Page 6777 – 105.7 WDNY

Jan. 6 hearing live updates: Focus is Trump’s effort to corrupt Justice Department

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Thursday’s hearing of the Jan. 6 committee is focusing on the pressure then-President Donald Trump and his allies put on the Justice Department to help overturn the 2020 election.

Here’s how the hearing is unfolding:

Jun 23, 4:46 pm
Trump, in emergency meeting, urged DOJ to seize voting machines, former officials say

Former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and his former deputy Richard Donoghue described Thursday how Trump tried to get the Department of Justice to seize voting machines in late 2020.

Donoghue said an “agitated” Trump called an emergency meeting on New Year’s Eve to make the request.

“There was nothing wrong with them so we told him no,” Rosen told the committee. “There was no factual basis nor was there any legal authority to do so.”

“Toward the end of the meeting, the president, again, was getting very agitated,” Donoghue recalled. “And he said, ‘People tell me I should just get rid of both of you, I should just remove you and make a change in leadership, put Jeff Clark in, maybe something will finally get done.’”

Jun 23, 4:37 pm
DOJ attorney recalls rejecting Trump’s ‘meritless’ proposed Supreme Court lawsuit

After detailing an effort by Jeffrey Clark to replace acting attorney general Jeff Rosen in order to help Trump overturn the election, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., turned to former top DOJ lawyer Steven Engel on other efforts by Trump to pressure the department.

After Trump sent a proposed draft lawsuit, done outside the department, to top DOJ attorneys that he wanted to send to the Supreme Court, Engel called it a “meritless lawsuit” and an “unusual request” that the department would never bring.

“Obviously, even the person who drafted this lawsuit didn’t really understand in my view the law, and or how the Supreme Court works or the Department of Justice,” Engel said.

Trump and the White House also asked the Department of Justice if it could point a special counsel to look at widespread election fraud — which did not exist — with Engel detailing why “that was not legally available,” before Kinzinger claimed Trump even offered the position of special counsel to campaign attorney Sidney Powell, as his pressure campaign continued.

Jun 23, 4:18 pm
GOP congressman fought for Clark’s ascension: ‘We gotta get going’

The committee outlined how Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., played a role in trying to elevate Jeffrey Clark, then an obscure DOJ official, to department leadership amid the resistance from other DOJ officials to Trump’s efforts to undermine the election.

Records from the National Archives obtained by the committee showed Perry and Clark met Trump on Dec. 22, 2020. Perry later told a local television news network he had worked with Clark before and “obliged” when asked by Trump to introduce him.

The committee later displayed text messages which showed Perry advising White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to help with Clark’s ascension.

“Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down. 11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going,” Perry wrote to Meadows on Dec. 26, 2020.

The next text, sent 30 minutes later, showed Perry telling Meadows to “call Jeff.”

“I just got off the phone with him and he explained to me why the principal deputy won’t work especially with the FBI. They will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done.”

Jun 23, 4:14 pm
DOJ official warned Clark’s plan could lead to ‘grave, constitutional crisis’

Former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue said he tried to convey to Jeffrey Clark that a draft letter he circulated seeking to ask Georgia’s governor and other top state officials to convene the state legislature into a special session to investigate claims of voter fraud — which didn’t exist — could launch the country into a “constitutional crisis.”

“I had to read both emails and the attached letter twice to make sure I really understood what he was proposing — because it was so extreme to me, I had a hard time getting my head around it initially,” he recalled, adding he and former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen had “visceral reactions to it.”

“I thought it was very important to get a prompt response rejecting this out of hand. In my response, I explained a number of reasons that this is not the department’s rule to suggest or dictate [to] state legislatures,” he said.

“More importantly, this was not based on fact. This was actually contrary to the facts as developed by department investigations over the last several weeks and months,” he added. “For the department to insert itself into the political process this way, I think, would have had great consequences for the country. It may very well have spiraled into a constitutional crisis — and I want to make sure that he understood the gravity of the situation because he did not seem to really appreciate it.”

Jun 23, 4:03 pm
Trump: ‘Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to us’

Drawing from handwritten notes, then-acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue documented that Trump told him to, “Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen.”

When Donoghue told Trump he couldn’t change the outcome of the election, he recalled Trump “responded very quickly.”

