and your actions here today would tell us how much it matters to you,” he added.

The hearing, which kicked off at 10 a.m., is titled, “Examining the ‘Metastasizing’ Domestic Terrorism Threat After the Buffalo Attack” and examines “the continued threat posed by violent white supremacists and other extremists, including those who have embraced the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, as well as the federal government’s response to this threat,” according to a committee release. It comes amid a national reckoning over gun violence as lawmakers consider solutions this week.

Opening the hearing, Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called the Buffalo mass shooting “one of the worst domestic terrorist attacks in recent memory” and read the victims’ names into the record.

“Every one of these victims left behind loved ones who are grieving that loss — and several of those loved ones are in the room with us today. I think there are no words that fill the empty chairs at your dinner table or the empty spaces in your heart,” Durbin said. “But your willingness to sit in this room to honor the memory of those lost is a lesson in courage and love.”

“Please know that you are not alone,” he added. “We offer our deepest condolences, and most importantly, our commitment to do something.”

Ruth Whitfield was mourned by her family, including her son Garnell, a former Buffalo fire commissioner, in an emotional press conference last month. He said she was returning home from visiting her husband in a nursing home, what her son called “a daily ritual” for eight years of their 68-year marriage, when she stopped by the Tops grocery store to pick up groceries, and the gunman opened fire.

“For her to be taken from us and taken from this world by someone that’s just full of hate for no reason … it is very hard for us to handle right now,” Garnell said at the time. “We need help. We’re asking you to help us, help us change this. This can’t keep happening,” he added.

At the same press conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump slammed what he called the “accomplices to this mass murder” and the cause of the indoctrination of hate among young people, referring, in part, to far-right-wing websites, politicians and cable news pundits.

“Even though they didn’t pull the trigger, they did load the gun for this young white supremacist,” Crump said. “Black America is suffering right now and we need to know that our top leader in America reacts and responds when we are hurt.”

To that end, Durbin, in his opening statement, played a video clip of conservative news hosts echoing rhetoric espoused by the shooter to illustrate what he called “the role of the media and the role that they played in dragging hateful rhetoric into mainstream America, and sadly, how it’s inspiring acts of racist violence.”

“More than 400 episodes of Tucker Carlson’s show have amplified the so-called “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, the guiding principle of modern white supremacist movement,” Durbin added. “As lawmakers, we must speak in one voice and repeat repudiating this incendiary rhetoric, along with any individual or extremist group that resorts to violence.”

Other witnesses on Tuesday’s panel include Michael German, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and fellow at the Brennan Center For Justice; Robert Pape, professor and director of The Chicago Project on Security and Threats at The University of Chicago; Justin Herdman, a former U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Ohio, and legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at the George Washington University Law School and a frequent witness called by Republicans on the committee.

The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday morning warned of a “heightened” threat environment for “domestic violent extremists,” a term which the department uses to label those from a broad swath of the ideological spectrum from racially motivated extremists to white supremacists.

“Individuals in online forums that routinely promulgate domestic violent extremist and conspiracy theory-related content have praised the May 2022 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and encouraged copycat attacks,” The National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin said — marking the sixth time DHS has issued the NTAS bulletin since Biden took office.

ABC News previously reported on evidence indicating the Buffalo shooting was a calculated, racially-motivated execution by the suspect, an 18-year-old white male, according to multiple sources and a review of FBI cases and testimony. The gunman, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder and is being held without bail, allegedly wanted a race war and live-streamed his attack in an apparent effort to spur others to kill minorities, sources said.

Included in a 180-page document posted online by the shooter was a far-right conspiracy idea called the “great replacement theory,” which baselessly claims that white populations are being intentionally replaced by minorities and immigrants. Democrats have slammed the theory and moved to fund new programs to target domestic terrorism, while some Republicans have faced backlash for echoing notions of the theory in their talking points.

Tuesday’s hearing comes as the Democrats on Capitol Hill ramp up efforts to push for legislation that would require stronger background checks for gun buyers and incentivize state red flag laws following the recent mass shootings. Twenty-one people, including 19 children, were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, just 10 days after the mass shooting in Buffalo. Another mass shooting on June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, claimed four lives after a gunman stormed a medical facility with an AR-15-style rifle that police say he bought hours before the massacre.

