Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Biden will on Wednesday call on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months and ask states to suspend their own gas taxes or provide commensurate relief to consumers, according to the White House.
The federal government charges an 18.4-cent tax per gallon of gasoline and a 24.4-cent tax per gallon of diesel. Suspending the tax for three months — through the end of September, as Biden will call for — will cost about $10 billion, the White House said.
When asked if Biden believes Congress can somehow mandate that oil companies pass on those savings, in full, to consumers, a senior administration official did not directly say but noted there is “some evidence that state tax suspensions, in particular, do get passed through to consumers.” Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks at the White House complex at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.
The official, in a Tuesday evening call with reporters, said “the president is absolutely calling on companies to make sure that those savings are passed through to consumers.”
The administration is also putting public pressure on oil companies to help Americans at a time of financial need.
“Companies, of course, are beholden to their shareholders, but they really need to be beholden and conscious of customers, and their fellow neighbors, and their fellow citizens, just like this administration’s doing,” another senior administration official told reporters. “And we hope that that’s the spirit that CEOs of these companies will take.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is scheduled to meet with oil refining executives Thursday.
On Wednesday, Biden will also call on state and local governments to provide “relief” to Americans by suspending their state gas taxes or provide other remedies, like delaying planned tax and fee increases, or even consumer rebates or relief payments, according to the White House. An official said Biden wants states to “match” what the federal government would be doing in the short term.
State gas taxes average about 31 cents per gallon of gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School recently found that the suspension of gas taxes in Maryland, Georgia and Connecticut were, in fact, “mostly passed onto consumers at some point during the tax holiday in the form of lower gas prices,” but that the lower prices “were often not sustained during the entire holiday.”
In Maryland, 72% of the tax savings were passed on to consumers; in Georgia, 58-65% were, and in Connecticut, 71-87% were, according to their analysis.
A federal gas tax holiday “isn’t going to solve the whole problem,” the official said. “It is something that can be done to take a real step to relieve some of that pain at the pump. And we see it as part of a suite of policies that are designed to provide that relief, including policies that focus on the supply side.”
When asked why Biden wants the federal tax suspended for three months specifically, the official said the president wanted to balance the need of “the unique moment that we’re in” — particularly during the summer driving season — with the fact that the tax provides important revenue for the government to pay for highways and other transportation projects.
“The purpose of this suspension,” the official said, “is really to address the unique moment that we’re in, and with a particular focus on the summer driving season and the pain that families are feeling at the pump right now, while recognizing that on a longer-term basis, the gas tax is an important source of revenue for federal infrastructure.”
The gas tax revenue goes to the federal government’s Highway Trust Fund, which provides for much of the government’s spending on highways and mass transit. Biden believes Congress can fill in that roughly $10 billion gap with “other revenues,” an official said.
When asked if that money would come from last year’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, to which Biden signaled openness Tuesday, the official wouldn’t say but did note that there were proposals in Congress that would cover the revenue shortfall.
The official said the administration was “encouraged by the fact” that members of the House and Senate have already made similar proposals to what Biden will call for on Wednesday, but suggested the White House had yet to engage in depth with members of Congress on this topic — saying “we expect to” engage with Congress.
The official also said that all of the policies Biden is proposing — from gas tax holidays to pressuring oil refiners to expand capacity — could, combined, save consumers up to $1 per gallon or more. But that assumption is predicated on steps oil retailer and refiners have yet to show a willingness to take.
“President Biden understands that a gas tax holiday alone will not, on its own, relieve the run up in costs that we’ve seen,” the White House said in a statement. “But the President believes that at this unique moment when the war in Ukraine is imposing costs on American families, Congress should do what it can to provide working families breathing room.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — The Uvalde City Council unanimously denied council member Pete Arredondo’s request for a leave of absence from future meetings, in an effort to be more transparent following criticisms of law enforcement’s handling of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.
Arredondo, who serves as the chief of police for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and was sworn in as a city council member at the end of May, wanted to be exempt from attending future city council meetings.
