The “Ringo Starr NFT Collection — The Creative Mind of a Beatle” includes five unique NFTs, each featuring an animated version of a painting created by the legendary drummer, and most soundtracked by a custom-made drum track played by Starr.
Those who purchase an NFT also will receive a 25-by-25-inch canvas print of the artwork signed by Ringo, and will be given access to a virtual gallery of Starr’s digital art called “RingoLand.”
The paintings that serve as the basis for the NFTs include self portraits and colorful spin art.
During a recent press event in Rama, Canada, promoting the launch of Ringo’s current tour with his All Starr Band, Starr talked about the virtual gallery created to display his digital art in conjunction with the NFT auction.
“It was just a great idea,” Ringo said. “And, you know, it’s not even there. It’s a fantasy just on your computer. And [an avatar of me is] walking around looking at my paintings, and you can do the same.”
A total of 20 NFT packages — four of each of the five pieces — will be auctioned as part of the sale, which is being hosted by Julien’s Auctions. Bids can be placed at JuliensLive.com. You also can check out videos of Ringo’s animated artwork at that website and on YouTube.
A portion of the proceeds raised by the auction will benefit Ringo’s Lotus Foundation, which funds and supports charitable projects that focus on various social welfare causes.
Ringo and his All Starr Band’s tour continues tonight in Red Bank, New Jersey. Since Tuesday, Edgar Winter has been sitting out the shows after testing positive for COVID-19.
The gang is back together in Jurassic World Dominion, out today.
Jeff Goldblum returns as chaos theory specialist Dr. Ian Malcolm. It’s a world where dinosaurs now roam freely, interacting with humans, but is that a world Goldblum would want to live in?
“No,” he tells ABC Audio with a laugh. “I feel like I have experienced it. It’s amazing and sometimes unpleasant.”
JWD is the first in the franchise since the original in 1993 to reunite Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill, and Goldblum says it felt like “I’d been drenched and purged with dopamine.”
“We had an amazing experience with Steven Spielberg 30 years ago, and so getting back together with them was just great and rich in nostalgia and current focused, vibrant, robust, creative attack.”
Even with the reunion, don’t expect the film to be dripping in nostalgia.
Director Colin Trevorrow explains, “I have to take the risk of telling a new story because when you watch all six of these movies together, if you’re a kid born today, you’re not going to know nostalgia when it comes to any of this.”
There may not be nostalgia, but what runs through the entire franchise is a message about environmentalism.
“This movie is very much about humility in the face of nature’s power,” Trevorrow shares.
“The fact that we made it during this pandemic where we were all very afraid as to whether we were going to survive the future, creates a tone in the film… that all of these characters are not really sure if the future is going to be better than the past,” he says. “And I like the we end on a note of hope in the idea that we actually can survive if we learn to coexist and we move forward together.”
The 29-year-old singer dropped their new single “Skin Of My Teeth” on Friday along with the visuals to match. Both the track and the video introduce a new rock era for Demi, which she told Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on The Tonight Show on Thursday, was actually a return to her roots, noting, “that’s what I started singing when I released my first album, second album…”
Over a background of drums and guitar, Demi openly references her previous drug struggles and mental health.
“Demi leaves rehab again / When is this s*** gonna end? / Sounds like the voice in my head / I can’t believe I’m not dead,” she powerfully opens the song.
Meanwhile, in the music video, viewers watch as Demi soaks in a bathtub while wearing a white tee, eventually having to fight off the grim reaper who “knocks on my door.”
“I’m alive by the skin of my teeth / I survived, but it got harder to breathe /Askin’ why doesn’t make it easier / Go easier on me,” she pleads in the chorus.
“Skin Of My Teeth” is the leading single off Demi’s forthcoming eighth studio album HOLY F***, which is due out August 19. Demi told Fallon she’s especially proud of this release.
“I came out of treatment again and I realized like, I really wanna do this for myself and I want to make the best album possible, something that you know, really represents who I am” she said, adding, “The easiest way to do something the most authentic is to do it clean and sober. I made this album clean and sober, I can’t say that about my last album.”
The accompanying tour is set to kick off on August 13.
Britney Spears and Sam Asghari are officially married.
The couple tied the knot during an intimate ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday, a source close to the couple tells ABC News.
