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Arizona puts Trump’s political influence to the test

Arizona is shaping up to be the next high-stakes test of Donald Trump’s political power, as the former president’s endorsed candidates face off against a slate of establishment-backed Republicans.

The proxy battle kicks into high gear this weekend when Trump will hold a rally Friday for his favored candidates, including gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake, while former Vice President Mike Pence will stump for one of Lake’s opponents, Karrin Taylor Robson.

The dueling rallies come as Trump continues to double down on unfounded claims that he won the 2020 election, putting particular focus on Arizona, where the former president has sought to quash dissent among the GOP ranks. Other Republicans, meanwhile, are hoping to turn the page on the election, insisting that relitigating it is a recipe for disaster in the midterms and 2024.

“It’s a very defining moment for the Republican Party because it doesn’t get more obvious than this proxy war between Trump and the powers in the party,” said Arizona-based pollster Mike Noble, chief research and managing partner at OH Predictive insights. 

And Trump is seeking to make his influence known in other Arizona-based races ahead of the primaries. The former president has thrown his support behind Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters, attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, and secretary of state candidate state Sen. Mark Finchem (R). Lake, Masters, Hamadeh and Finchem are all set to attend Trump’s rally on Friday. 

Trump’s endorsed candidates in Arizona have touted his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and that there was widespread fraud in the Grand Canyon State and others.

The 2020 Arizona election results have been a focus for Trump going back to the presidential contest nearly two years ago. Biden won the state, where Trump made a number of stops during the campaign, by less than a point. Under pressure from Trump, the state’s GOP-controlled Senate ordered a so-called audit of the election results. However, the suit ended up affirming Biden’s win in the state. 

The former president’s influence was especially felt this week by state Senate candidate and Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R). On Wednesday, the Arizona GOP executive committee censured Bowers after he testified before the Jan. 6 Committee in Washington about Trump’s efforts to pressure him to sway the 2020 election. Trump has endorsed Bowers’s opponent in the state Senate race, David Farnsworth, and recently called on Republican voters in a statement to “replace [Bowers] in the ballot box” in the August primary.

“I expect him to spend some energy dumping on Rusty tomorrow,” said one Republican operative with ties to Arizona. 

Trump has also attacked state Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) for not taking what he believes to be an aggressive-enough role in overturning the presidential election results in Arizona. 

“He likes Farnsworth enough but he hates Rusty Bowers,” the Republican operative with ties to Arizona said. “Sure, he likes Blake Masters enough, but he hates Mark Brnovich.”

Arizona Republicans argue that Trump’s endorsement plays a bigger role in boosting lesser-known figures like Farnsworth versus more well-funded candidates like Masters. 

Having the Trump name allows lesser-known candidates to bring in more cash, unlike candidates like Masters, who already had the help of GOP mega-donor Peter Thiel by the time he was endorsed by Trump. 

“It’s not the JD Vance situation where he sort of pulled him out of third place and rocket-fueled him,” the operative said, referring to another one of Thiel’s endorsed Senate candidates who recently won the GOP Senate primary in Ohio. 

Others argue that the former president’s stamp of approval goes farther in crowded primaries, like Arizona’s secretary of state primary, where Trump can boost a candidate in a crowded field. However, it may not have as strong of an effect in races like the GOP gubernatorial primary, which is seen as a two-person race. 

“I think the Trump endorsement has helped Kari Lake, but at this point, she’s kind of plateaued,” said Lorna Romero, an Arizona-based GOP strategist who worked on the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2016 reelection bid. “Since they’re [Lake and Robson] the only two Republicans, at this point they’re fighting over the undecideds and independents that poll Republican ballots, and those are not individuals that tend to be swayed by a Trump endorsement.” 

Supporters say the president’s focus on the state goes farther back than the 2020 election, pointing to Arizona as the site of one of his first major rallies in the 2016 election. 

“I would argue in ‘16 that the first sign that this Donald Trump thing is not a sideshow but is actually real was the Arizona rally,” the operative with ties to Arizona said. “He gets a great response here. It’s an active crowd.” 

The state was also home to Trump’s first rally of the midterm cycle earlier this year. 

Additionally, some of Trump’s biggest political cheerleaders hail from the Grand Canyon State, including Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. 

It’s also a state where Trump has performed relatively well in elections. In 2016, he defeated then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by roughly three points before barely losing to Biden in 2020. 

But those elections were close, and questions remain about whether Trump-endorsed candidates can win a general election in a state that produced moderate political figures on both sides of the aisle like McCain and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.).

“It’s a right-of-center state that really looks at the candidate,” said Chuck Warren, a national Republican strategist who has done work in Arizona. 

