(MISHAWAKA, Ind.) — A young Indiana corrections officer who hoped to become a police officer has been killed in a drive-by shooting, authorities said.
St. Joseph County correctional officer Rhema Harris was killed around 6 p.m. Sunday “in yet another senseless act of violence,” St. Joseph County Sheriff William Redman said.
Harris, 28, was inside her home in Mishawaka, which is just outside of South Bend, when one bullet struck her in the chest, Mishawaka police’s detective bureau division chief Dan Gebo told ABC News.
The shooter then sped away and has not been identified, Gebo said.
The shooting was believed to be a retaliation in a feud, Gebo said, stressing that the corrections officer was not the target and she was just “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Several people were in the house with Harris, including minors, Gebo said.
Authorities have talked to several witnesses and persons of interest, Gebo said.
Harris was hired as a St. Joseph County correctional officer in July 2021 and was assigned to the midnight shift at the jail, Redman said.
“Rhema proudly served her country in the United States Army,” Redman said. “She received a national defense service award, global war on terrorism service medal and an Army service ribbon, before being honorably discharged in 2016.”
She hoped to become a St. Joseph County police officer, Redman said.
This drive-by shooting comes amid a concerning rise in gun violence. The U.S. lost 20,923 people to gun violence-related incidents last year, excluding suicides. Last year marked a big increase from 2020, when 19,515 died from gun violence, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
There are 200 million to 350 million guns in the U.S., according to estimates for this year from the World Population Review.
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
Planet One Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — A Norwegian cruise ship has canceled its nine-night Alaskan trip after the ship crashed into an iceberg off of the Alaskan coast on Saturday.
While there were no injuries and patrons and staff made it to Alaskan docks safely, the cruise line has canceled the rest of the scheduled trip and will return to Seattle Thursday morning.
The Norwegian Sun was transitioning to Hubbard Glacier in Alaska when the ship made contact with a growler, the cruise line told ABC News.
A growler is a small iceberg that has less than 3.3 feet of ice showing above the water, and is under 6.6 feet in width, the National Snow & Ice Data Center reports.
After impact, the ship changed course to dock in Juneau, Alaska, for further assessment. There, the company decided the cruise would be shortened and future trips canceled.
“The ship was given clearance by the United States Coast Guard and other local maritime authorities to return to Seattle at reduced speed,” a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said. “All guests currently onboard will disembark in Seattle as originally planned.”
A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson told Cruise Hive the ship was “engulfed by dense fog, limiting visibility and resulting in the ship making contact with a growler.”
Stewart Chiron, a cruise industry expert known as The Cruise Guy, told ABC News that growlers are very common when passing through areas with glaciers.
Chiron said ships do not usually get within 1,000 feet of the glaciers themselves, and commonly have impact with small pieces of ice that have broken off and floated away from the glaciers.
While impact with these pieces is common in the area, it is uncommon for a cruise to change its scheduled trip due to such an impact, Chiron said.
Chiron believes that Norwegian acted with “an abundance of caution” when it decided to start its voyage back to Seattle after assessing damages.
He said the ship was “obviously safe enough” since passengers were allowed to stay on the ship to return to Seattle.
Chiron does not think the patrons should worry because ship captains are used to these waters and will continue to sail there without issue.
Norwegian Cruise Line said guests on the canceled cruise would receive a full refund, plus an additional future cruise credit valued at 100% of the original voyage fare paid. Travelers on the canceled cruise scheduled for June 30 will also receive a full refund, a future cruise credit valued at 50% of the original voyage fare, plus up to $300 per person for any airline cancelation/change fees.
(SAN DIEGO, Calif.) — Residents in the San Diego area took to social media after mysterious lights were spotted in the sky just off the coast Monday night.
With no clear indication of what the lights could be, dozens began posting photos and videos on Twitter, questioning what was happening in their night sky.
The posts offered several possible sources for the unusual lights, including UFOs or drones from the Imperial Beach Police Department, which is planning a drone light show for the Fourth of July.
However, the IBPD did not claim the lights as their own.
The San Diego Police Department told ABC News on Tuesday morning that the mysterious lights were actually flares being used for military exercises.