Zeneta Everhart, who says her 21-year-old son, Zaire Goodman, is still recovering from gunshot wounds in the Buffalo shooting, one of three others injured there, as well as Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader who survived the shooting in Uvalde, are both expected to testify at another hearing on gun violence on Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Last month, Senate Republicans used the filibuster to block a bill designed to combat domestic terrorism from advancing to a key vote. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, D-Ill., was the only Republican in either chamber of Congress to vote for the measure, which would have created new offices within the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and FBI to “monitor, analyze, investigate, and prosecute domestic terrorism.”

Tuesday also marks the third in a series of hearings this committee has held on domestic terrorism.

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(WASHINGTON) — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who took over as the President Joe Biden’s chief spokesperson just over three weeks ago, told ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday that Biden is “very encouraged” by gun safety negotiations in Congress as lawmakers urgently try to reach a deal in principle this week in the wake of recent shootings.

“This is a priority for and this is a very serious issue for this president, but right now, we’re watching what Congress is doing, because we can’t do this alone, he cannot do this alone, and we’re very encouraged,” Jean-Pierre told GMA Anchor Robin Roberts, who pressed her on whether Biden was personally lobbying senators after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.

“So, I’ll say this, the president has been very clear,” Jean-Pierre continued. “He made his speech on Thursday. He spoke directly to the American public to continue to lay out the importance of dealing with gun violence, how this is destroying schools clearly and communities and how we have to act now and we cannot wait any longer.”

“But he wants to give the Senate and Congress on the Hill some space to have the conversation,” she added. “It sounds very promising. We are encouraged by it.”

Jean-Pierre said the White House Office of Legislative Affairs has had direct communication with the negotiators “dozens of times.”

“So, that is that is how we have been really dealing with this — making sure that we can do whatever it is that we can do on our end and getting updates from them as well,” she added.

The exclusive interview comes as Biden has called for lawmakers to act on gun safety legislation, but as Senate negotiators are considering a package much more narrow than what he asked for.

Biden called for an assault weapons ban, and if not, he said, then to raise the age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21. Instead, lawmakers are considering measures like expanded background checks, incentives for states and localities to institute red flag laws, and increased funding for school security and mental health programs.

Throughout negotiations, Jean-Pierre has been on the defensive on Biden’s involvement as some have questioned whether the president should be taking a larger role in talks. She has argued Biden has been involved for decades and is giving senators “a little space” to work.

At Monday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre indicated that even if the senators ultimately propose a package that falls far short of the wish list Biden outlined in prime-time remarks last week, incremental changes would be acceptable to Biden. When reporters pressed her on the president’s lack of personal involvement in the talks, she confirmed Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy’s assertion that he has spoken with the White House every single day since the negotiations began — but that can be on the staff level, not directly with Biden.

Jean-Pierre made history when she took over from Jen Psaki on May 13, becoming the first Black woman and first openly gay person to hold the position of White House press secretary.

When Jean-Pierre anchored her first White House briefing last year, as she was filling in for Psaki, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked her about making history at the podium.

“It’s a real honor to be standing here today,” Jean-Pierre said. “I appreciate the historic nature, I really do, but I believe that being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building, is not about one person. It’s about what we do on behalf of the American people.”

Previously, Jean-Pierre was principal deputy White House press secretary, and during the 2020 presidential campaign, she was then-candidate Kamala Harris’ chief of staff. She also served in the Obama White House as the regional director in the Office of Political Affairs for the northeast. Before joining the Biden campaign, she was a senior executive at MoveOn.org and an MSNBC analyst.

Jean-Pierre was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, to Haitian parents, who later moved briefly to France and then immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Queens when she was 5. They later moved to Hempstead, Long Island, where her father worked as a cab driver, and her mother as a home health care aide. Though Jean-Pierre wasn’t born in Haiti, she calls herself a “proud Haitian-American.”

She and her partner have one daughter, Soleil.

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(WASHINGTON) — The son of the oldest victim in the Buffalo, New York supermarket shooting is expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in a hearing on domestic terrorism in the wake of the apparent racially-motivated attack that left 10 Black people dead, including his 86-year-old mother, and a national reckoning over gun violence as lawmakers consider gun safety legislation this week.

The hearing, which kicks off at 10 a.m., is titled, “Examining the ‘Metastasizing’ Domestic Terrorism Threat After the Buffalo Attack” and will examine “the continued threat posed by violent white supremacists and other extremists, including those who have embraced the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, as well as the federal government’s response to this threat,” according to a committee release.