And as national Republicans are zeroing in on inflation, crime and the flow of migrants over the southern border, Trump’s endorsed candidates have focused more on election integrity and the 2020 presidential election results. 

“Democrats are handing the top issue on a silver platter to Republicans to just take it and run with it and just focus on the economy,” Romero said. “These distractions are what could have a Republican potentially lose in a general election here.” 

Still, Trump-backed Republican candidates insist that it’s policy that comes first. In a statement to The Hill, Hamadeh’s campaign touted Trump’s “America First” policies while bashing the Biden administration. 

“President Trump and his America First policies still remain popular, especially after living under the disastrous policies of President Biden and the radical left the last two years,” the campaign said in a statement. 

If Trump’s endorsed candidates do come out of their primaries, it remains unclear what their strategy will be to branch out beyond the conservative base once attention turns to the general election in November. 

“Are they going to be able to shift their narrative within the 8 to 10 weeks before the general?” Romero said. “I don’t know how that translates well for them in a general election.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump-Pence proxy battle takes center stage in Arizona

Former President Trump and former Vice President Pence will hold dueling events for competing candidates in Arizona on Friday, setting up the first major proxy battle between the two men as they each position themselves for a potential 2024 White House run.

Trump has endorsed Kari Lake in Arizona’s GOP gubernatorial primary, as Lake has tied herself closely to the former president and his disproven claims of widespread election fraud in 2020. Pence has joined other establishment Republicans in backing Karrin Taylor Robson, Lake’s main rival.

While Pence previously backed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) despite a Trump-supported primary challenge from David Perdue, the Arizona race will be the first time the two men have backed opposing candidates for an open seat in a statewide race.

Pence and outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) will join Robson for events in Peoria and Tuscon on Friday. The latter will be at the National Border Patrol Council and will focus on border security.

Marc Short, who served as chief of staff for Pence, on Wednesday shared a social media post from Lake from 2017 in which she used the hashtag “#NotMyPresident” to describe Trump ahead of his inauguration.

Short’s jab at Lake is part of a broader effort among Robson and her supporters to paint Lake as an impostor and opportunist seeking to ride Trump’s brand to victory.

“Modern politics is full of charlatans and fakes, but Vice President Pence is the genuine article. He has never wavered in his conservative beliefs and commitment to our Constitution, and left a rock-solid legacy as Governor to which I will aspire,” Robson said in a statement announcing Pence’s endorsement.

Trump, meanwhile, will speak Friday night at a rally in Prescott Valley after a previously scheduled event in the state was canceled after the death of his first wife, Ivana Trump. Trump will be preceded by speakers that include Lake and Blake Masters, the former president’s preferred Senate candidate in Arizona.

“Arizona finally has a chance to have a GREAT Governor. Vote for Kari Lake – She has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump posted on Truth Social, his fledgling social media network, on Thursday.

The primary battle between Robson and Lake has drawn the attention of Republicans around the country. 

Lake has earned the backing of Trump acolytes like Michael Flynn, Mike Lindell and Rudy Giuliani. Robson meanwhile has the support of Pence, Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).

The primary will essentially serve as a proxy battle between the Trump-wing of the party and those in the GOP who are hoping to move beyond the former president in the years to come, strategists said.

“If Karrin wins it clearly gives her an opportunity to narrate… another Republican agenda. What is it that Republicans believe? What are we fighting for? What are we talking about that moves the narrative beyond Trump?” said Chuck Coughlin, president of HighGround, Inc., and a longtime Arizona political consultant.

“And that’s really the opportunity that will be presented here. That’s what Ducey and Pence want to do. That’s the opportunity,” Coughlin said.

The field has narrowed after former Rep. Matt Salmon (R) dropped out of the race, likely to the benefit of Robson as she consolidated much of his support.

Coughlin said Lake’s focus has been very narrow, parroting Trump’s talking points about the 2020 election that appeal to the former president’s base but are unlikely to resonate with a wider audience.

Robson has tried to broaden her appeal among Republicans and some independents. She is likely to benefit from the support of Ducey, who Coughlin said had the approval of roughly 60 percent of Republicans in the state. 

Pence’s endorsement could indicate something of a bandwagon effect among establishment Republicans that could help push Robson across the finish line in an extremely close race.

The Pence involvement in Arizona comes amid a broader trend of the former vice president positioning himself for a potential 2024 White House bid with frequent appearances in early primary states and speeches urging conservatives to lay out a forward-looking agenda, in contrast to Trump’s rigid focus on the 2020 election.

Pence on Tuesday and Wednesday met with House Republicans, who welcomed him with open arms but downplayed any discussion of Pence’s 2024 plans.