A motion was unanimously denied to grant a leave of absence to the newly elected council member, who was not present Tuesday night. Per city council rules, there is a $2 fine for missing council meetings, and after three missed meetings, the other council members can vote to have a member removed from their post.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said he would vote “yes” to replace Arredondo on the city council if he misses three consecutive meetings without a leave of absence. The council pointed out that it can’t take an opinion or make any official vote because Arredondo hasn’t actually missed three meetings.
Those attending the meeting Tuesday erupted in cheers when the council denied his leave.
The vote came after a day of testimony during which Arredondo testified for five hours in front of state legislators about the May 24 shooting, which left 19 children and two adults dead.
At a school board meeting on Monday, parents of the victims and members of the Uvalde community called for Arredondo’s resignation.
“Having Pete still employed, knowing he is incapable of decision-making that saves lives is terrifying,” Brett Cross, the uncle of student Uziyah Garcia, who died in the shooting, said. “Innocence doesn’t hide, innocence doesn’t change its story, but innocence did die on May 24.”
Uvalde police have faced public scrutiny for failing to act swiftly after the alleged gunman entered the elementary school with an AR-15 through an unlocked school door.
Surveillance footage showed officers waiting 77 minutes to enter the classroom that the gunman was in before fatally shooting him. Arredondo has claimed he wasn’t aware of the 911 calls coming through while officers waited.
Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, blasted law enforcement’s response to the shooting during a state Senate hearing earlier Tuesday, saying it was an “abject failure.”
“I don’t care if you have on flip-flops and Bermuda shorts, you go in,” he said.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison Esseling, Matthew Fuhrman and Izzy Alvarez contributed to this report.
(VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) — The United States Coast Guard is urgently searching for a couple from Virginia Beach, Virginia, who were last heard from hundreds of miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean while they were on a sailing trip to the Azores, Portugal.
Yanni Nikopoulos and Dale Jones, both 65, departed from Hampton, Virginia, en route to the Azores on June 8. However, Nikopoulos and Jones reported to Jones’ daughter five days later on June 13 that they had encountered inclement weather approximately 460 miles east of Virginia Beach and that they had made the decision to turn around after their vessel sustained damage during the storm, according to a statement released by the United States Coast Guard (USCG).
The couple have not been heard from since.
Four days later on June 17, the United States Coast Guard Fifth District command center watchstanders received a report from Jones’ daughter informing them that she still hadn’t heard anything from Nikopoulos and Jones and that she was extremely concerned about their whereabouts and wellbeing.
“While no date had been established for their return, an anticipated return date of June 20 was communicated by the daughter,” the USCG said in their statement.
Subsequently, Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City conducted two overflights by HC-130 Hercules crews in the approximate region where the missing boaters were last reported and an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast was also issued by the Fifth Coast Guard District which notified boaters in the region about the wayward couple. No evidence of Nikopoloulos, Jones or their vessel — named Kyklades — has turned up yet.
“In situations like this, where there are so many unknowns, our coordination efforts need to cast a wide and intentional net,” said Chief Brian Gainey, command duty officer. “We’re tracking cell phone and radio pings as we work with our counterparts in Bermuda to accurately determine the most intelligent search area for our air crews. It’s a lot of detective work, but it’s all in service to finding these two individuals and bringing them home to their families.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Washington 3, Baltimore 0
Texas 7, Philadelphia 0
Houston 8, NY Mets 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston 5, Detroit 4
Tampa Bay 5, NY Yankees 4
Cleveland 6, Minnesota 5
Chi White Sox 7, Toronto 6
Kansas City 12, LA Angels 11
Seattle 8, Oakland 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami 9, Colorado 8
LA Dodgers 8, Cincinnati 2
Pittsburgh 7, Chi Cubs 1
San Francisco 12, Atlanta 10
St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 2
San Diego 3, Arizona 2
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Atlanta 80, Dallas 75
Chicago 92, Las Vegas 82
Minnesota 84, Phoenix 71
Los Angeles 61, Washington 51 (In progress)
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill‘s chemistry was on full display in the video for their hit duet “It’s Your Love.” But what the couple remembers most from the video shoot was Faith’s specific pregnancy craving: milkshakes.