Around 60 guests were in attendance, including Drew Barrymore, Madonna, Paris Hilton and Kathy Hilton,” insiders tell People magazine.
Spears wore a gown by famed fashion house Versace and walked down the aisle to Elvis Presley‘s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” added the source.
Her sons Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden James, 15, were not in attendance at the wedding but are “happy” for their mom, a lawyer for Kevin Federline told People on Thursday.
Spears, 40, and Asghari, 28, got engaged in September 2021 when the Iranian-born fitness instructor and actor proposed to the “Toxic” singer.
The pair first met on the set of the pop star’s “Slumber Party” music video in 2016.
During their relationship, Asghari stood by Spears during her conservatorship drama. Spears told a court in June 2021 she wanted to “get married and have a baby” but was unable to do so under the conservatorship. Spears’ conservatorship, which was established in 2008, was terminated in November 2021.
Asghari recently teased fans that the two had decided on a wedding date. “Our lives have been a real life fairytale,” he shared via a since-expired Instagram Stories post in May. “Also the big day has been set! But nobody will know until the day after.”
This is the third marriage for Spears, who shares sons Sean Preston, 16, and Jayden James, 15, with ex-husband Kevin Federline.
(WASHINGTON) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first prime-time hearing on Thursday at 8 p.m.
The hearing will feature never-before-seen video footage and witness testimony as lawmakers aim to explain what they call a “coordinated, multi-step effort” by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election.
Jun 09, 9:05 pm
Committee says multiple Republicans sought presidential pardons after attack
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said for the first time publicly that multiple Republican members of Congress reached out to the Trump White House to ask for presidential pardons in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.
“Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election,” she added.
As with other House Republicans, Perry has refused to cooperate with the committee’s investigation through voluntary requests and a congressional subpoena.
-ABC News’ Katherine Faulders
Jun 09, 8:55 pm
Cheney issues warning to fellow Republicans
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., had a message for her colleagues who continue to defend Trump and his false election claims.
“Tonight I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain,” Cheney said.
Cheney also had a message for the American people as they watch these hearings unfold over the next several weeks.
“The attack on our Capitol was not a spontaneous riot.”
“Please remember what is at stake,” she said. “Remember the men and women who have fought and died so that we can live under the rule of law and not the rule of men.”
Jun 09, 8:52 pm
Trump ‘well aware’ of violence but ‘placed no call’ to defend Capitol: Cheney
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the select committee, shared snippets of what White House aides told the committee Trump said to them while the attack at the Capitol was ongoing, laying out what she called Trump’s “sophisticated, seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election.”
“You will hear testimony that ‘The president didn’t really want to put anything out’ calling off the riot or asking his supporters to leave. You will hear that President Trump was yelling and “really angry at advisers who told him he needed to do be doing something more.’
“And, aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: “Maybe our supporters have the right idea.’ Mike Pence ‘deserves’ it,” she said.
She then added, in new detail, “Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element to the United States government to instruct at the Capitol be defended.”
Jun 09, 8:38 pm
With Ivanka Trump tape, panel argues Trump was aware he lost
Using taped testimony from Trump officials including Attorney General Bill Barr and campaign attorney Alex Cannon, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., argued that Trump and his team were well aware that he lost the election but still carried out a plot to stay in power.
“In our second hearing, you will see that Donald Trump and his advisers knew that he had in fact lost the election,” Cheney said, explaining how the committee will lay out its case. “But despite this, President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to convince huge portions of the U.S. population that fraud had stolen the election from him.”
In a video clip from an interview with Barr, Trump’s attorney general said he “repeatedly told the president, in no uncertain terms, that I did not see evidence of fraud and — you know, that would have affected the outcome of the election.”
The committee also aired a taped interview with Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump commenting on Barr’s statement that the Justice Department found no fraud sufficient to overturn the election.
“It affected my perspective,” Ivanka said of Barr’s assessment. “I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying.”
Jun 09, 8:35 pm
Cheney says Trump ‘lit the flame of this attack’
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney said Americans will learn new details about what Trump was doing before, during and after the attack at the Capitol in his effort to remain in power despite his 2020 election loss.
“Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power,” she said.
The Wyoming Republican asserted Trump told his staff during the riot that it’s what people “should be doing” and that he agreed with protesters urging violence against then-Vice President Mike Pence.