The former vice president will be in Washington, D.C., next Monday for a speech at the Heritage Foundation. The next day, Trump will be in the nation’s capital for the first time since leaving office to address the America First Policy Institute, which was created by former aides.

Should Robson win in the Aug. 2 primary, it could be a significant marker for Pence and others who appear to be testing the waters for whether the GOP is open to moving beyond Trump.

“I don’t know that people care that much if Pence has picked a different candidate here or there. I don’t think that will hinder Pence’s support,” said John Thomas, a GOP consultant. “To me, the bigger question is: Will he run, and if he’s running could he actually be the nominee?”

Source: TEST FEED1

Five takeaways from Thursday's Jan. 6 hearing

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection held its final hearing — only its second in prime-time — before a summer break on Thursday.

The latest event stretched over almost three hours and featured two key live witnesses, Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews, both of whom resigned from Trump’s administration on the day of the riot, as well as a plethora of new details.

Here are five key takeaways:

Raw Trump footage reveals a lot

Former President Trump was caught on candid camera — and the results were damning.

The panel obtained raw footage of two crucial Trump addresses to the nation. 

One was on Jan. 6 itself, when, after hours of violence at the Capitol, he recorded a video in the White House Rose Garden saying the rioters should go home; the other was an address delivered the following day.

The latter was the more startling because it showed Trump repeatedly objecting to the script that had been loaded into his teleprompter.

His irritation bubbled up at the idea that he should declare the election “over.”

“I just want to say Congress has certified the results, without saying the election’s over,” Trump insisted. “OK?”

The previous day, the then-president had bridled at the idea of following a script at all.

Instead, his off-the-cuff speech included his “love” for the protesters, whom he called “very special.” He also repeated the fiction that 2020 was a “fraudulent” election.

Matthews, a former deputy press secretary, said at the hearing she found the Rose Garden video “disturbing.”

The footage from Jan. 7 displayed something even more powerful, however.

It showed the then-president refusing to back down from his false claims of election fraud, even after one of the darkest days in American history.

As a result, it helped make the committee’s central case: that Trump incited a mob, loosed them on the Capitol and, even after the results were grimly apparent, just didn’t care.

New details emerge of Pence — and his protectors — in peril

The single most vivid section of Thursday’s hearing underlined the dangers that faced then-Vice President Pence and those around him.

Pence, who had journeyed to the Capitol to certify the election results, had to be hustled to safety by his security detail, with insurrectionists sometimes only feet away.

An anonymous former White House security official, apparently testifying with his voice distorted to conceal his identity, said that Pence’s Secret Service detail were in fear of their lives.

This person said that there were “a lot of very personal calls over the radio, so it was disturbing. I don’t like talking about it, but there were calls to say goodbye to family members.”

The hearing also played excerpts from radio conversations among the agents, expressing near panic about Pence’s plight, and their own.

“If we lose any more time, we may … lose the ability to leave,” one agent was heard to say. “So if we’re going to leave, we need to do it now.”

The visceral force of the radio transmissions cuts hard against continuing efforts by Trump loyalists and their media allies to minimize what happened on Jan. 6.

Liz Cheney, facing primary defeat, pulls no punches

The House select committee’s chair is Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), but its star is Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

The conservative congresswoman is the most effective Trump critic among Republicans on Capitol Hill, and she has made some of the most forceful speeches lambasting his actions.

Her opposition to Trump has been disastrous for Cheney’s political fortunes, however. She was long ago ousted as a member of the Republican House leadership. Now, she looks likely to lose a House primary to a pro-Trump candidate, Harriet Hageman.

A poll for Cheney’s home state Casper Star-Tribune last week put her down by 22 points. The primary is set for Aug. 16.

By the time the hearings resume in September, Cheney might be officially on her way to becoming an ex-congresswoman.

But if Thursday was a swan song of sorts, Cheney at least tried to make it count.

At the hearing’s opening, she asserted that, in the immediate wake of the insurrection, “almost no-one of any political party would defend President Trump’s conduct — and no-one should do so today.”

At its close, she accused the former president of engaging in a macabre con. She said Trump had been “preying on” the patriotism of his supporters. He had, she added, “turned their love of country into a weapon against our Capitol and our Constitution.”

No-one who had acted as Trump had done, she argued, should “ever be trusted with any position of authority in our great nation again.”

New testimony bolsters Cassidy Hutchinson

One of the panel’s most dramatic public hearings so far came last month, with the appearance of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

Hutchinson appeared on June 28, revealing explosive details about conversations she said had taken place inside the White House.

But one part of Hutchinson’s testimony became a particular point of contention. 