“And said, ‘that’s not what I’m asking you to do — I’m just asking you to say it is corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” Donoghue said.

He also said Trump told him the Justice Department was “obligated to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election,” despite officials repeatedly telling him no widespread fraud existed and that Biden was the legitimate winner.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger emphasized the gravity of Trump’s request.

“‘Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to us,'” he said. “The president wanted the top Justice Department officials to declare that the election was corrupt, even though, as he knew, there was absolutely no evidence to support that statement.”

Jun 23, 3:47 pm
Taped testimony previews showdown Oval Office meeting with Trump

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., played previous video testimony ahead of questioning live witnesses to preview how the committee would reveal findings from what took place inside a heated Oval Office meeting on Jan. 3, 2021, between Trump and top Justice Department officials.

“The meeting took about another two and a half hours from the time I entered. It was entirely focused on whether there should be a DOJ leadership change,” former deputy acting attorney general Richard Donoghue recalled in taped testimony. “I would say, directly in front of the president, Jeff Rosen was to my right. Jeff Clark was to my left.”

“He looked at me and he underscored,” said former acting attorney general Jeff Rosen, “‘Well the one thing we know is you’re not gonna do anything, you don’t even agree that the concerns that are being presented are valid. And here is someone who has a different view, so, why shouldn’t I do that, you know?’ That’s how the discussion went, proceeded.”

Former White House attorney Eric Herschmann underscored the purpose of the meeting, where “Jeff Clark was proposing that Jeff Rosen be replaced by Jeff Clark — and I thought the proposal was asinine.”

Donoghue recalled that Clark “repeatedly said to the president that if he was put in the seat, he would conduct real investigations that would, in his view, uncover widespread fraud.”

Jun 23, 3:46 pm
DOJ denied all of Trump’s requests ahead of Jan. 6: Rosen

Former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen told the committee that Trump made several requests to the Department of Justice after Bill Barr left his position in December 2020.

According to Rosen, Trump called him “virtually every day” between December 23 and January 3.

Trump wanted the DOJ to appoint a special counsel for election fraud, set up a meeting with Rudy Giuliani, to potentially file a lawsuit in the Supreme Court, hold a press conference and to send letters to state legislatures furthering baseless claims of fraud.

“I will say that the Justice Department declined all of those requests that I was just referencing,” Rosen said, “because we did not think that they were appropriate based on the facts and the law as we understood them.”

Jun 23, 3:40 pm
Former White House attorney suggests Clark ready to commit felony

The committee played a video of former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann recalling what he said he told Jeffrey Clark, a lower-level DOJ official overseeing environmental law enforcement, who supported Trump’s proposal to have him become acting attorney general to help overturn the election results.

“When he finished discussing what he planned on doing, I said ‘[expletive], congratulations. You just admitted your first step you would take as AG would be committing a felony,” Herschmann said. “‘You’re clearly the right candidate for this job.'”

“I told Clark the only thing he knew was that environmental and election both start with “e,” and I’m not even sure you know that,” he added.

In audio testimony, former deputy acting attorney general Richard Donoghue also recalled telling Clark, “Go back to your office, we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill,” and calling the draft letter he wanted to send swing states to appoint alternate slates “a murder-suicide pact.”

Rosen and Donoghue were detailing a two-and-half Oval Office meeting where Trump repeatedly pressed but was eventually dissuaded from his plan to install Clark atop the Justice Department to pursue baseless allegations of voter fraud just days before Congress was set to convene to certify Biden’s victory.

Jun 23, 3:20 pm
Cheney: Public to hear about members of Congress who sought pardons

Vice-chair Liz Cheney focused her opening statement Thursday on teasing a draft letter that Trump and former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark wanted the department to send to Georgia officials citing already disproven allegations of fraud.

“As you will see, this letter claims that the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigations have ‘identified significant concerns hat may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia,'” Cheney said. “In fact, Donald Trump knew this was a lie. The Department of Justice had already informed the president of the United States repeatedly that its investigations had found no fraud sufficient to overturn the results of the 2020 election.”

ABC News obtained and published the draft letter in full last year. Read it here.

Cheney also said the public today will see video testimony by three members of Trump’s White House staff identifying certain members of Congress who contacted the White House after Jan. 6 to “seek presidential pardons for their conduct.”