After the dust settled, Cheney said, Trump continued to ignore the statements from the Department of Justice, election officials and his own staff telling him the election result was legitimate.
“President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” she said in her opening statement.
Jun 09, 8:22 pm
Committee places Trump at ‘center of this conspiracy,’ deems attack ‘attempted coup’
In his opening statement, Chairman Bennie Thompson — looking directly at the camera — called Jan. 6 an “attempt to undermine the will of the people” and “only the beginning of what became a sprawling multistep conspiracy aimed at overturning the presidential election.”
“Trump was at the center of this conspiracy, and ultimately, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the Constitution to march down Capitol and subvert American democracy,” he said.
Thompson said the attack on the Capitol was “the culmination of an attempted coup” and a “brazen attempt … to overthrow the government”
“The violence was no accident,” he said. “It represents President Trump’s last stand, his most desperate chance to halt the transfer of power.”
Jun 09, 8:01 pm
Historic hearing underway
Chairman Bennie Thompson has gaveled in the committee’s first prime-time hearing intended to “remind you of the reality of what happened that day.”
“But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger,” Thompson will say in his opening statement, according to an excerpt released by the committee. “The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over.”
Americans will hear live testimony from a Capitol Police officer and documentarian who were on the scene of the attack and watch never-before-seen video footage in a rare congressional hearing made for television.
Jun 09, 7:50 pm
Cheney arrives on Capitol Hill
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the select committee, was the first member to arrive on Capitol Hill through the member entrance, according to an NBC pool reporter.
Asked how she was feeling, Cheney said, “Good, thank you,” as she walked inside.
Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., the only other House Republican to accept a seat on the panel, have faced relentless attacks from within their caucus for their participation. Cheney was removed from her No. 3 House GOP leadership post last year, and both were formally censured by the Republican National Committee for choosing to investigate what it controversially called “legitimate political discourse.”
Jun 09, 7:49 pm
Demonstrators rally outside Capitol
Demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday ahead of the House select committee’s first prime-time hearing of its Jan. 6 investigation.
Participants held signs reading, “Not above the law.”
The panel is looking to explain what it calls a “coordinated, multi-step effort” by Trump and his supporters to overturn his 2020 election loss.
From legal action to name-calling, Trump continues to try to discredit the House select committee as the panel prepares to go public with its findings in prime time.
“January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a string of posts hours ahead of the hearing on Truth Social, the social media platform his team launched after Twitter permanently suspended him in the wake of the Capitol siege “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Jun 09, 7:22 pm
Just before hearing, 3 Capitol rioters express regret in federal court
Three rioters convicted on federal charges for participating in the Capitol attack appeared in court just hours ahead of the prime-time event and asked for mercy before federal judges deciding their punishments.
“I made one mistake in my life and I have immediately took responsibility for it,” said Michael Daughtry, a gun store owner and former police officer who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge this past March. “I apologize to the court for my indiscretion. But does a person not get to make at least one mistake in their entire life?”
The sentencing hearings just blocks away from the Capitol offer a noteworthy split-screen as lawmakers and their staff are in the midst of final preparations to put their investigation’s findings on full display for the American people. Click here for more.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Jun 09, 7:00 pm
‘Our democracy remains in danger’: Opening statement excerpt
Chairman Bennie Thompson will warn the American public of the ongoing threat from “those in this country who thirst for power” when the Jan. 6 committee soon kicks off a series of public hearings laying out its investigation, according to an opening statement released by the committee.
“So tonight, and over the next few weeks, we’re going to remind you of the reality of what happened that day. But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger,” Thompson is expected to say. “The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over.”
“January 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here,” read the excerpt.
Jun 09, 6:57 pm
Officers and widows plan to attend hearing
Several police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 and widows of law enforcement members who died in the aftermath will be present at the hearing.
Among them are Erin Smith, the widow of Metropolitan Police Department officer Jeffrey Smith; Serena Liebengood, the widow of Capitol Police officer Howie Liebengood; Sandra Garza, partner of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick; Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn; Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell; and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges.
Dunn told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott the hearing will be “triggering.”
“I think about Jan. 6 daily and tonight we are going to find out stuff we didn’t know,” he said.
Garza told Scott she’s preparing to painfully “relive the nightmare of the day.” Her longtime partner, Officer Sicknick, suffered two strokes and died of natural causes one day after engaging with rioters.