She said she had been told about an altercation in Trump’s vehicle after his Jan. 6 speech at a rally at the Ellipse. Hutchinson said she had been told that Trump had lunged for the steering wheel and physically tangled with a Secret Service agent.

Almost immediately, media reports emerged that three people, including the agent and the vehicle’s driver, were willing to testify that this had not happened in the way Hutchinson relayed.

But Thursday’s hearing brought some support for Hutchinson.

Video testimony was played from a retired Washington police officer, Mark Robinson, who was part of the presidential motorcade that day. Robinson said he was told that “the president was upset, and was adamant about going to the Capitol, and there was a heated discussion about that.”

An unidentified former White House employee also recalled a story, similar to the one recounted by Hutchinson, in which Trump was “irate” at not getting to go to the Capitol.

There are, of course, fine points that remain disputed, including whether Trump lunged for the steering wheel. These disputes are also taking place against a backdrop of the apparent deletion of Secret Service text messages — something that is now under investigation.

But the bottom line is that Thursday’s hearing buttressed Hutchinson’s earlier testimony.

There will be more hearings

The committee has often left its precise plans unclear until the last minute — the June 28 Hutchinson hearing, for example, was announced just 24 hours in advance.

There had been some speculation that Thursday’s hearing would be the final one of its kind.

Instead, the panel will return in September.

Thompson said in his opening remarks — delivered virtually, after he tested positive for COVID-19 — that the panel would “reconvene” then.

Cheney put things more colorfully.

“Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued and the dam has begun to break,” she asserted.

Of course, the closer the hearings get to November’s midterm elections, the sharper the criticism will become that they are nothing more than political theater.

But that doesn’t seem to worry Cheney.

“We have much work yet to do,” she said at the close of Thursday’s proceedings, “and we shall see you all in September.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump accused of ‘dereliction of duty’ in dramatic Jan. 6 hearing

The White House was paralyzed for three hours on Jan. 6 as former President Trump rebuffed frantic pleas from anxious aides to intervene to quell the violence at the U.S. Capitol, according to evidence presented Thursday night by the House committee investigating last year’s rampage.

Trump’s inaction over that 187-minute span — even in the face of desperate calls from top staff and close family — allowed the riot to escalate, investigators charged, threatening the lives of lawmakers and his own vice president, Mike Pence, who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.

That inactivity was no accident, in the panel’s telling, but just another part of Trump’s plan to weaponize the fury of his supporters — convinced by Trump himself that the election was “stolen” — in an effort to remain in power despite his election defeat. 

“President Trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). “He chose not to act.”

Thursday’s prime-time hearing — the eighth in six weeks — was an autopsy of those tense 187 minutes, from the moment Trump finished his rally speech at the White House Ellipse, where he encouraged supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol, until he released a video urging the rioters to go home.

The account of those hours portrayed a president fixated on the riot, which he was following closely on Fox News from the head of the table in the White House dining room, a witness testified. He would remain there for more than two-and-a-half hours, beginning at 1:25 p.m., the committee said, calling Republican lawmakers, to urge them to fight the election results, and his campaign lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who was spearheading the “stop the steal” campaign. 

The details of Trump’s actions during those hours are only now coming into focus, based on witness testimony, and the committee suggested the secrecy was by design.

The presidential daily diary contains no information from the period between 1:21 p.m. and 4:03 p.m.; the call log is empty for nearly 8 hours that day; and the White House photographer was prohibited from taking pictures of Trump, despite her efforts to do so.

Still, after interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses, the committee has cobbled together much of what happened that day. Among the revelations presented during Thursday’s hearing: 

• Trump was not in the dark about the violence at the Capitol. Within 15 minutes of returning to the White House, he learned the building was under attack.

• Trump did not call any of his national security leaders for the duration of the riot, opting instead to call lawmakers about the certification vote 

• Pence’s security staff feared for their lives when the mob breached the Capitol, dreading they were trapped and might have to resort to lethal force. 

• Trump resisted adding any calls for “peace” in the few tweets he sent as the attack was unfolding. With the urging of his daughter, Ivanka, he agreed to a compromise: “Stay peaceful,” he said in his 2:38 p.m. tweet. 

• In similar fashion, Trump did not want to include language in his late afternoon videotaped message to supporters telling them to “go home in a peaceful way.”

• Trump’s last words before retiring to his residence the evening of Jan. 6 made no mention of the attack. Instead, he was angry with his vice president. “Mike Pence let me down,” he said. 

• And on Jan. 7, Trump still struggled to acknowledge the election was over, demanding to exclude that language from his video address.