While nearby Naval Air Station North Island and Camp Pendleton both said that they did not know what the lights were, the SDPD said that the lights had been confirmed to them by military officials as being used for exercises.
Gabe Gunlock, a Mission Hills resident, took to Twitter with a video of the lights.
Gunlock told ABC News that he did a double take around 9 p.m. on Monday night, noticing strange, bright lights far off the coast.
He explained that he lives right near the airport in the area, so there are always planes and lights near his home.
However, he said there was something different about the lights he saw off of the coast.
At 9:55 p.m., Gunlock tweeted, “Multiple floating lights over the ocean. Very still, very bright. Orange, reddish light. Patterns of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6,” alongside a video of distant blinking lights.
Gunlock said that his Twitter post quickly gained views, with other San Diego locals acknowledging the lights and wondering what they were.
“It was a super crazy night, super fun to connect with San Diego,” Gunlock told ABC News.
Gunlock added that his post now has over 100,000 impressions on Twitter.
“All I wanted to know is, ‘what’s going on,’” he said. “It had to be miles and miles off of the coast, it was burning extremely bright.”
When Gunlock heard that the lights were from military exercises, he said that it made sense that they weren’t from the airport, especially because they were so strikingly bright.
San Diego is home to several military bases, with more than 100,000 active duty service members in the area.
Over 15,000 active duty service members transition out of active duty service in San Diego each year. According to Thomas Jefferson School of Law, over half of those transitioning out of active duty decide to stay in San Diego, where there is a deep community of over 240,000 veterans.
San Diego, home to 60% of the ships in the fleet of the U.S. Navy and one third of all active duty service members in the U.S. Marine Corps, could have more mysterious lights in the sky for its civilian neighbors in the future.
Not only is Machine Gun Kelly headlining Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, he’s putting his stamp on the New York City skyline.
The Empire State Building will be lit up in pink in honor of Kelly’s concert and “as a symbol of strength, perseverance, and hope in partnership with his new documentary Life in Pink.”
According to a press release, Kelly will switch the Empire State Building’s lights to pink while onstage at MSG, which is just a few blocks away from the iconic landmark.
Life in Pink premiered Monday on Hulu. The doc follows MGK’s breakout over the past two years, following his move from rap to rock with his 2020 album, Tickets to My Downfall, and this year’s Mainstream Sellout.
Lauv is connecting with his inner child through his new music. He released the track “Kids Are Born Stars” on Tuesday, which gives fans a glimpse into his childhood.
The upbeat track is about a girl Lauv crushed on when he was a middle schooler and how he shared his prophesy that he was “going to be a really big star.” The music video sees the current version of the singer interacting with his younger self and helping him recover from a broken heart.
The song and its music video are also nostalgia bombs, with respective references to defunct messaging services, as well as featuring styles from the early aughts.
“When I started making this album, I was doing a lot of inner child meditation work and this song was me getting back in touch with my 8th grade self and giving him a little dose of confidence because Lord knows he would’ve needed it back then,” Lauv said in a statement. “As an adult I had lost touch with my sense of confidence too and making this song and the whole album helped me get back in touch with the person I really am.”
The “I Like Me Better” singer also teased his upcoming album, All 4 Nothing, which drops later this summer.
He said, “My album ‘All 4 Nothing’ curates an energy of openness, wonder, and excitement, but also vulnerability and realness. I hope it opens up a vortex to something you haven’t felt in a while—a place where you can build yourself up from.”
The album, which is the follow-up to his 2020 work How I’m Feeling, is expected August 5.
Vic Mensa has reportedly reached a plea deal and will avoid going to prison following his arrest earlier this year for psychedelic drug possession.
The Chicago MC pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of a schedule III controlled substance, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to one year probation and 25 months of community service, according to TMZ. He was also fined $1,000.
As previously reported, Mensa was arrested in January at Dulles International Airport just outside of Washington, D.C., for attempting to bring LSD, mushrooms and other illegal drugs through customs. Customs and Border Protection officers “discovered about 41 grams of liquid Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), about 124 grams of Psilocybin capsules, 178 grams of Psilocybin gummies, and six grams of Psilocybin mushrooms concealed inside Mensa’s luggage,” a release from the agency says.