“Everybody should watch the hearings because they need the truth of what happened that day,” Garza said. “These are the facts — it’s important for them not to only hear the witnesses but see it again.” She added, “There has to be some accountability, people are dead because of what happened.”
Jun 09, 5:45 pm
Capitol Police officer, documentarian to testify
One of the first officers injured on Jan. 6, U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after she was thrown to the ground by rioters pushing bike racks, will deliver her firsthand account before the committee in a matter of hours.
Documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who followed the Proud Boys through Washington as members of the extremist group marched on the Capitol and clashed with law enforcement, is also scheduled to testify live.
ABC News exclusively obtained some of Quested’s extraordinary material, showing how a group of Trump supporters at a presidential rally transformed into an angry mob that broke into the Capitol. Click here for more.
Jun 09, 5:22 pm
McCarthy dodges questions on legitimacy of 2020 election
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., wouldn’t say Thursday if President Joe Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl pressed McCarthy on the matter four times during a news conference where House Republicans preemptively slammed tonight’s hearing, calling the Jan. 6 panel “the most political and least legitimate committee in American history.”
McCarthy said Biden is the president, but declined to address the legitimacy aspect and declined to say Trump was wrong when he baselessly claimed the election was fraudulent.
Watch the full exchange here:
Ahead of the Jan. 6 committee’s presentation alleging former Pres. Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy dodges when pressed four times by @jonkarl on whether he believes Pres. Biden was the legitimate winner. https://t.co/7x9xFOiAeUpic.twitter.com/xqqDpFGoFU
The select committee has promised never-before-seen videotaped depositions from some of Trump’s closest aides and family members after Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. all sat for interviews earlier this year.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — who turned over thousands of text messages to the committee — has been described by congressional sources as an “MVP” of the hearings, as his messages have provided somewhat of a roadmap for investigators.
Jun 09, 4:35 pm
Biden calls Jan. 6 ‘flagrant violation of the Constitution’
President Joe Biden said a lot of Americans will learn new details about the Jan. 6 attack as lawmakers begin to reveal the findings of their 11-month investigation.
“One of the things that’s gonna occupy my country tonight, I suspect, is the first open hearings on January the 6th,” Biden said as he sat down with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Summit of the Americas on Thursday afternoon.
“And as I said when it was occurring and subsequent, I think it was a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution,” Biden continued. “I think these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election. And there’s a lot of questions: who’s responsible, who’s involved?”
Jun 09, 4:11 pm
Hearing kicks off at 8 p.m.
Thursday’s hearing, the first of six scheduled in June, is the culmination of an 11-month-long investigation by the House select committee.
The nine-member panel has collected more than 140,000 documents and 1,000 witness interviews throughout the course of the investigation, and members have promised to introduce never-before-seen videos and exhibits they say will shock the public.
ABC News Television Network will air special coverage of the hearing at 8 p.m. and ABC News Live will carry gavel-to-gavel coverage.
Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The Isabella County Sheriff’s Office is aiming to resolve non-emergency calls by phone after blowing through its fuel budget due to soaring gas prices.
MedStar Mobile Healthcare, an emergency medical services system in Fort Worth, Texas, has seen its gas expenses increase dramatically. During the month of May last year, MedStar spent $96,547.94 on fuel; this past May, it spent $223,582.55, according to Matt Zavadsky, chief transformation officer for MedStar.
The response volume only marginally increased while the fuel costs rose, he said.
“It’s a significant impact, on top of the other financial impacts adversely affecting EMS agencies,” Zavadsky told ABC News. “For rural EMS agencies that travel great distances, and have more challenging finances, the impact could be even greater.”
A travel boom that’s increasing the demand for gas also comes amid a shortage of crude oil supply due to sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, driving up prices at the pump in recent months, experts told ABC News.
The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide reached $5 on Thursday, according to GasBuddy. As of Thursday, AAA had the average price of a gallon of gas just under $5 — at $4.97, up from about $4.33 a month ago and $3.07 a year ago.
The increase has caused agencies like sheriff’s offices and fire departments to closely monitor their fuel budget and issue new policy directives to limit gas mileage — without impacting emergency response.
“Most sheriffs that I know will budget what their need is and maybe 10% more, but not 100% more,” Matthew Saxton, CEO and executive director of the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association, told ABC News.