Faith recalls that she was “so pregnant” with the couple’s eldest daughter, Gracie, at the time of the shoot in 1997. The couple agree the experience was special for many reasons.
“What I remember specifically was Faith was craving milkshakes when we were shooting the video,” Tim tells Entertainment Tonight. “She had a milkshake when we were shooting the video and … if you look really closely in a few shots, you’ll see a milkshake stain.”
“I craved a lot [of food], but the milkshake I needed at that moment,” Faith says, asserting that the milkshake stains were actually edited out of the shots.
“It’s Your Love” spent six weeks at the top of Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and became a crossover hit, reaching #7 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. It was also nominated for two Grammy Awards and was named Vocal Event of the Year at the CMA Awards.
“The song was special, and the video was special,” Tim says.
Outside of music videos, the couple has also acted alongside each other in the miniseries 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone.
The updated retrospective features a whopping 80 tracks, 50 more than the original version, and is part of a recently launched worldwide celebration marking The Beach Boys’ 60th anniversary.
Founding Beach Boys member Al Jardine marvels at his group’s long history and the deep, wide-ranging body of work they created — as exemplified by Sounds of Summer — thanks in great part to the compositional skills of his band mate Brian Wilson.
“Yeah, it’s fantastic, really. We were really lucky,” Jardine tells ABC Audio. “We were a tight-knit family for a long period of time. And the miracle of the songwriting part of it, being Brian’s forte, we just got lucky. And we got so many wonderful opportunities since that first recording to grow with the music. And here we are 60 years later.”
The deluxe Sounds of Summer reissue includes 24 new mixes, with stereo mixes of two tracks being made available for the first time.
Jardine says he thinks it’s cool when Beach Boys tunes get sonic updates, noting that “it’s nice to…have a little slightly different point of view each time you hear it all [again].”
Regarding the decision to release an expanded compilation, Al says, “[W]e’re capturing new generations every decade, so it kind of makes sense in a way. Our audience is expanding. We have more folks listening to us now, and enjoying the lesser-known stuff as well [as the summer-themed classic hits].”
As previously reported, the deluxe Sounds of Summer reissue is available now as a three-CD set, as a six-LP vinyl package and via digital formats.
A civil jury on Tuesday found Bill Cosby guilty of sexually abusing Judy Huth in 1975 when she was 16 years old, and ordered him to pay $500,000, according to Variety.
Huth’s attorney, Gloria Allred, hailed the verdict as “real change,” although no punitive compensation was awarded.
“She fought Bill Cosby one step at a time for over seven-and-a-half years,” added Allred, praising Huth, having “proved with the jury’s verdict that Mr. Cosby did sexually assault her when she was a minor, and that he should be held and was held accountable for what he did to her.”
“I was elated,” Huth said outside the courthouse, telling reporters that she is grateful for the jury. “It’s been so many years, so many tears, it’s just a long time coming.”
Cosby’s team, including his spokesperson Andrew Wyatt, also appeared to be pleased when the verdict contained no punitive damages.
Huth, now 64, accused Cosby of luring her and a friend to the mansion a few days after meeting them in a park. She alleged that Cosby got her alone in a bedroom, pulled down his sweatpants and then grabbed her hand, using it to perform a sexual act.
On Tuesday, the jury found that Cosby intended to cause a harmful or offensive contact with Huth and that a “sexually offensive contact” resulted, while also finding that Hugh was harmed by Cosby’s conduct. The jury concluded that any “normal person, without hesitation” would have been “disturbed, irritated, offended or injured” by Cosby’s conduct.
Founding Pink Floyd singer/bassist Roger Waters is getting ready to embark on his This Is Not a Drill tour of North America, and he gave us a little taste of what to expect during a surprise visit to CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday.