The “U Mad” rapper was charged with felony drug possession. He was returning from Ghana and posted photoson Instagram of him meeting government officials with Chance the Rapper.
Mensa claims he possessed the shrooms for medicinal purposes.
“Unfortunately, our laws have not kept up with the research showing that psychedelic plants and compounds can be successfully used to treat otherwise treatment-resistant mental illness,” he told TMZ.
Mensa added, “My hope is that the silver lining to this matter will be increased focus on the effectiveness of psychedelics to treat mental illness and mood disorders that millions are battling with depression and anxiety with hope that all of our laws will change accordingly.”
(MENDON, Mo.) — Nearly 290 people were aboard an Amtrak train when it derailed in Missouri Monday and among them were two Boy Scout troops heading home to Wisconsin from New Mexico, the Boy Scouts of America confirmed to “Good Morning America.”
Members of Troops 12 and 73 of Boy Scouts of America Bay-Lakes Council in the Appleton, Wisconsin, area were riding along with 251 other passengers when their train struck a dump truck in Mendon, Missouri, and derailed at approximately 12:42 p.m. local time. The two troops included 16 children between the ages of 14 and 17 and eight adult leaders, according to Scott Armstrong, the director of national media relations for the Boy Scouts of America.
“I got alerted from the Council in Wisconsin of the accident and was immediately contacted as well by Roger Hoyt who’s the general manager of Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, which is where the scouts spent the last 10 days or so hiking the high desert mountains in New Mexico on an adventure of a lifetime frankly, and they got a little more adventure than they bargained for on the way home with a train derailment yesterday,” Armstrong told “GMA.”
Armstrong said the scouts, who would’ve all earned their first aid badges and received other related skills training, such as emergency preparedness, leaped into action after the collision occurred.
“One of our scouts, a 15-year-old, he’s actually the senior patrol leader, which is the lead youth of a scout troop, went forward to the point of impact of the crash and actually discovered the driver of the dump truck that was hit, who had been ejected and landed in the field adjacent to the train so our scout located the driver, attempted first aid, summoned state police and emergency responders,” Armstrong said. “They continued to give aid and then wound up just giving comfort frankly as he passed away on the scene, unfortunately.”
Two of the scouts’ mothers also told ABC affiliate station WBAY in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that they heard the scouts were also able to help break train windows and assist in the evacuation of fellow passengers.
Following the incident, the troops and their leaders were transported by bus to Columbia, Missouri, where they stayed in hotels overnight. One of the scouts had to receive medical treatment Monday but has since been released, according to Armstrong.
“All the youth have been cleared from the medical facilities so they’re in relatively decent shape,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of adults that are pretty banged up, but nothing life-threatening but every one of them put their skills and kind of presence of mind to good use yesterday, helping others.”
“These kids are built pretty tough. They just came off an adventure that adults couldn’t handle with 10 days in the mountains, hiking somewhere around 100 miles,” Armstrong added.
The Boy Scouts of America said it is working with Amtrak to arrange transportation home for the scouts and leaders and hope to get them all back to Wisconsin by late Tuesday night or Wednesday.
“The bus that was provided by Amtrak did not have a driver available to depart last night so it never arrived this morning. And so, we’re still working on alternatives to get our scouts and our adult leaders home because we got a number of parents who would like to see their boys after such a traumatic incident,” Armstrong said, adding the scouts are in “good spirits.”
The death toll in the Missouri train derailment has risen to four and at least 150 were injured. It’s the second incident impacting Amtrak this week, after another Amtrak train struck a car in Brentwood, California, Sunday. Three people died and two others were injured in the California accident.
Many have been left shaken and hurt after the Amtrak accidents and the Boy Scouts said they’re planning on providing mental health support to their members and staff in the coming days.
“We’ll be monitoring [the scouts] over the coming weeks to make sure that everybody’s OK. It’s a pretty traumatic experience. It’s not always evident immediately after an incident like this and so we have mental health professionals that we’re in consultation with to make sure that those services are available to the scouts and the leaders as necessary,” Armstrong said.