This week, the Isabella County Sheriff’s Office in central Michigan announced that it has “exhausted” its fuel funds, with several months to go before a budget reset. As a result, it said it will be managing what non-emergency calls it can over the phone.
“Deputies will continue to provide patrols to all areas of the county, they will respond to those calls that need to be managed in person. Any call that is in progress with active suspects will involve a response by the deputies,” Sheriff Michael Main said in a Facebook post. “I want to assure the community that safety is our primary goal, and we will continue to respond to those types of calls.”
County officials told Flint, Michigan, ABC affiliate WJRT they plan to address the budget concerns in the coming weeks.
“I know that once we meet, we’re going to resolve this,” Isabella County Commissioner Jerry Jaloszynski told the station.
As director of the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, Ryan Buckingham said he issued a policy directive regarding non-emergency activities a couple of months ago when gas prices in the southern Illinois county were approaching $4 per gallon.
“I have a small budget to work with. I have to look out for that pretty quick,” Buckingham told ABC News. “When it hits $5 a gallon, it gets even worse.”
Buckingham said the agency has used up 76% of its fuel budget so far this fiscal year, which started Dec. 1, 2021.
“We’re about 25% over the mark right now as far as where we should be budget-wise,” he said, noting that the agency typically doesn’t go over its allotted budget unless it’s had to respond to something like a major disaster.
To help curtail fuel costs, Buckingham said the agency is looking to limit travel for meetings and training. For instance, instead of driving an hour away for specialty dive training, personnel may train in a local pool.
Emergency response will not be affected “no matter what,” he said.
In rural Colorado, near Durango, Upper Pine River Fire Protection District Fire Chief Bruce Evans started noticing a “significant” increase in gas prices in January. In the last three months, fuel expenses have increased 36%, said Evans, cutting into the fuel budget.
“We’ve used 65% of that budget,” said Evans. “We should have only used 45%.”
The department has started exploring ways to reduce the number of vehicles that it has on the road outside an emergency response, including “no drive Friday,” where personnel work from home if they can, Evans said. They may need to look to reallocate more funds to their fuel budget.
“We know we’re going to have to put more money in, but we’re also trying to be conservative,” he said.
For EMS systems, the higher prices come as agencies have also increased wages to retain workers during the pandemic, Zavadsky said. Agencies will likely need to dip into their reserves or reallocate funds to cover the rising costs, he said.
Volunteer EMS personnel who use their personal vehicles to go to calls “may be less able to respond due to the high fuel prices,” he said.
“Those double-whammy cost increases, without any real mechanism to generate more revenue, is crippling most EMS agencies,” Zavadsky said.
(GADSDEN CITY, Al.) — A police officer shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to enter an elementary school in northeast Alabama Thursday morning, authorities said.
Gadsden City Schools Superintendent Tony Reddick told reporters that a “potential intruder” tried to open several doors at Walnut Park Elementary School, which had students and staff inside for summer school.
A school resource officer with the Rainbow City Police Department came outside to “engage the guy in conversation” before the interaction began to escalate, Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton told ABC News.
The SRO called for backup from the Gadsden Police Department. Responding officers found the SRO in a “physical altercation” with the suspect on the school’s lawn, the sheriff said. After multiple attempts to subdue the suspect, a Gadsden officer fatally shot the suspect, according to Horton.
Horton said he did not know whether the suspect was armed. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which is investigating the shooting, said in a press release that the subject allegedly tried to take the SRO’s gun.
ALEA did not say that the suspect tried to enter the school, but that he allegedly tried to “make forcible entry” into a Rainbow City patrol car. ABC News has asked the agency for clarity.
“The incident occurred near Walnut Park Elementary School in Gadsden; however, no children were involved or harmed over the course of the incident,” ALEA said in a statement.
ALEA identified the suspect as Robert Tyler White, 32, of Bunnlevel, North Carolina.
According to Horton, the doors to the school were locked after “everything nationally” — citing last month’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman entered the building through an unlocked door.
The Etowah County Sheriff’s Office sent an alert shortly after 10 a.m. urging people to avoid the area around the school due to an “ongoing police incident.”
The suspect never entered the school and police relocated students to another location, authorities said.
ALEA said it will turn over the results of its investigation to the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office.
(WASHINGTON) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first prime-time hearing on Thursday at 8 p.m.