The panel also demonstrated the tension between those staffers pushing aggressively to stir Trump into action, and others — including then-chief of staff Mark Meadows — who appeared resigned to the idea that Trump was ready to watch the chaos at the Capitol play out.  

Pat Cippollone, Trump’s former chief counsel, was squarely in the former group. He was among the few people to confront Trump in the dining room during the violence, and his message to the president, he testified, “was pretty clear.” 

“There needed to be an immediate and forceful … public statement that people need to leave the Capitol now,” Cipollone said.  

To boost its case, the committee brought in two former White House staffers who resigned in protest over how Trump handled Jan. 6: Matthew Pottinger, former deputy director for the National Security Council, and Sarah Matthews, then deputy press secretary. Both of them described being appalled by Trump’s refusal to act to protect the Capitol, and both of them would resign on Jan. 6 to protest what they called his failure to meet his most basic presidential obligations. 

For Matthews, the final straw was the 4:17 p.m. Rose Garden video, in which Trump told the crowd to disperse, calling them “special people.” For Pottinger, the decision came even earlier, after Trump’s 2:24 p.m. tweet attacking Pence, who quickly became a target of the violent mob. 

“That was the moment that I decided that I was going to resign, that that would be my last day at the White House,” Pottinger said.

“I simply didn’t want to be associated with the events that were unfolding on the Capitol.”

While staffers were making little headway with Trump, the panel demonstrated the fear felt at the Capitol.

Those protecting Pence feared for his life as well as their own, and, just 40 feet away from rioters, believed they may soon need to use deadly force.

“There was a lot of yelling. A lot of very personal calls over the radio, so it was disturbing. I don’t like talking about it, but there were calls to say goodbye to family members, so on, so forth,” an anonymous official said in audio played Thursday.

The committee also highlighted the actions of some of Trump’s closest congressional allies, who have echoed the false claims of a stolen election, downplayed the violence in the Capitol on Jan. 6 and fought to defend the former president from any insinuation that he encouraged the rampage.

The panel played numerous clips of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), detailing his pleas to Trump for action, and his previously leaked comments attacking Trump for his behavior that day.

“He told me it was getting really ugly over at the Capitol and said, ‘Please, you know, anything you could do to help, I would appreciate it.’ I don’t recall a specific ask, just anything you could do,” said Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor. 

“I got the sense that…they were scared,” he said, adding “He was scared, yes.”

The panel also showed footage of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who was seen shortly before the riot lifting his fist in solidarity with protestors, fleeing for his life, jetting out of the Senate chambers and bolting through the basement. 

Trump would leave the dining room only after 4 p.m., when he headed to the Rose Garden to film a message to supporters telling them to go home but also, “We love you. You’re very special.” 

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), another committee member, said the video was not an instance of Trump finally rising to the occasion.

“In the end it is not, as it may appear, a story of inaction in a time of crisis but instead is the final action of Trump’s own plan to usurp the will of the American people and remain in power,” Luria said.

“Not until it was clear that his effort to violently disrupt or delay the counting of election results fail did he send a message to supporters that he commiserated with their pain and told them affectionately to go home,” she added, noting it included no condemnation.

Matthews likewise said staff was demoralized after the video was released.

“That was disturbing to me because he didn’t distinguish between those that peacefully attended his speech earlier that day and those that we watched cause violence at the Capitol. Instead, he told the people who we had just watched storm our nation’s Capitol with the intent on overthrowing our democracy, violently attack police officers, and chant heinous things like, ‘hang Mike Pence,’ ‘we love you, you’re very special.’ And as a spokesperson for him, I knew that I would be asked to defend that,” she said. 

“And to me, his refusal to act and call off the mob that day and his refusal to condemn the violence was indefensible.” 

One of the last comments Trump made to a staffer before retiring for the day, according to the committee, was that “Mike Pence let me down.”

A video taken the next day that staffers designed to be a second chance for Trump to condemn the actions of the day prior also left the president struggling.

“I don’t want to say the election’s over, I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over, OK?” Trump said.

He later quibbled over a line saying rioters “broke the law.”

Pottinger and Matthews were just a few of those who resigned in the wake of Jan. 6. And even many of those who remained said they did so only to protect their offices in the final days of the administration. 

Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, for instance, organized a meeting of cabinet officials to “steady the ship” amid calls to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump.

As part of that meeting he sent a memo to Trump demanding he “no longer publicly question the election results after Wednesday, no one can deny this is harmful.”

He also offered a veiled dismissal of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

The memo suggests Trump listen to his cabinet secretaries “while limiting the role of certain private citizens, who, respectful, have served you poorly with their advice.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Seven stunning moments from the Jan. 6 hearing

Thursday’s hearing by the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol focused on the day of the riot itself, zeroing in on former President Trump’s inaction as a mob of his supporters descended on the Capitol and put lawmakers and law enforcement in danger.