“It’s stressful enough taking kids that aren’t yours out on a high adventure like this, but when you have a catastrophic incident on top of it, we’re really proud not only just the scouts but also the volunteer adult leaders that are with them,” he added.
(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol attack heard stunning stunning testimony on Tuesday from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
She told the committee and an international TV audience that then-President Donald Trump was warned about potential violence and crimes, that he wanted supporters with weapons let into his Jan. 6 rally, and that he then demanded his security detail take him to the Capitol, going so far as to grab the wheel of the presidential limousine, “The Beast.”
This was the sixth hearing this month investigating what the committee says was the conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn the election.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern.
Jun 28, 3:18 pm
Cheney raises concerns about witness intimidation, Thompson encourages others to come forward
Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee, raised concerns of witness intimidation in her closing remarks.
The committee showed on a large screen above the members a text message that read: “[A person] let me know your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”
“I think most Americans know that attempting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents very serious concerns,” Cheney said in her closing remarks, adding that the panel will be discussing the issue and considering next steps.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., commended Hutchinson for “doing your patriotic duty and helping the American people get a complete understanding of January 6th and its causes.”
Thompson also encouraged others to come forward.
“If you’ve heard if you’ve heard this testimony today and suddenly you remember things you couldn’t previously recall, or or there are some details you’d like to clarify, or you discovered some courage you had hidden away somewhere, our doors remain open,” he said
Jun 28, 3:18 pm
Extraordinary hearing closes
It was among the shortest but most shocking Jan. 6 public hearings so far.
Cassidy Hutchinson, for nearly two-hours Tuesday, testified that Trump and Meadows were aware the Capitol was a target and that Trump supporters at the “Save America” rally were armed with weapons when the president told urged them to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
She said Trump told aides to let individuals with weapons past security and into the crowd, which he was “furious” with due to its size, with Hutchinson recalling Trump saying, “‘I don’t care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags (magnetometers) away.'”
Trump wanted to go to the Capitol himself after his speech, she said, and there was even conversation about having him go into the House chamber, despite the White House counsel’s office raising serious legal concerns and the Secret Service raising safety concerns.
Still, demanding to go to the Capitol, Hutchinson recalled learning that Trump grabbed the steering wheel in “The Beast: — the president’s limousine — on the way back to the White House and said, “‘I’m the f—ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now!'” before lunging at a Secret Service agent.
Hutchinson also confirmed Trump instructed Meadows to make contact with a “war room” in the Willard Hotel on the evening of Jan. 5 and advised Meadows against going in person after hearing Rudy Giuliani’s plans for the day, which she said she overheard included “Oath Keepers” and “Proud Boys.”
In a statement to ABC News, Roger Stone said it was “FALSE” that he spoke to Meadows on the phone on Jan. 5 “or any other date.”
Jun 28, 2:48 pm
Witness: Trump didn’t want to respond as attack on Capitol unfolded
In videotaped testimony, Hutchinson recalled seeing Meadows in his office at the White House, flipping through his phone as Trump supporters marched to the Capitol, and then violently breaching it.
“I said, ‘The rioters are getting really close. Have you talked to the president?'” she recalled. “Meadows said, ‘No. He wants to be alone right now.'”
“I felt like I was watching,” she continued in taped testimony, “a bad car accident that was about to happen. You can’t stop it but you want to do something. I remember thinking in that moment that Mark needs to snap out of this.”
She recalled White House counsel Pat Cipollone “barreling” towards Meadows’s office, and saying something to the effect of, “”Mark, something needs to be done, or people are going to die and blood is going to be on your effing hands.'”
She later overheard Cipollone and Meadows talking about the “Hang Mike Pence” chants at the Capitol.
“You heard it Pat — he thinks Mike deserves it. He thinks they aren’t doing anything wrong,” Meadows said to Cipollone when the White House lawyer said they needed to respond, according to Hutchinson.