The hearing will feature never-before-seen video footage and witness testimony as lawmakers aim to explain what they call a “coordinated, multi-step effort” by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn results of the 2020 presidential election.
Jun 09, 8:01 pm
Historic hearing underway
Chairman Bennie Thompson has gaveled in the committee’s first prime-time hearing intended to “remind you of the reality of what happened that day.”
“But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger,” Thompson will say in his opening statement, according to an excerpt released by the committee. “The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over.”
Americans will hear live testimony from a Capitol Police officer and documentarian who were on the scene of the attack and watch never-before-seen video footage in a rare congressional hearing made for television.
Jun 09, 7:50 pm
Cheney arrives on Capitol Hill
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the select committee, was the first member to arrive on Capitol Hill through the member entrance, according to an NBC pool reporter.
Asked how she was feeling, Cheney said, “Good, thank you,” as she walked inside.
Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., the only other House Republican to accept a seat on the panel, have faced relentless attacks from within their caucus for their participation. Cheney was removed from her No. 3 House GOP leadership post last year, and both were formally censured by the Republican National Committee for choosing to investigate what it controversially called “legitimate political discourse.”
Jun 09, 7:49 pm
Demonstrators rally outside Capitol
Demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday ahead of the House select committee’s first prime-time hearing of its Jan. 6 investigation.
Participants held signs reading, “Not above the law.”
The panel is looking to explain what it calls a “coordinated, multi-step effort” by Trump and his supporters to overturn his 2020 election loss.
From legal action to name-calling, Trump continues to try to discredit the House select committee as the panel prepares to go public with its findings in prime time.
“January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a string of posts hours ahead of the hearing on Truth Social, the social media platform his team launched after Twitter permanently suspended him in the wake of the Capitol siege “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Jun 09, 7:22 pm
Just before hearing, 3 Capitol rioters express regret in federal court
Three rioters convicted on federal charges for participating in the Capitol attack appeared in court just hours ahead of the prime-time event and asked for mercy before federal judges deciding their punishments.
“I made one mistake in my life and I have immediately took responsibility for it,” said Michael Daughtry, a gun store owner and former police officer who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge this past March. “I apologize to the court for my indiscretion. But does a person not get to make at least one mistake in their entire life?”
The sentencing hearings just blocks away from the Capitol offer a noteworthy split-screen as lawmakers and their staff are in the midst of final preparations to put their investigation’s findings on full display for the American people. Click here for more.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Jun 09, 7:00 pm
‘Our democracy remains in danger’: Opening statement excerpt
Chairman Bennie Thompson will warn the American public of the ongoing threat from “those in this country who thirst for power” when the Jan. 6 committee soon kicks off a series of public hearings laying out its investigation, according to an opening statement released by the committee.
“So tonight, and over the next few weeks, we’re going to remind you of the reality of what happened that day. But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger,” Thompson is expected to say. “The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over.”
“January 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here,” read the excerpt.
Jun 09, 6:57 pm
Officers and widows plan to attend hearing
Several police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 and widows of law enforcement members who died in the aftermath will be present at the hearing.
Among them are Erin Smith, the widow of Metropolitan Police Department officer Jeffrey Smith; Serena Liebengood, the widow of Capitol Police officer Howie Liebengood; Sandra Garza, partner of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick; Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn; Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell; and Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges.
Dunn told ABC News Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott the hearing will be “triggering.”
“I think about Jan. 6 daily and tonight we are going to find out stuff we didn’t know,” he said.
Garza told Scott she’s preparing to painfully “relive the nightmare of the day.” Her longtime partner, Officer Sicknick, suffered two strokes and died of natural causes one day after engaging with rioters.
“Everybody should watch the hearings because they need the truth of what happened that day,” Garza said. “These are the facts — it’s important for them not to only hear the witnesses but see it again.” She added, “There has to be some accountability, people are dead because of what happened.”
Jun 09, 5:45 pm
Capitol Police officer, documentarian to testify
One of the first officers injured on Jan. 6, U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after she was thrown to the ground by rioters pushing bike racks, will deliver her firsthand account before the committee in a matter of hours.
Documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who followed the Proud Boys through Washington as members of the extremist group marched on the Capitol and clashed with law enforcement, is also scheduled to testify live.