The hearing, which is expected to be the committee’s last until September, featured new footage and audio clips that shed further light on Trump’s reaction to the violence and on what was happening inside the Capitol as the riots escalated.

Here are seven of the most notable moments from Thursday’s hearing.

Trump speaks off the cuff to rioters

Raw footage presented Thursday showed former President Trump ignored a script that called for him to tell protesters to “leave the Capitol Hill region now and go home in a peaceful way.”

Instead, he spoke off the cuff, delivering a meandering message to his supporters from the Rose Garden. The footage showed Trump starting a message before stopping and trying again.

Trump expressed empathy with the rioters, saying he believed the 2020 election was “stolen from us” and “fraudulent.”

“But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order; we have to respect our great people in law and order,” Trump said in the video, recorded at 4:03 p.m. on Jan. 6.

“There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened. This was a fraudulent election. But we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you, and you’re very special.”

Hawley flees the mob

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was captured in a now infamous photo on the morning of Jan. 6 raising a fist toward a group of protesters outside the Capitol. But the committee showed new footage on Thursday depicting how the tables had turned on Hawley hours later.

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) quoted a Capitol Police officer who told the committee Hawley’s gesture “riled up the crowd” gathered near the complex the morning of the 6th.

“Later that day, Sen. Hawley fled after those protesters he helped to rile up stormed the Capitol,” Luria said.

The committee then played footage of Hawley visibly running through the halls of the Capitol and then jogging down the stairs as lawmakers and staff sought safety from the mob.

The video was widely shared on social media. Video from the hearing showed those in the room audibly laughing as it played.

Secret Service feared for their lives

One of the most dramatic moments came when the committee played previously unheard audio of Secret Service weighing whether they had time to move former Vice President Pence to a secure location in the Capitol without encountering the mob.

“If we lose any more time, we may … lose the ability to leave. So, if we’re going to leave, we need to do it now,” one Secret Service agent said in a radio transmission.

The committee interviewed an anonymous White House security official, who told the panel that the National Security Council was listening to the audio in real time and could hear some officers audibly fearing for their lives.

“There was a lot of yelling. A lot of very personal calls over the radio, so it was disturbing. I don’t like talking about it, but there were calls to say goodbye to family members, so on, so forth,” the anonymous official said in audio played Thursday.

At the same time the security council was remarking on the panic among the Secret Service, Trump sent a tweet complaining that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”

Kushner says McCarthy sounded ‘scared’ 

Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner recalled to the committee in testimony played Thursday that he was in the shower on Jan. 6 when he heard his phone ringing.

“Saw it was Leader [Kevin] McCarthy, who I had a good relationship with,” Kushner said. “He told me it was getting really ugly over at the Capitol and said, ‘Please anything you could do to help, I would appreciate it.’”

“I got the sense that they were scared… He was scared, yes,” Kushner added.

Multiple other former White House officials told the committee about McCarthy’s many attempts to reach Trump as the violence was unfolding.

In an audio clip, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) described McCarthy talking about calling the White House and getting through to Trump. 

“He said, ‘You have got to get on TV. You’ve got to get on Twitter. You’ve got to call these people off,’” Herrera Beutler said. “You know what the president said to him? This is as it’s happening. He said, ‘Well, Kevin, these aren’t my people. These are, these are antifa.’”

The committee later showed footage of McCarthy condemning the violence and saying Trump bore some responsibility for the events of Jan. 6. But weeks later, McCarthy traveled to Florida to make amends with the former president.

Video shows lawmakers talking with Pentagon officials mid-riot

The committee shared new video footage of senators inside the Capitol directly calling Pentagon officials for assistance as they hid from rioters who had stormed the building.

“We’re not gonna let these people keep us from finishing our business. So, we need you to get the building cleared, give us the OK, so we can go back in session and finish up the people’s business as soon as possible,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller over the phone.

“Amen, sir,” Miller responded.

The video also shows Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asking Miller how long he expected it would take for authorities to clear the building so Congress could “safely resume” certifying the election results. Miller indicated he believed it would take at least four or five hours.

The video footage juxtaposed how lawmakers who were under siege at the Capitol were directly contacting Defense officials about how to clear the facility, while Trump isolated himself in the White House and refused to condemn the violence until hours after it had started.

DC officer corroborates Hutchinson testimony 

Testimony presented by the committee on Thursday corroborated former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s claim that Trump got in an interaction with Secret Service personnel in his presidential limo on Jan. 6 after they informed him that he would not be joining his supporters at the Capitol following his speech at the Ellipse.