Jun 23, 3:10 pm
Chair convenes hearing on Trump’s ‘brazen attempt’ to pressure DOJ

Three former top officials in the Justice Department — former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, former deputy acting attorney general Richard Donoghue and former top DOJ lawyer Steven Engel — sat before lawmakers Thursday as Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., convened the fifth public hearing this month.

“Today, we’ll tell the story of how the pressure campaign also targeted the federal agency charged with enforcement of our laws, the Department of Justice,” Thompson said, going to call it “a brazen attempt to use the Justice Department to advance the president’s professional and personal agenda.”

All three witnesses are expected to detail how they resisted Trump and his allies’ repeated entreaties to enlist the Justice Department in his failed bid to overturn his election loss.

Jun 23, 2:51 pm
Rep. Adam Kinzinger to lead hearing

Rep. Adam Kinzinger will lead questioning in today’s hearing, committee aides confirmed to reporters. Kinzinger is one of the two Republicans on the nine-member committee.

“The threat to our democracy is real. And today, we’ll see just how close we came to losing it all,” Kinzinger tweeted ahead of the hearing. “Tune in as we uncover President Trump’s pressure campaign on [the Justice Department] in his desperate attempt to subvert the will of the people to stay in power.”

Jun 23, 2:27 pm
Filmmaker with new Trump footage sits for deposition

British documentary filmmaker Alex Holder sat for a deposition with the committee earlier Thursday after a subpoena commanded him to turn over documentary footage — never-seen publicly — filmed for a series on Trump’s final months in office.

“I have no further comment at this time other than to say that our conversation today was thorough and I appreciated the opportunity to share more context about my project,” Holder said in a statement to ABC News.

Holder was “given unparalleled access and exclusive interviews with President Trump, Ivanka, Eric, and Don Jr., Jared Kushner as well as Vice President Pence; in the White House, Mar-A-Lago, behind-the-scenes on the campaign trail, and before and after the events of January 6th,” according to a statement from his spokesperson.

He received a subpoena last Thursday from the committee to turn over footage shot for his documentary series and submitted the materials requested earlier this week.

-ABC News Ali Dukakis

Jun 23, 2:37 pm
House GOP leader dodges questions on Trump, integrity of 2020 election

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., at a news conference Thursday dodged questions about endorsing Trump in 2024 and whether there was any widespread election fraud in the 2020 election.

McCarthy also said he had no regrets about not allowing Republicans to serve on the Jan. 6 committee. Trump has said McCarthy made a “foolish” mistake by refusing to allow Republican members to join the panel after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocked several of his picks.

“I do not regret not appointing anybody at all,” McCarthy told reporters.

There are two Republicans serving on the House panel: Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. The two outspoken Trump critics were appointed by Pelosi.

-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel

Jun 23, 2:14 pm
Federal agents search home of former Trump Justice Department official

Federal agents searched the Virginia home of former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark on Wednesday morning, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the activity told ABC News.

It was unclear which federal agencies conducted the search, just hours before the House Jan. 6 committee was set to hold a hearing on then-President Donald Trump’s effort to corrupt the Justice Department in what it says was his plot to overturn the election, but one neighbor who witnessed the law enforcement activity said they saw officials entering the residence early Wednesday.

Clark, a former assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources, emerged as a key player in Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department in the wake of the 2020 election. He previously pleaded the Fifth Amendment in an appearance before the Jan. 6 committee and has declined to comment through an attorney when asked about specific details regarding his alleged coordination with Trump and others.

-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, Luke Barr and Mike Levine

Jun 23, 1:56 pm
Hearing to detail Trump pressure campaign on DOJ

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and what led up to it is set on Thursday to bring into focus Trump’s relentless post-Election Day efforts to enlist the Justice Department in his failed bid to overturn his election loss.

The committee’s fifth hearing this month will feature testimony from three former top officials in the department who say they resisted Trump and his allies’ repeated entreaties, former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, former deputy acting attorney general Richard Donoghue and former top DOJ lawyer Steven Engel.

All three have previously confirmed that they joined a group of top White House lawyers in threatening a mass resignation if Trump didn’t back away from plans to oust Rosen and replace him with another obscure official in the top echelons of the department who was sympathetic to the Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.