ABC News exclusively obtained some of Quested’s extraordinary material, showing how a group of Trump supporters at a presidential rally transformed into an angry mob that broke into the Capitol. Click here for more.
Jun 09, 5:22 pm
McCarthy dodges questions on legitimacy of 2020 election
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., wouldn’t say Thursday if President Joe Biden was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl pressed McCarthy on the matter four times during a news conference where House Republicans preemptively slammed tonight’s hearing, calling the Jan. 6 panel “the most political and least legitimate committee in American history.”
McCarthy said Biden is the president, but declined to address the legitimacy aspect and declined to say Trump was wrong when he baselessly claimed the election was fraudulent.
Watch the full exchange here:
Ahead of the Jan. 6 committee’s presentation alleging former Pres. Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy dodges when pressed four times by @jonkarl on whether he believes Pres. Biden was the legitimate winner. https://t.co/7x9xFOiAeUpic.twitter.com/xqqDpFGoFU
The select committee has promised never-before-seen videotaped depositions from some of Trump’s closest aides and family members after Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. all sat for interviews earlier this year.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — who turned over thousands of text messages to the committee — has been described by congressional sources as an “MVP” of the hearings, as his messages have provided somewhat of a roadmap for investigators.
Jun 09, 4:35 pm
Biden calls Jan. 6 ‘flagrant violation of the Constitution’
President Joe Biden said a lot of Americans will learn new details about the Jan. 6 attack as lawmakers begin to reveal the findings of their 11-month investigation.
“One of the things that’s gonna occupy my country tonight, I suspect, is the first open hearings on January the 6th,” Biden said as he sat down with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Summit of the Americas on Thursday afternoon.
“And as I said when it was occurring and subsequent, I think it was a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution,” Biden continued. “I think these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election. And there’s a lot of questions: who’s responsible, who’s involved?”
Jun 09, 4:11 pm
Hearing kicks off at 8 p.m.
Thursday’s hearing, the first of six scheduled in June, is the culmination of an 11-month-long investigation by the House select committee.
The nine-member panel has collected more than 140,000 documents and 1,000 witness interviews throughout the course of the investigation, and members have promised to introduce never-before-seen videos and exhibits they say will shock the public.
ABC News Television Network will air special coverage of the hearing at 8 p.m. and ABC News Live will carry gavel-to-gavel coverage.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday gave the green light to counting undated mail-in ballots in a contested Pennsylvania local election, a move with potentially broader implications for close races in November’s midterm elections.
Over the objection of three justices, the Court restored a federal appeals court ruling that said disqualifying ballots received on time but lacking a handwritten date on the return envelope would violate federal voting rights.
Pennsylvania state law requires that voters include a date next to the signature, even though mail ballots are typically postmarked and dated again by election officials when they are received. The appeals court concluded the absence of the handwritten date was an “immaterial” error.
The Supreme Court did not elaborate on its decision to allow counting to proceed, and it is not binding precedent. But it does suggest that a majority of justices support the view that discarding ballots over small administrative errors or omissions would harm the franchise.
Justice Samuel Alito, in a dissent joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, said he would have stayed the appeals court ruling in order to review the merits of the dispute, which he said “could well affect the outcome of the fall elections.”
Alito wrote that he believes the Third Circuit opinion is “very likely wrong.”
“When a mail-in ballot is not counted because it was not filled out correctly, the voter is not denied ‘the right to vote.’ Rather, that individual’s vote is not counted because he or she did not follow the rules for casting a ballot,” Alito wrote.
Pennsylvania has famously had a number of very close elections in recent years, in several cases decided by the counting of mail-in ballots with varying degrees of compliance with state voting regulations.
GOP Senate candidate David McCormick, who conceded to rival Dr. Mehmet Oz in his closely-watched Pennsylvania primary race last week, may have benefitted from the counting of undated mail-in ballots, which were ultimately discarded. He lost by 900 votes.
The court’s decision most immediately benefits the Democratic candidate in a 2021 race for a seat on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas, Zachary Cohen. He trails David Ritter, a Republican, by 71 votes. State election officials say there are 257 undated mail-in ballots that will soon be counted to finalize results in the race.
The Supreme Court has been deeply divided over election disputes and voting rights in recent years, with today’s decision highlighting differences among the justices and the kinds of political fights the court will likely face during a high-stakes election year.