During a hearing last month, Hutchinson said she was told that Trump was “irate” in the presidential vehicle, telling the Secret Service something along the lines of “I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now.”

Sgt. Mark Robinson (Ret.) of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department — who was in the lead vehicle with the Secret Service agent overseeing the presidential motorcade, known as the TS agent — informed the committee that he was told Trump got in a “heated discussion” about going to the Capitol with his supporters on Jan. 6.

“The only description I received was that the president was upset and that he was adamant about going to the Capitol and that there was a heated discussion about that,” Robinson testified in a clip presented Thursday.

“Meaning that the president was upset and he was saying there was a heated argument or discussion about going to the Capitol,” he later added, noting that the TS agent described the situation as “heated.”

The committee also showed testimony from a former Trump White House employee who spoke with then-White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato and Robert Engel, the head of Trump’s security detail who was in the vehicle, after the incident.

The employee said Ornato “expressed to me that the president was irate” when he was informed that he could not go to the Capitol with his supporters.

Trump outtakes from Jan. 7 video

The committee showed never-before-seen outtakes of Trump recording a video message on Jan. 7, one day after the riot.

The video gave a window into Trump’s ongoing refusal to accept the election results, as well as the behind the scenes tinkering that took place to produce a three-minute video.

In one outtake, Trump cuts himself off to say that he does not want to say “the election’s over” while reading a script from a teleprompter.

“’But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results’ — I don’t want to say the election’s over, I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over, OK?” Trump said.

In another outtake, which is likely to draw the ire of the former president, Trump is seen saying he can’t say the word “yesterday” in the context of the script.

Additionally, the committee showed two outtakes of Trump becoming frustrated after reading the line, “My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.”

In one clip, he pointed his index finger down before starting over, and in the second, he slammed the podium.

Source: TEST FEED1

Cheney sums up case against Trump in last big hearing moment before primary

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) used her last major Jan. 6 Select Committee hearing moment before a tough primary election to sum up the case against former President Donald Trump.

“In our hearing tonight, you saw an American president faced with a stark, unmistakable choice between right and wrong. There was no ambiguity, no nuance. Donald Trump made a purposeful choice to violate his oath of office to ignore the ongoing violence against law enforcement to threaten our constitutional order,” Cheney, vice chair of the Jan. 6 Committee, said in her closing statement during a primetime hearing Thursday. “There is no way to excuse that behavior. It was indefensible.”

The hearing centered on Trump’s actions – and inaction – on Jan. 6 during the Capitol riot, featuring testimony from White House aides who wanted the president to call off the rioters earlier, and in a more forceful manner.

“Every American must consider this: Can a President who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made during the violence of January 6th ever be trusted with any position of authority in our great nation again?” Cheney said.

The committee will return for more hearings in September, Cheney announced in Thursday’s hearing, weeks after her uphill Aug. 16 primary.

The primary election is a referendum of sorts on Trump’s role in the Capitol attack and the Republican party moving forward.

Cheney’s vote to impeach Trump after the riot led to swift calls for primary challengers against her, and her continuing to place blame on Trump for the attack for months after led to the House GOP Conference removing her from her No. 3 position as Conference Chair in May 2021. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) took her place.

Cheney’s main primary competition is Trump-endorsed challenger Harriet Hageman, an attorney and former GOP National Committeewoman.

While Cheney has far outraised Hageman, reporting a total of $13 million in contributions to her campaign through June 30 compared to $3.8 million for Hageman, a recent Casper Star-Tribune poll found her lagging far behind Trump’s pick.

The July 7-11 poll found Hageman leading Cheney by 22 points, 52 percent to 30 percent.

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump Jan. 7 outtake: ‘I don’t want to say the election’s over’

The Jan. 6 select committee on Thursday presented outtakes of then-President Trump recording a video on Jan. 7, 2021.

In the outtake, Trump at one point cuts himself off to say that he does not want to say “the election’s over” while reading a script from a teleprompter.

“’But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results’ — I don’t want to say the election’s over, I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over, OK?” Trump said.

The former president’s daughter Ivanka Trump is heard in the background drafting a new line for her father, including, “now, Congress has certified—.”

In the final cut of the video, Trump said “Congress has certified the results,” but he did not mention losing the election.

In another outtake, Trump took issue with a section that condemned the rioters.

“’And to those who broke the law, you will pay. You do not represent our movement, you do not represent our country, and if you broke the law’ — can’t say that, I’m not gonna, I already said you will pay,” he said.

The final address did not include the “you will pay” line.

Additionally, the committee showed two outtakes of Trump becoming frustrated after reading the line, “My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.”