-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin

Don’t break into Harry’s House: Singer’s stalker pleads guilty to violating restraining order

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

A person who was barred from going within 800 feet of Harry Styles in 2019 pleaded guilty on Thursday to violating that restraining order.

The Evening Standard reports that the stalker, Pablo-Diana Orero Tarazaga, forcibly entered Harry’s house — his actual house in London, not his hit album — on February 16.

After breaking in, the stalker, who identifies as bi-gender — meaning that they identify as both male and female — allegedly pushed a woman who was working in the house into a wall and damaged a planter while scuffling with a security guard. In a north London court on Thursday, Orero Tarazaga agreed that they’d violated their restraining order, but denied being violent.

According to the paper, they said, “I declare myself guilty for breaching the restraining order and entering the house but not guilty to the assault.” Orero Tarazaga is being held in a hospital. A trial has been set for August 1, according to the Evening Standard.

Six years after “Humble and Kind,” Tim McGraw thinks song’s message is more important than ever

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Six years ago this week, in 2016, Tim McGraw was at the top of the country charts with his fan-favorite ballad “Humble and Kind.”

Penned by in-demand songwriter Lori McKenna, the song is a message to a younger person about the most important things in life: first and foremost, to be “humble and kind” in every situation.

Now, Tim says that his song’s message is more relevant than ever. “To me, the message of that song and the scope of that song grows exponentially every day in the world that we live in now,” he says in an interview with his record label.

Tim says when he recorded it he was thinking about his three adult daughters, who were then on the cusp of leaving home and going out to start their own lives. But as he saw the fan response, the meaning behind the song grew even more expansive.

“And then it turned into this worldview of how the world needs to look at each other, and how people in general need to look at each other differently than they look at each other now,” Tim continues.

“We all could use a little grace, and look at each other with a little humility and a little kindness.”

Lizzo unveils new song when crashing Drag Race star Kornbread’s show

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Lizzo had one heck of a way of debuting her brand new song — she crashed a drag queen show in West Hollywood to perform her new track, “Everybody’s Gay.”

It was the perfect opportunity because the tribute show’s theme was Night of 1,000 Lizzos, and Drag Race star Kornbread, who is known for a spot-on Lizzo look, shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the night.

“ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME! A Night of 1000 Lizzos was a success!@lizzobeeating stepped in our shoes and gave a drag performance. Sang live. And debut a new song from her album. Baby tonight was epic!” they raved. “Dreams do come true with hard work!!”

Entertainment Weekly reports how the song’s debut went down. Lizzo was invited on stage and told the crowd, “Happy Pride ya’ll!” She also joked she has “been a diva since I came out of the f***ing womb, b****.”

That aside, the Grammy winner also spoke of the importance of mental health, adding, “I feel like I’m family, so we can all understand. I’ve been feeling so down, so depressed, and so stressed lately, I feel so much hate from the world sometimes.” She praised the LGBTQ+ community for showing her nothing but love since she first pursued a music career.

Lizzo then asked all the queens in the joint — consisting of past Drag Race stars — to join her on stage to debut her new song, “Everybody’s Gay.” She told the crowd the track is about “living your best life, turning up, and dancing and just having some f***ing fun.”

Aside from debuting her new song, which will appear on her new album Special, Lizzo also treated the crowd to a performance of “Cuz I Love You” and “About Damn Time.”

A YouTube “Rockstar:” Post Malone scores third billion-view video

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Post Malone and 21 Savage‘s blood-soaked video for “Rockstar” has just scored membership in YouTube’s Billion Views club.

The clip for the 2017 #1 hit has racked up more than 1 billion views on the streaming platform. It’s also Posty’s third clip to do so, after “Sunflower” and “Congratulations.”

“Rockstar” was the lead single from Post’s 2018 album, Beerbongs & Bentleys, and was Post’s first #1 hit; it ended up spending eight weeks at #1.

Posty’s new album, Twelve Carat Toothache, is out now. After spending the summer performing at festivals, he’ll kick off his headlining tour September 10 in Omaha, Nebraska. Tickets are on sale now.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

Fake hair, fart jokes and a “small addiction” to chewing gum: Carly Pearce shares surprising fun facts

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

While getting ready for a show on Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now Tour earlier this week, Carly Pearce decided to hop on TikTok and share a few fun facts with her fans — 14 fun facts, to be exact.