-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel
Jun 28, 2:45 pm
Witness ‘disgusted’ by Trump’s attack on Pence
Cassidy Hutchinson said she was “disgusted” by President Trump’s Twitter post during the Capitol attack disparaging then-Vice President Mike Pence for not single-handedly rejecting Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Trump tweeted.
Hutchinson recalled “feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really — it felt personal. I was really saddened. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American.”
Matthew Pottinger, who was then serving as the deputy national security adviser, told the committee in previous testimony, it said, that he decided to quit because of what Trump said in that social media post.
“I read that tweet, and made a decision at that moment to resign,” Pottinger said. “That’s where I knew that I was leaving that day, once I read that tweet.”
Jun 28, 2:07 pm
Witness: Trump ‘irate’ in Beast, physically assaulted security detail, demanded to be taken to Capitol
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled a shocking story of Trump’s anger on Jan. 6 after being told he could not go to the Capitol to meet supporters following his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse — leading to Trump physically assaulting his security detail on the way back to the White House.
Hutchinson recalled the conversation she had back at the White House just after the rally with Bobby Engel, part of Trump’s security detail, who was “sitting in the chair, looking somewhat discombobulated,” and Tony Ornato.
“As the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought they were going out of the Capitol and when Bobby had relayed to him were not, ‘You don’t have the access to do it, is not secure, we’re going back to the West Wing.’ The president had a very strong, very angry response to that,” she recalled.
“Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now’ — to which Bobby responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.’ The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.'”
“Mr. Trump used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel and when Mr. Ornado recounted the story to me, he motions towards his clavicle,” she said.
Jun 28, 1:57 pm
Cippollone warned about criminal charges if Trump marched to Capitol
Hutchinson testified about the concerns some White House staff had about President Trump wanting to go to the Capitol with his supporters on Jan. 6. At one point that morning, Hutchinson said, then-White House counsel Pat Cippollone told her to make sure that it didn’t happen.
“We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we go up to the Capitol,” Hutchinson said Cippollone told her.
Crimes they were concerned about, she said, included defrauding the electoral count and obstructing justice.
The White House legal team was also concerned about aspects of Trump’s remarks at the Ellipse, Hutchinson testified, and urged speechwriters not to include language about marching to the Capitol.
Jun 28, 1:56 pm
WH lawyer warned speechwriters of rhetoric ahead of Ellipse speech
Hutchinson said there were “many discussions” the morning of Jan. 6 about the rhetoric Trump would use at the speech that ultimately preceded the riot.
Hutchinson testified that Eric Herschmann, a lawyer for Trump, said it would be “foolish to include language that had been included at the president’s request, which had lines along, to the effect of ‘fight for Trump, we’re going to march to the Capitol, I’ll be there with you, fight for me, fight for what we’re doing, fight for the movement,’ things about the vice president at the time too.”
“Both Mr. Herschmann and White House counsel’s office were urging the speechwriters to not include that language for legal concerns and also for the optics of what it could portray the president wanting to do that day,” Hutchinson said.
Trump at his speech ultimately said, “So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to give “weak” Republicans the “pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
Jun 28, 1:51 pm
Trump ‘furious’ people with weapons couldn’t get into Jan.6 Ellipse rally: ‘They are not here to hurt me’
Cassidy Hutchinson recalled how Trump was “furious” with the crowd size of his “Save America” rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6 and with aides who didn’t want to let in individuals in who had weapons, which officials said ranged from AR-15-style rifles to bear spray.
“I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I heard the president say, “‘I don’t care that they have weapons. They are not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in,'” she recalled. “‘They can march to the Capitol after the rally is over.'”
Vice chair Liz Cheney asked Americans to “reflect on that for a moment” and remember what Trump called on the crowd to do, knowing they were equipped with weapons and body armor.
Jun 28, 1:45 pm
Hutchinson says Meadows didn’t act on concerns of violence
Hutchinson described Meadows’ underwhelming reaction to learning about the list of weapons that people had in the rally crowd that morning — including knives, bear spray, guns and flagpoles with spears attached to them.
“I remember distinctly Mark not looking up from his phone,” Hutchinson said, noting it took Meadows a few moments to respond. When he did respond, he asked [security officials], “Alright, anything else?”