Lawmakers on the, at times, divisive committee will hear from Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of Ruth Whitfield, the oldest victim in the Buffalo shooting, who was mourned by her family in an emotional press conference last month. Whitfield was returning home from visiting her husband in a nursing home, what her son called “a daily ritual” for eight years of their 68-year marriage, when she stopped by the Tops grocery store to pick up groceries, and the gunman opened fire.

“For her to be taken from us and taken from this world by someone that’s just full of hate for no reason … it is very hard for us to handle right now,” Garnell said at the time.

“We need help. We’re asking you to help us, help us change this. This can’t keep happening,” he added.

At the same press conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump slammed what he called the “accomplices to this mass murder” and the cause of the indoctrination of hate among young people, referring, in part, to far-right-wing websites, politicians and cable news pundits.

“Even though they didn’t pull the trigger, they did load the gun for this young white supremacist,” Crump said. “Black America is suffering right now and we need to know that our top leader in America reacts and responds when we are hurt.”

Other witnesses on Tuesday’s panel include Michael German, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and fellow at the Brennan Center For Justice; Robert Pape, professor and director of The Chicago Project on Security and Threats at The University of Chicago; Justin Herdman, a former U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Ohio, and legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at the George Washington University Law School and a frequent witness called by Republicans on the committee.

ABC News previously reported on evidence indicating the Buffalo shooting was a calculated, racially-motivated execution by the suspect, an 18-year-old white male, according to multiple sources and a review of FBI cases and testimony. The gunman, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder and is being held without bail, allegedly wanted a race war and live-streamed his attack in an apparent effort to spur others to kill minorities, sources said.

Included in a 180-page document posted online by the shooter was a far-right conspiracy idea called the “great replacement theory,” which baselessly claims that white populations are being intentionally replaced by minorities and immigrants. Democrats have slammed the theory and moved to fund new programs to target domestic terrorism, while some Republicans have faced backlash for echoing notions of the theory in their talking points.

The hearing comes as the Democrats on Capitol Hill ramp up efforts to push for legislation that would require stronger background checks for gun buyers and incentivize state red flag laws following the recent mass shootings. Twenty-one people, including 19 children, were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, just 10 days after the mass shooting in Buffalo. Another mass shooting on June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, claimed four lives after a gunman stormed a medical facility with an AR-15-style rifle that police say he bought hours before the massacre.

Zeneta Everhart, who says her 21-year-old son, Zaire Goodman, is still recovering from gunshot wounds in the Buffalo shooting, one of three others injured there, as well as Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader who survived the shooting in Uvalde, are both expected to testify at another hearing on gun violence on Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

The FBI announced it was investigating the Buffalo mass shooting as a hate crime and case of “racially motivated violent extremism” after Erie County Sheriff John Garcia described the attack as a “straight-up racially motivated hate crime.”

Senate Republicans used the filibuster to block a bill last month designed to combat domestic terrorism from advancing to a key vote. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, D-Ill., was the only Republican in either chamber of Congress to vote for the measure, which would have created new offices within the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and FBI to “monitor, analyze, investigate, and prosecute domestic terrorism.”

Tuesday marks the third in a series of hearings this committee has held on domestic terrorism.

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(WASHINGTON) — Voters in seven states head to the polls on Tuesday to pick party nominees for some of the nation’s most competitive House seats — and their choices will be shaped by key forces, like redistricting, that will help decide who controls Congress next year.

California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, New Jersey and South Dakota are next to vote in the ongoing primaries.

One of the marquee developments will be the outcome in brand new congressional districts, which were based on the last census and each state’s rules about who drew the new maps. In most cases, the state legislatures were responsible, with observers tracking how the new lines across the country favor one party over another — and with some new maps enduring rounds of controversy and judicial review.

The candidates for some of these new seats highlight fluctuating intraparty dynamics for both Democrats and Republicans. The latest batch of primaries also features some of the most endangered incumbents from either party.

California Republican Reps. Mike Garcia — who voted not to certify the 2020 election results — and David Valadao — one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump in the wake of Jan. 6 — are attempting to keep their seats in districts that absorbed a near 12-point edge in Democratic voter registration after the state’s latest decennial redraw.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne is grasping at her swing district as her state has moved further and further right.