“I have been 5’8″ since I was in the fifth grade,” Carly begins, going on to list a number of little-known facts, as well as some things that fans probably already know.

For example, many listeners already know that Carly is a proud dog mom to two shih tzus named Johnny and June — they make frequent appearances on her social media account — but did you know that they aren’t her only pets named after country legends? Her chocolate lab is Retta Lynn, after Loretta Lynn, and she also has a cat named after Emmylou Harris.

“I sing country music, I guess I have a full country band,” Carly jokes.

The singer also admits to a “small addiction” to Orbit chewing gum, holding up three packages for the camera. “I go through one of these every day, and yes, that’s a three-pack,” she admits.

Carly also says that she lives with 12 people on her bus, including “a lot of boys,” but out of all of them, “I’m the raunchiest and the grossest,” she says with a smirk. That might explain her love of fart jokes, she goes on to say: “I think farts are the funniest thing in the whole world.”

At the end of the video, Carly’s makeup is on and she’s ready for her show, including her signature wavy blond locks.

“And last but not least, see all this hair?” Carly concludes. “She’s fake.”

Moment of Pride: Paula Cole reveals, “Honestly, I’m the ‘B’ in LGBTQ”

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

It’s Pride Month, and one artist who’s always had the support of the gay community has used the opportunity to come out publicly.

Paula Cole, the Grammy winner best known for her hits “I Don’t Want to Wait” and “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” tells ABC Audio, “Honestly, I’m the ‘B’ in LGBTQ. And it took me years to be able to say that.”

Paula spoke with ABC Audio before performing at the Garden Party Celebration of Pride event at The Center, New York’s LGBTQ community center. Regarding coming out, she credited her daughter and her “daughter’s generation” for “bringing that fluidity to my attention,” adding, “I feel celebratory in kind of acknowledging that part of myself.”

While noting that she’s “always been part of the community,” Paula added, “But to be more vocal about it in public is very freeing and wonderful.”

Explaining why she hasn’t spoken about it before, Paula said, “I’ve been very shy about it. I’m an introvert, and also, it’s a nebulous place to be for us Gen-X’ers. I’m 54 and there was just no place [to be open about it].”

Recalling how she attended a Pride Parade in the early ’90s and saw people yelling at bisexual women to “make up your f***ing mind!” Paula said, “I felt like, ‘O.K. I don’t know how to be, I don’t know what I am’…and years passed.”

But, she continued, “Then comes new generations, and then comes new thought processes, openness, fluidity…and I understand who I am, and it’s beautiful.”

Of the event, Paula noted, “The gay community has always been so loving to me. And they stood by me loyally…y’know, hits come and go, [but] this is my community…so I’m home.”

Paula’s tour is scheduled through the summer.

Night Ranger, Quiet Riot, Extreme & more to perform at 2022 Monsters on the Mountain fest

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Details have been unveiled for the second annual Monsters on the Mountain festival, a three-day hard-rock extravaganza that will take place August 19-21 at The Gatlinburg Convention Center in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Set in the scenic Great Smoky Mountains, the event will feature over 30 performers, including Night Ranger, Quiet Riot, Extreme, Nelson, Cinderella‘s Tom Keifer, Ratt‘s Stephen Pearcy, Kip Winger, ex-Mötley Crüe frontman John Corabi, Autograph, Queensrÿche and Firehouse.

In addition to the performances, Monsters on the Mountain will offer a variety of interactive events and activities, including photo opportunities with the performers, a rock ‘n’ roll merchandise vendor market and a rock-themed art gallery.

Tickets for the festival are available now, with three-day packages starting at $349 per person, and single-day tickets starting at $175 for August 19 and 20, and at $155 for August 21.

For more information, visit MonstersontheMountain.com.

The Monsters on the Mountain festival is organized by the same people who bring you the Monsters of Rock Cruise, the next installment of which is scheduled to set sail in April 2023.

DreamWorks releases final season trailer for ‘Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous’

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

In case Jurassic Park: Dominion isn’t enough dinosaur action for you, DreamWorks Animation has released the trailer for the final season of the animated series Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous.