Amid a dazzling light show and video screens, Roger and his band performed a medley of “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” and “Another Brick in the Wall” Parts 2 and 3, from Floyd’s 1979 album, The Wall.
Waters’ This Is Not a Drill tour, which originally was supposed to kick off in July 2020 before being postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will get underway on July 6 in Pittsburgh runs through an October 8 show in Dallas.
In a statement, Roger explained that his performances will offer “a stunning indictment of the corporate dystopia in which we all struggle to survive, and a call to action to LOVE, PROTECT and SHARE our precious and precarious planet home.”
He added, “The show includes a dozen great songs from PINK FLOYD’S GOLDEN ERA along side several new ones, words and music, same writer, same heart, same soul, same man.”
(NEW YORK) — Women are significantly more likely than men to experience long-term symptoms of COVID-19, a new review suggests.
Researchers from Johnson & Johnson’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer for Women’s Health analyzed data from studies involving 1.3 million patients.
The results, published Tuesday in the journal Current Medical Research and Opinion, showed females are 22% more likely to develop long COVID than males.
“Knowledge about fundamental sex differences … of COVID-19 is crucial for the identification … of effective therapies and public health interventions that are inclusive of and sensitive to the potential differential treatment needs of both sexes,” the authors said in a news release.
Long COVID occurs when patients who have cleared the infection still have symptoms lasting more than four weeks after recovering. In some cases, these symptoms can persist for months, or even years.
Patients can experience a variety of lingering symptoms including fatigue, difficulty breathing, headaches, brain fog, joint and muscle pain, and continued loss of taste and smell, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s unclear what causes people to develop long COVID but there are several theories among experts including lingering virus in the body, damage to nerve pathways caused by the virus and the immune system remaining active following infection.
The study found the most common symptoms for women within four weeks of testing positive included ear, nose and throat (ENT) issues; muscle aches and pain; shortness of breath and psychiatric or mood disorders such as depression.
Meanwhile, men were more likely to have renal disorders such as acute kidney injury.
Not only were symptoms during COVID-19 infection different among males and females but the symptoms were also different after the development of long COVID.
For women, they had higher rates of long-term symptoms including fatigue; ENT; gastrointestinal; neurological; skin and psychiatric and/or mood disorders.
Women were at least twice as likely to have ENT long-term symptoms and 60% more likely to have gastrointestinal symptoms.
On the other hand, men had higher rates of renal disorders as well as endocrine disorders, including diabetes.
Several studies in the past have looked at differences in hospitalization, ICU admission and death from COVID-19 broken down by sex.
But the researchers noted that, out of more than 600,000 articles analyzed for this study — published between December 2019 and June 2021 — only 35 provided data about COVID-19 symptoms and aftereffects in enough detail to understand how males and females may experience the disease differently.
“Unfortunately, most studies did not evaluate or report granular data by sex, which limited sex-specific clinical insights that may be impacting treatment,” they wrote.
It’s unclear why women are more susceptible to long COVID than men, but the authors said it could be due to differences in how women’s immune systems respond to infection compared to those of men.
“Females mount more rapid and robust innate and adaptive immune responses, which can protect them from initial infection and severity,” they wrote. “However, this same difference can render females more vulnerable to prolonged autoimmune-related diseases.”
Additionally, the team said women may be at greater risk of COVID-19 because certain professions, such as nursing and education, are largely made up of females, which could — in turn — make them more likely to develop long COVID.
What’s more, “there may be disparities in access to care based on gender that could affect the natural history of the disease, leading to more complications and [aftereffects],” the authors wrote in the release.
The team said it hopes more researchers include detailed data about COVID-19 symptoms and effects broken down by sex in their studies to further study how differently men and women are affected and if different treatments are needed.