In previously taped deposition, Hutchinson told the committee it was accurate to say Meadows “did not act” on concerns of violence.
Jun 28, 1:36 pm
White House was warned ‘Congress itself is the target on the 6th’
The bombshell information the committee is unfolding through Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony is that the Trump administration and Trump himself knew about the potential for violence before Jan. 6.
“I recall hearing the word ‘Oath Keeper’ and hearing the word ‘Proud Boys’ closer to the planning of the January 6 rally when Mr. Giuliani would be around,” Hutchinson said in a taped deposition played by Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cheney then displayed a Capitol Police bulletin on Jan. 3 warning, “targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th.”
Hutchinson also recalled receiving a call from then-national security adviser Robert O’Brien, after the Capitol Police bulletin, asking if he could speak with Meadows about the potential violence. She wasn’t sure if that call ever happened.
Jun 28, 1:29 pm
Meadows told Hutchinson ‘things might get real, real bad’ on Jan. 6
Hutchinson described Tuesday conversations she had with Rudy Giuliani and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 2, 2021 — four days before the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Hutchinson said Giuliani said to her something “to the effect of ‘We’re going to the Capitol. It’s going to be great. The president’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful.'”
When Hutchinson went to Meadows’ office to relay her discussion with Giuliani, Meadows told her: “There is a lot going on, Cass, I don’t know, things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6.”
“That evening was the first moment that I remember feeling scared and nervous for what could happen on Jan. 6,” Hutchinson testified. “I had a deeper concern with what was happening with the planning aspects.”
Jun 28, 1:20 pm
Committee establishes Hutchinson’s proximity to Trump
Introducing Hutchinson to the American people, Chairman Bennie Thompson asked Hutchinson to recall a typical day at the White House.
“When I moved over to the White House chief of staff’s office with Mr. Meadows, when he became the fourth chief of staff, it’s difficult to describe a typical day,” she said.
Thompson established through a series of questions how Hutchinson’s office was a five to 10-second walk from the Oval Office and that she regularly engaged with members of Congress and senior members of the Trump administration.
Jun 28, 1:17 pm
Cheney: Hutchinson will relay firsthand observations of Trump’s conduct
Vice chair Liz Cheney said Cassidy Hutchinson was in a “position to know a great deal about the happenings in the Trump White House.”
“Today, you will hear Ms. Hutchinson relate certain first-hand observations about President Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6,” Cheney said in her opening statement. “You will also hear new information regarding the actions and statements of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers that day, including his chief of staff Mark Meadows, and his White House counsel.”
Cheney said information will also be released on what Trump and members of the White House knew about the potential for violence on Jan. 6.
Jun 28, 1:13 pm
Chair applauds Hutchinson’s ‘courage’ to open hearing
Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., convened the unexpected hearing shortly after 1 p.m. with Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, taking her seat as members took the dais.
In brief opening remarks, he explained information that she had needed to be shared with the American people “immediately” and hailed her courage.
“In recent days, the select committee has obtained new information, dealing with what was going on in the White House on Jan. 6, and in the days prior. Specific, detailed information about what the former president and his top aides were doing and saying in those critical hours. Firsthand details of what transpired in the Office of the White House chief of staff,” Thompson said.
“It hasn’t always been easy to get that information, because the same people who drove the former president’s pressure campaign to overturn the election are now trying to cover up the truth about January 6. But thanks to the courage of certain individuals, the truth won’t be buried. The American people won’t be left in the dark,” he added. “Our witness today is Cassidy Hutchinson, she has embodied that courage.”
Jun 28, 1:08 pm
Cameras flash at high drama hearing
With the nature of the hearing coming up with little notice, signaling urgency for the committee, reporters and cameras swarmed the witness table inside the Cannon Office Building ahead of Cassidy Hutchinson taking her seat.
Hutchinson entered the hearing room at 1 p.m. with members of the Jan. 6 committee.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl said sources have told him the hearing will be “Big —and disturbing.”