The award-winning show centers on a group of kids whose trip to a dinosaur-themed summer camp goes, well, all Jurassic Park. The fifth season has the gang plotting their escape from the camp with the help of Kenji’s dad, but when one when of the campers turns on his friends, the others must band together if they have any chance of saving the dinos and finally getting home.

Dropping on Netflix July 21, this season will feature the voices of guest stars, including Haley Joel Osment, Glen Powell and Jameela Jamil.

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Ukraine granted candidate status for EU membership

June 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jun 23, 2:58 pm
Ukraine granted candidate status for EU membership

The European Council has granted Ukraine and Moldova candidate status for EU membership, European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the announcement on Twitter, calling it a “unique and historical moment,” adding, “Ukraine’s future is within the EU.”

It could take years for Ukraine to become an EU member. Five other countries that have been granted candidate status are currently negotiating their EU membership: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

Jun 23, 2:08 pm
Russian forces advancing on Lysychansk in Luhansk region

Russian forces are advancing toward the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, putting the Lysychansk-Severodonetsk pocket “under increasing pressure,” the British Defense Ministry said. Some Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Lysychansk, “probably to avoid being encircled,” the officials said.

The Ukrainian army claims Ukrainian soldiers stopped the Russian offensive in the southern outskirts of Lysychansk on Thursday, inflicting losses and forcing them to retreat, and that to resume the offensive, Russian forces put forward reserves.

-ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko

Jun 23, 1:05 pm
$450 million military aid package to be announced

The U.S. is expected Thursday to announce a new $450 million military aid package that will include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS.

Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov tweeted Thursday that the initial HIMARS package from the U.S. has arrived in Ukraine, and he thanked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for the “powerful tools.”

The new aid package will include more small arms, grenade launchers, vehicles and patrol craft.

The U.S. has committed over $6 billion to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began, according to the Pentagon.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

Jun 23, 6:26 am
More than 8 million have fled Ukraine, UN says

More than 8 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, according to an update by the United Nations.

More than 4 million Ukrainians fled through Poland — by far the preferred route for the displaced, the U.N. report said. Hungary, the second most used route, reported just over 800,000 crossings.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak

Jun 23, 6:08 am
Belarusian military flexes its muscle near Ukrainian border

The Belarusian Defense Ministry announced “mobilization exercises” on Wednesday in the Gomel region bordering Ukraine.

The military drills, scheduled to last until 1 July, will include special operations forces as well as freshly called up conscripts, Belarusian officials said on Telegram.

The Belarusian army has already been placing wooden dummies of tanks on the Ukrainian border to demonstrate their presence, Ukrainian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Alexander Motuzyanyk said on Wednesday.

Real weapons are arriving near the Ukrainian border, too, with a new batch of Russian missiles for the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system being brought to Belarus on Tuesday night, local monitoring groups reported. The delivery included at least 16 missiles, with the likely addition of one Pantsir missile defense system, the report said.

Still, Ukrainian officials maintain that “at this stage of the war,” there is no imminent threat “of the Belarusian army invading” Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, said on Wednesday as cited by local media.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak

Jun 23, 5:39 am
EU shifts to coal as Russia tightens gas tap

The European Union will temporarily shift back to coal to cope with slowing Russian gas flows, an EU official said on Wednesday, as a tight gas market and rocketing prices set off a race for alternative fuels.

The International Energy Agency warned Russia could cut gas supplies to Europe completely this winter.

“Europe should be ready in case Russian gas is completely cut off,” IEA chief Fatih Birol told The Financial Times on Wednesday.

While Russia denies premeditated supply cuts, several European countries, including Germany and Italy, reported a dip in gas flow via pipelines from Russia over the past week.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak

Jun 22, 7:31 am
Turkey raises hopes for grain exports

A four-way summit discussing ways to export grain blocked in Ukraine will be held in Istanbul in less than 10 days, Turkish presidential sources told local media on Tuesday.

According to Turkish officials, a military delegation will head to Russia this week to discuss details. On top of Russian and Ukrainian delegations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the UN Secretary General António Guterres are likely to attend the Istanbul summit, local sources said.

The lives of about 400 million people in different countries depend on Ukrainian food exports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Tatiana Rymarenko, Fidel Pavlenko and Natalya Kushnir

+ More