The authors did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — The latest House Jan. 6 committee hearing on Tuesday afternoon focused on what it said was then-President Donald Trump’s “unprecedented” effort to push key state officials to reject the results of the 2020 election — including a scheme to create slates of “fake” electors to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led the hearing, which featured live witness testimony from Republican officials from Arizona and Georgia to show the pressure campaign related to Trump’s “big lie” extended to well before Jan. 6.
Some of the most compelling testimony came from a mother-daughter pair who worked as election workers in Georgia. They described in deeply personal terms the impact of threats they experienced after being targeted by Trump.
And the panel aired taped testimony from Trump allies to argue he was directly involved in what he knew was a baseless effort to have key states send fake Trump electors to Congress to replace legitimate Biden ones.
“Whether his actions were criminal will ultimately be for others to decide,” Schiff said in his closing remarks. “But what he did was without a doubt unconstitutional. It was unpatriotic. It was fundamentally un-American.”
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said that “pressuring public servants into betraying their oaths was a fundamental part of the playbook” and warned only a handful of election officials in key states “stood between Donald Trump and the upending of American democracy.”
Here are some key takeaways from Tuesday’s hearing:
Arizona House speaker invokes faith, recalling how he wouldn’t deny oath of office
After Trump claimed Tuesday on his social media platform Truth Social that Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, had told him the election was rigged, Bowers said that was “false” and that Trump’s team claimed widespread fraud in Arizona but never provided him with any evidence.
“Anywhere, anyone, at any time, who said that I said the election was rigged, that would not be true,” Bowers said.
He recalled conversations with Trump election lawyer John Eastman, who tried to convince him there was a law in Arizona that would have allowed him to overturn results in his state, and his maintaining that he would not break his oath of office and decertify electors for Biden.
“I said, ‘What would you have me do?’ He said, ‘Just do it and let the courts sort it out.'”
At one point, Bowers fought back tears as he described the pressure placed on him to betray his oath and the impact “disturbing” protests outside his home had on his family.
“It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired, one of my most basic foundational beliefs,” Bowers testified. “And so for me to do that because somebody just asked me to is foreign to my very being. I will not do it.”
After some lawmakers in Arizona went around him to send a slate of “fake” electors to Congress and the National Archives, with the intention of then-Vice President Mike Pence refusing to certify votes in those states, Bowers described it as a “tragic parody.”
Bowers recalled Trump lawyer Giuliani telling him, “‘We’ve got lots of theories, but we just don’t have the evidence.'”
The Arizona Republican then went on to read aloud a passage from his journal from December 2020.
“I do not want to be a winner by cheating,” he read. “I will not play with laws I swore allegiance to with any contrived desire towards deflection of my deep, foundational desire to follow God’s will as I believe he led my conscience to embrace. How else will I ever approach Him in the wilderness of life knowing that I asked of His guidance only to show myself a coward in defending the course he led me to take.”
Republican witnesses tie Trump to fake electors plot, detail how they responded to pressure from Trump and his allies
In her opening statement, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said the committee would provide evidence that Trump “had a direct and personal role” in a scheme to have key states send fake electors to Congress and for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results, “as did Rudy Giuliani, as did John Eastman.”
Appearing to be part of that point, the committee aired taped testimony of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel being asked about the scheme to send “fake” electors to Congress to decertify Biden’s win and responding that Trump was on a call about the plan.
“He turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of — helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing change the results of any states,” McDaniel recounted.
“The campaign took the lead, and we just were helping them in that role,” she added, appearing to try to distance the RNC from the effort.
The House select committee argued the RNC assisted Trump in coordinating the fake electors plot “at the president’s direct request.”
The testimony is important as Trump has also tried to distance himself, at times, from his own attorneys, but, according to McDaniel, he was personally involved in a call about the effort.
The testimony also detailed Trump’s calls to Georgia election officials highlight his role in the pressure campaign.
The committee played audio clips of the 67-minute, now-infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump told Raffensperger he needed to “find” 11,780 votes in Georgia — just one vote over the margin by which he trailed Biden — so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts in the state confirmed he lost.