Jun 28, 1:00 pm
Former WH deputy press secretary shows support for Hutchinson
Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews showed support for Cassidy Hutchinson ahead of her scheduled testimony.
“Just want to say how much admiration I have for the tremendous bravery Cassidy Hutchinson is displaying,” Matthews wrote on Twitter. “Even in the face of harassment and threats, she is choosing to put her country first and tell the truth.”
“This is what real courage, integrity, and patriotism looks like,” Matthews added.
Matthews resigned from her position in the Trump administration on Jan. 6 , stating she was “deeply disturbed” by what took place that day.
Jun 28, 12:59 pm
Witness switched attorneys as public hearings began
Cassidy Hutchinson hired a new attorney, Jody Hunt, earlier this month to represent her as the public Jan. 6 hearings began. Her agreement to testify publicly comes after months of negotiations between the committee and her counsel, sources told ABC News.
At the start of the Trump administration, Hunt served as chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He later became the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
Jun 28, 12:23 pm
Who is Cassidy Hutchinson?
The committee’s expected witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, is a former top adviser to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
A 2019 political science graduate of Virginia’s Christopher Newport University, Hutchinson was as an intern to House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in college before serving as a White House intern in 2018. After graduating, she joined the Trump White House Office of Legislative Affairs, before joining Meadows as an executive assistant, and later a special assistant to the president.
“I have set a personal goal to pursue a path of civic significance,” she told her alma mater in a 2018 interview after her White House internship.
Having already sat four separate times for closed-door depositions with the committee, Hutchinson has been featured in clips publicly displayed by the committee, including some in which she discussed members of Congress asking the White House for pardons.
Jun 28, 9:57 am
Surprise hearing signals committee’s urgency
The House select committee will convene Tuesday afternoon for a surprise public hearing, signaling apparent urgency among members to reveal further findings from their year-long inquiry.
The hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, will see the committee “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony,” the group said in a news release Monday.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a top adviser to Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is expected to testify, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Punchbowl News first reported her appearance.
Hutchinson is expected to put a voice to many of the internal White House interactions involving the events of Jan. 6 and offer significant insight into Meadows’ actions and interactions with Trump.
Shawn Mendes kicked off his first proper tour since the pandemic began in Portland, Oregon, on Monday night. Wonder: The World Tour comes in support of his most recent album, Wonder, which arrived in 2020.
According to setlist.fm, Shawn’s show is split into three different parts: act I is called Wonder, act II is called Black Cherry and act III is called Vanilla Sky. The encore portion is called Cool Runnings.
Shawn’s set list included plenty of songs from Wonder, including the title track, “Call My Friends,” “305, “Look Up to the Stars,” “Teach Me How to Love” and “Song for No One,” as well as his collaboration with Justin Bieber, “Monster.”
He also performed the hits, of course, from “Stitches” and “If I Can’t Have You” to “Treat You Better,” “Lost In Japan” and even “Señorita,” his duet with ex-girlfriend Camila Cabello. “Message in a Bottle,” a 1979 song by The Police, was a surprise cover. Shawn also performed recent stand-alone singles “It’ll Be Okay” and “When You’re Gone.”
Even Britney Spears has to hit the pause button on social media. The “Toxic” singer opened up to fans about how it affects her self-esteem and mental health.
“Do you know how many times I literally wanted to crawl in a hole and feel like an idiot while looking at social media ???” she shared while posting a video of her, Robert Pattinson and Cade Hudson dancing to Katy Perry‘s “Firework.”
The Grammy winner noted she’s only human and isn’t perfect, even though she will come across posts of women with “hot bodies” that make her feel like she has to be. “I lose my phone 3x a day, can’t find my shades when they are on top of my head … I’m human and I do my best !!! i know I completely suck most of the time but I still try my best.”
Britney also spoke of watching people edit her photos and videos during her conservatorship, so she is “well aware” of what’s happening behind the scenes when she looks at social media posts. She also said she is “leaving the whole system behind.”
Joking that her dancing video is her attempt to “be like Batman,” whom Pattinson plays, Britney noted, “It’s a hard world but we’re all fireworks as @katyperry says … I mean ask Batman if he knows !!!”