Fellow Democratic incumbent Tom Malinowski, of New Jersey, is in a long-shot fight to keep hold of his newly GOP-favorable 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn in order for the state’s Democrats to bolster a number of their other vulnerable lawmakers.

The contest for New Mexico’s second congressional seat highlights a newly formed district that shifted in 2020 from Trump to Joe Biden by 17 points. It’ll be a toss-up race between incumbent Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell and front-runner Gabe Vasquez, a Mexican-born former Las Cruces councilman and former aide to Sen. Martin Heinrich. In California, Democratic Rep. Mike Levin’s 49th District was recently made slightly more Republican.

Redistricting drew incumbent Republican Rep. Michelle Steel into the same district as Democratic fundraising powerhouse Rep. Katie Porter in Orange County, California, forcing the former to move over to the 45th District.

Concerns about crime and policing will also play out in some primaries. San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin faces a recall, with his opponents arguing he has not done enough to combat criminals in the city while his supporters say he’s trying to fix and reimagine law enforcement. San Francisco is one of the most liberal cities in America and if voters do kick out Boudin, it could be a telling sign of how far progressive prosecutors can go in metro areas.

South of San Francisco, crime is also having an impact in the Los Angeles mayoral race, where billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso has seen his profile rise. Caruso, a former Republican and self-described “centrist,” has promised to invest more in L.A.’s police department and focus on public safety. The other leading contender in the race is Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who has served six terms in Congress and was also on the long list to be Biden’s vice presidential running mate. Bass has touted her own extensive plans for crime in the city, reflecting how it remains top of mind for local voters.

California’s primary will shift light onto another race: GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is up for reelection in the 20th Congressional District. On Sunday, McCarthy received an endorsement from former President Trump, who called him a “tireless advocate” for his area and a chief opponent of Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

But even though he endorsed McCarthy, Trump did not mention supporting McCarthy in his run for speaker should Republicans gain control of the House. McCarthy is widely expected to seek the speakership, should the GOP retake the majority, and Trump’s support would be critical.

Last, in Iowa, state Democrats’ push to unseat 88-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is shaping up to be a major primary battle on Tuesday — and one that could illustrate disorganization in the party ahead of more fierce fighting for the historically purple state. Former Rep. Abby Finkenauer is in an ever-tightening race against retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Mike Franken. While that primary had been intended as an easy win for the well-connected Finkenauer, ballot accessibility hurdles involving the Iowa Supreme Court and some campaign management challenges instead put her into a much more competitive race with Franken. Both will also be up against rural physician Glenn Hurst.

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(WASHINGTON) — As a bipartisan group of senators — a smaller subset of the original group of 10 — prepared to meet in person on Monday night to go over options for possible gun legislation, members from both sides of the aisle were expressing optimism that some kind of deal may come together by week’s end, with Democrats cautioning against allowing talks to drag out.

“My goal is to reach an agreement by the end of the week. We have more Republicans and Democrats sitting together than ever before — since Sandy Hook. What we’re talking about is substantial. It will save lives,” lead Democratic negotiator Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, told ABC News’ Rachel Scott. “While I’m certainly prepared to fail, I’m more hopeful for success than ever before.”

“We’re trying to get a bipartisan outcome here that makes a difference, and hopefully sometime this week we’ll come together,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, echoing Murphy, though he mentioned no specifics.

And while there was a palpable sense of cautious optimism in the air — as the latest round of negotiations continued in the wake of the latest mass shootings — there was also a sense of fragility in what has been happening behind the scenes. GOP aides, in particular, remained incredibly sensitive about the talks, taking time to correct reporters on various ideas that were potentially on the table.

One suggestion, for example, was an expansion of current federal background checks. But an aide to lead Republican negotiator John Cornyn, of Texas, cautioned the press that any changes to the law would not expand but rather strengthen the system for those already subject to a background check.

Cornyn, in a floor speech on Monday, indicated that the focus was on mental health and school safety, two subjects that appear to be safer political territory for Republicans, many of whom argue restrictions on firearms, including on once-banned assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.

“Over the last week and a half, I’ve been talking particularly with Sen. Murphy, Sen. [Thom] Tillis, Sen. [Kyrsten] Sinema, but literally with everybody I can reach on the phone or get through text message to see if there’s some package of mental health and safety legislation that addresses some of the factors that might have prevented the recent shootings in Uvalde and elsewhere,” Cornyn said.