The call appeared to follow a cycle of Trump offering false election conspiracies and Raffensperger calmly explaining to him that each one was not accurate. At one point, Trump suggested to Raffensperger that his inaction could mean he was criminally liable.
Raffensperger was among several Republicans who told Trump his claims about fraud were false, the committee said, but he continued to spread them anyway.
The committee also aired audio from a call in which Trump tried to convince Frances Watson, the Georgia secretary of state’s lead elections investigator, to reverse his loss.
“You know, you have the most important job in the country right now,” Trump told her as he continued to falsely and publicly claim victory.
“When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised,” Trump said to Watson.
Mother-daughter election worker duo describe impact of targeted attacks
Former Fulton County election worker Shaye Moss, who was falsely accused by Giuliani and other Republicans of election fraud and smuggling “suitcases” of illegal ballots in Atlanta on election night, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who was sitting behind her, told members how their lives were changed by the lies.
“When I saw the video, of course the first thing that I said was, ‘Why? Why are they doing this? What’s going on?'” Moss recalled.
Moss then described the onslaught of threats and hateful messages she received online — a situation she had never been in during her 10 years as an elections worker.
“I felt so bad,” Moss. “I just felt bad for my mom and I felt horrible for picking this job and being the one that always wants to help and always there and never missing out on one election, I just felt like it was my fault for putting my family in this situation.”
Both women told the committee they are now scared to use their names, and Freeman was told by the FBI she had to leave her home for two months because of threats.
“I’ve lost my sense of security, all because a group of people starting with No. 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen,” Freeman said.
Public officials recount intimidation of protests, tweets from Trump supporters
Elected officials detailed the threats they received or witnessed others received as a result of Trump’s pressure campaign to reject state electors.
Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer in the Georgia secretary of state’s office, recalled the moment that made him decry Trump’s claims of fraud and emotionally speak out about the threats made toward election officials in a press conference in December 2020.
It was a tweet, he said, targeting a contractor he knew that “broke the camel’s back.”
“It had his name, ‘you committed treason, may God have mercy on your soul,’ with a slowly twisting GIF of a noose and, for a lack of a better word, I lost it,” Sterling said. “I just got irate.”
Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler, a Republican, said in a taped deposition that all of his personal information was doxxed online and multiple protests happened outside of his home. The committee aired audio from one protest in which participants shouted, “Bryan Cutler, we are outside.”
“We had to disconnect our home phone for about three days because it would ring all hours of the night, it would fill up with messages,” Cutler said.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, described the feeling of having protesters outside her home as well.
“My stomach sunk, I thought, ‘it’s me,'” she told the committee in a deposition. “The uncertainty of that was why it was the fear. Like, are they coming with guns? Are they going to attack my house?”
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs involved in fake electors?
As the committee unveils its findings, it has suggested how Republican lawmakers were involved in scheme to overturn the election.
Bowers, Arizona’s House speaker, testified he received a call from Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, asking Bowers if he’d support the decertification of electors. Bowers told Biggs he would not.
The committee also showed evidence that Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., attempted to deliver slates of “fake” Trump electors from Wisconsin and Michigan to Pence ahead of Jan. 6.
Text messages between Johnson staffer Sean Riley and Pence aide Chris Hodgson were displayed on-screen in which Riley wrote that Johnson wanted to hand over fake electors from the two states.
“Do not give that to him,” the Pence aide replied.
Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Johnson, denied that Johnson had any involvement in the creation of fake alternate slates of electors and claimed he had “no foreknowledge” it was going to be delivered to the office.
“The senator had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors and had no foreknowledge that it was going to be delivered to our office. This was a staff to staff exchange. His new Chief of Staff contacted the Vice President’s office. The Vice President’s office said not to give it to him and we did not. There was no further action taken. End of story,” Henning told ABC News.
Teasing hearings still to come, the next of which is on Thursday, Cheney put pressure on former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone to appear before the committee, adding that they are “certain” Trump wouldn’t want that to happen.
