Panel told that Trump appeared to approve chants to hang Pence
Shortly after hundreds of rioters at the U.S. Capitol started chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” on Jan. 6, 2021, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, left the dining room off the Oval Office, walked into his own office and told colleagues that President Donald Trump was complaining that the vice president was being whisked to safety.
Meadows, according to an account provided to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, then told the colleagues that Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Pence should be hanged.
It is not clear what tone Trump was said to have used. But the reported remark was further evidence of the rupture between the president and his vice president, and of how Trump appeared to identify with the rioters’ sentiments about Pence — whom he had unsuccessfully pressured to block certification of the Electoral College results that day.
The account of Trump’s comment was initially provided to the House committee by at least one witness, according to two people briefed on their work, as the panel develops a timeline of what the president did during the riot.
Another witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Meadows who was present in his office when he recounted Trump’s remarks, was asked by the committee about the account and confirmed it, according to the people familiar with the panel’s work. It was not immediately clear how much detailed information Hutchinson provided.
A lawyer for Meadows said he has “every reason to believe” that the account of what Meadows said “is untrue.”
Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Trump, criticized the committee’s work. “This partisan committee’s vague ‘leaks,’ anonymous testimony and willingness to alter evidence proves it’s just an extension of the Democrat smear campaign that has been exposed time and time again for being fabricated and dishonest,” he said.
A lawyer for Hutchinson did not respond to a message seeking comment. A spokesman for the committee declined to comment.
Biden signs policing order:
On the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death, President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to improve accountability in policing.
“Today we’re acting. We’re showing that speaking out matters,” Biden said.
Floyd’s family was in the audience at the White House. Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police sparked nationwide protests two years ago amid coronavirus lockdowns and President Donald Trump’s divisive election campaign.
Most of Biden’s order is focused on federal law enforcement agencies — for example, requiring them to review and revise policies on use of force. It will also create a database to help track officer misconduct, the White House said.
In addition, the order is designed to restrict the flow of surplus military equipment to local police.
Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was sentenced Wednesday to about 12 ½years in prison after he was convicted of receiving and possessing child pornography.
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks to give the maximum term of 20 years to
Duggar sentenced:
Duggar, whose family was the focus of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting.”
The judge sentenced Duggar to 12 years and seven months in prison, one day after denying a defense motion to overturn the guilty verdict on grounds of insufficient evidence or to order a new trial.
Duggar, whose lawyers sought a five-year sentence, maintains his innocence.
Duggar was arrested in April 2021 after an Arkansas police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar.
TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting” in 2015 after allegations Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier.
Russia probe trial: Defense lawyers for a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI during the Trump-Russia probe have shown jurors handwritten notes aimed at undercutting allegations
that he misled the federal government about his legal work.
Michael Sussmann is on trial in Washington’s federal court, accused of lying to the FBI’s general counsel during a September 2016 meeting when he presented computer data that purported to show a secret communications backchannel between Donald Trump and Russia.
The FBI investigated but determined no link existed between the Trump Organization, the former president’s company, and Russia-based Alfa Bank.
Prosecutors allege Sussmann misled the FBI by saying he was not attending the meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was representing the interests of the Clinton campaign and a technology executive who had provided him with the data.
Report blames Johnson: An investigative report released Wednesday blamed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
and other senior leaders for allowing boozy government parties that broke the U.K.’s COVID-19 lockdown rules, and while Johnson said he took “full responsibility” for the breaches, he insisted he would not resign.
Revelations that Johnson and his staff repeatedly flouted restrictions they imposed on Britain in 2020 and 2021 have fueled outrage in the country and led to calls from opponents for Johnson to step down.
Most lawmakers in Johnson’s governing Conservative Party have stood by him for now, and it’s not yet clear if senior civil servant Sue Gray’s report will change that, despite its detailed descriptions of alcohol-fueled bashes in the building where the prime minister lives and works.
Gray investigated 16 gatherings attended by Johnson and his staff while U.K. residents were barred from socializing, or even from visiting sick and dying relatives, because of coronavirus restrictions.
Abortion ban signed: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed into law the nation’s strictest abortion ban, making the state the first in the nation to effectively end availability of the procedure.
The law takes effect upon Stitt’s signature and prohibits all abortions with few exceptions.
Abortion providers have said they will stop performing the procedure as soon as the bill is signed.
The only exceptions in the Oklahoma law are to save the life of a pregnant woman or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.
The bill specifically authorizes doctors to remove a “dead unborn child caused by spontaneous abortion,” or miscarriage, or to remove an ectopic pregnancy, a potentially life-threatening emergency that occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, often in a fallopian tube and early in pregnancy.