He added, “I want to be clear, though: We are not talking about restricting the rights of current law-abiding gun owners or citizens.”

“What I’m interested in is keeping guns out of the hands of those who, by current law, are not supposed to have them,” Cornyn said. “People with mental health problems, people who have criminal records. Again, this is about the art of the possible. In order to deliver results, we have to build consensus, and the best way to do that is through targeted reforms.”

While no vote is expected this week, lawmakers, specifically Democrats, are eyeing a fast-approaching deadline of the end of the week for a compromise to be in hand. The majority party is conscious of the painful lessons learned by the failure of the sweeping social, economic and climate legislation — known as Build Back Better — that they attempted to fast-track after retaking Congress in 2021, only to see members of their own party tank the bill’s chances following months of grinding talks.

“Look at reconciliation. The failure to have a real, finite deadline led us on and on and on, month after month, and we ended up empty-handed. So I think Chuck [Schumer] was right in saying to the negotiators, ‘I’m glad you’re meeting but do something and do it in a timely fashion.’ Otherwise it would drag out and otherwise American people would lose their faith in our ability to respond in any way,” the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Illinois’ Dick Durbin, told reporters Monday, referring to the majority leader’s position on the latest round of talks.

Durbin said he wouldn’t call Friday a “final deadline,” but he signaled there would be little patience with anything too far beyond that.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also a negotiator, told Rachel Scott that it was time for Republicans to “put up or shut up.”

But Cornyn warned on Monday against pressuring for a deal.

“I will not settle on inadequate or downright harmful legislation for the sake of doing something. That’s not productive for anyone,” he said. “That’s one of the things I hear the most: People say, ‘Do something.’ Well, we can agree something needs to be done. But what that something is is much harder to achieve — and so targeted reforms, I think, are the way to get to where we need to go.”

One unusual, A-list lobbyist in Congress this week: Actor Matthew McConaughey — a native of Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman massacred 21 at an elementary school last month — who was on the Hill on Monday evening to talk gun safety. An aide familiar with the matter told ABC News that the actor planned to discuss the issue with the bipartisan Senate group as well as some House lawmakers.

Negotiators have met at least four times during the weeklong recess that just ended, but aides told ABC News that a deal was far from ready. Paper has been exchanged behind the scenes with negotiators working to build consensus in the hope of unveiling a bill that can garner at least a filibuster-proof 60 to 70 votes in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a negotiator working on background checks for commercial sales, told ABC News on Monday that he would support increasing the age from 18 to 21 for adults to be able to purchase a semi-automatic weapon like the AR-15s that are repeatedly used in mass shootings.

“We know two things that would have stopped this: One, if the age was at 21; and also if there were ‘red flag’ laws,” said Manchin, referencing legislation that allows law enforcement, with a court order, to temporarily seize guns from those deemed a danger to themselves or others.

“There are no red lines. We’ve got to do something. We have to bring gun sense into America,” Manchin said.

But an age restriction is not something Republicans are interested in doing.

“Not likely. Not likely. We ask 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds to go to war, to defend our freedom, and the homeland as well … So, I think it would seem a little bit hypocritical to ask an 18- or 19-year-old who’s a responsible gun owner to have one,” Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told Rachel Scott.

Democrats seem resigned to accepting a compromise that will not contain anything near what they want — despite President Joe Biden’s push otherwise — but doing something is the goal in the face of so much carnage, they have said.

“I can guarantee you despite their best efforts, they will for sure fall short of what I want to see done,” Durbin told reporters of the possible deal. “But as [is] the nature of a 50-50 Senate and political compromise, we ought to see anything that is a sensible way to reduce gun violence.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The military has identified a U.S. service member as a “possible suspect” in an April 7 attack in Syria that injured other American troops, an official said Monday.

The Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) are conducing a joint investigation into the incident. (The probe was first reported by CNN.)

Four U.S. service members were evaluated for minor wounds and possible traumatic brain injuries after what the military originally reported to be two indirect-fire rounds hitting the Green Village base in Syria.

An Army CID official confirmed in a statement that the service member was being investigated, adding that the person was currently back in the U.S.

The official emphasized that “at this point these are just allegations” and that any suspects were presumed innocent.

“The investigation is ongoing, which may or may not, develop sufficient evidence to identify a perpetrator(s) and have enough evidence to ensure a conviction in a court of law,” the official said.

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