In one clip, he put pointed his index finger down, and in the second, he slammed the podium.

Source: TEST FEED1

New York's Lee Zeldin safe following attack at campaign event

New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, is safe and uninjured following an attempted attack at a campaign event on Thursday night. 

Zeldin’s campaign said in a statement that a man climbed the stage he was on and attempted to stab him during a speech in front of supporters. Zeldin grabbed the man’s wrist to stop him until several others helped take the man to the ground.

The congressman was uninjured, and law enforcement took the suspect into custody, according to the campaign.

Campaign spokeswoman Katie Vincentz said Zeldin and all staff members are all right following the attack.

“Far more must be done to make New York safe again. This is very much getting out of hand in this state. Unfortunately, Congressman Zeldin is just the latest New Yorker whose life has been affected by the out of control crime and violence in New York. This needs to stop! Thankfully, we still have exceptional men and women in law enforcement answering the call to protect our streets.” she said.

The Rochester-based CBS affiliate WROC reported that Zeldin was giving a speech on bail reform when the man got on the stage, yelled, wrestled with him and pulled a blade out.

A video taken by a witness to the attack posted on Twitter by Nick Reisman, a New York state politics reporter for Spectrum News, shows a man slowly walking onto the stage before another man gets on the stage and stands between the two, putting his arm on the attacker’s abdomen. 

The attacker appears to grab Zeldin’s arm as a few other people get on the stage to help Zeldin. One witness yelled “he’s got a knife.”

WROC reported that the suspect was subdued by Joe Chenelly, the national director of American Veterans, a veterans’ service organization.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return a request from The Hill for comment. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Zeldin’s Democratic opponent, tweeted that she was “relieved” to hear that Zeldin was not injured and the suspect is in custody. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Watch the previously unseen video of Trump's Jan. 6 remarks

The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released previously unseen video of then-President Trump speaking from the White House on the day of the insurrection. 

The footage, recorded in the Rose Garden, shows Trump ignored a script that called for him to tell protesters to “leave the Capitol Hill region now and go home in a peaceful way.”

Instead, he spoke off the cuff, delivering a meandering message to his supporters after one false start on his first attempt.

Trump expressed empathy with the rioters, saying he believed the 2020 election was “stolen from us” and “fraudulent.”

“But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order; we have to respect our great people in law and order,” Trump said in the video, recorded at 4:03 p.m. on Jan. 6.

“There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened. This was a fraudulent election. But we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you, and you’re very special.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Jan. 6 committee zeroes in on Kevin McCarthy attempts to reach Trump during attack

The Jan. 6 Select committee at a Thursday hearing honed-in on House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) conversations with then-President Trump as the Capitol was under attack.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) introduced a montage of clips from deposition testimony and other clips detailing McCarthy’s repeated attempts to reach out to Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, pleading with them to have Trump do more to call off the mob.

Molly Michael, former executive assistant to the president, said that McCarthy had contacted former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino’s desk line, and that it was then transferred to the president. Michael testified that Trump was in the White House dining room when he took the call.

In a Fox News clip from the day of the attack, McCarthy talked on the air about speaking to Trump.

“I think we need to make a statement, make sure that we can calm individuals down,” McCarthy said.

Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, said that McCarthy had indicated he had a conversation with Trump or someone in the White House. Short indicated that McCarthy expressed frustration the White House was “not taking the circumstances seriously as they should at that moment.”

In an audio clip, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) described McCarthy talking about calling the White House and getting through to Trump. 

“He said, ‘You have got to get on TV. You’ve got to get on Twitter. You’ve got to call these people off.’” Herrera Beutler said. “You know what the President said to him? This is as it’s happening. He said, ‘Well, Kevin, these aren’t my people. these are these are Antifa.’” 

McCarthy responded that they were Trump’s people, and that his staff was running for cover, Herrera Beutler said.

“And the President’s response to Kevin, to me, was chilling. He said, ‘Well, Kevin, I guess there’s more upset about the election theft than you are,’” Herrera Beutler. 

The two then got in a swearing match, she said.

In a call to CBS News on Jan. 6, McCarthy said: “I conveyed to the President what I think is best to do, and I’m hopeful the president will do it.”

Julie Radford, former chief of staff for Ivanka Trump, said in a deposition that McCarthy reached out to Ivanka Trump about the attack at the Capitol on one time.

Jared Kushner said in a deposition that McCarthy also called him.

“He told me it was getting really ugly over at the Capitol and said, ‘Please, you know, anything you can do to help I would appreciate it,’” Kushner said.

“I got the sense that they were, they were scared,” Kushner said, adding that it seemed McCarthy specifically was scared.

Source: TEST FEED1