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US

Jan 6 hearing today: Trump’s WH counsel Pat Cipollone subpoenaed as Liz Cheney earns standing ovation

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Republicans cannot be loyal to both Trump and constitution, says Liz Cheney

Republican US representative Liz Cheney delivered a fiery speech to call out Donald Trump and GOP leaders at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Wednesday night, receiving thunderous applause from the audience.

Ms Cheney, who is the vice-chair of the House committee investigating the 6 January riots, said Mr Trump’s efforts have turned out to be “more chilling and more threatening” than first imagined as the full picture is emerging.

“Republicans cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution,” she said, to a round of applause.

She said Americans are confronting a “domestic threat” like never before and Mr Trump attempted to unravel the foundations of the constitutional Republic.

She praised former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and others who are testifying against Mr Trump for their “bravery and her patriotism”.

In the first action since Ms Hutchinson’s explosive testimony, the panel subpoenaed Trump’s White House counsel Pat Cipollone, whose resistance to Mr Trump’s false claims has made him a long-sought witness.

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DeSantis supporters say explosive January 6 hearing was ‘good for them’

Gustaf Kilander30 June 2022 07:30

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48% of Americans say Trump should be criminally charged, poll says

Almost half of Americans believe that the former president Donald Trump should be criminally charged for his role in the attack on the US capitol last year on 6 January.

According to the survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 48 per cent of adults polled to say that the former president should be held accountable and face charges while 32 per cent said he should not be charged.

Other 20 per cent did not have an opinion on the topic.

The poll was conducted before the five public hearings by the House committee but before Tuesday’s surprise hearing featuring former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

Shweta Sharma30 June 2022 07:13

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Capitol Police Sergeant calls on Mike Pence to testify: ‘Your boss tried to have you killed’

US Capitol Police Sgt Aquilino Gonell told HuffPost that Donald Trump is responsible for the injuries he sustained during the attack on Congress.

“Our own president set us up,” he told the outlet. “I just feel betrayed. The president should be doing everything possible to help us and he didn’t do it. He wanted to lead the mob and wanted to lead the crowd himself … he wanted to be a tyrant.”

Speaking about the events on January 6, Sgt Gonell tweeted on Tuesday: “When [Trump] tweeted about Pence, the fighting in the tunnel intensified. We held the line hoping the President would be on our side and send us help. Mike Pence is lucky to be alive, he’s lucky we kept our OATH AND HELD THE LINE. Your boss tried to have you killed. Testify.”

Gustaf Kilander30 June 2022 07:00

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DOJ officials felt ‘blindsided’ after Hutchinson’s testimony

The testimony of former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has exposed the widening rift between the Justice Department and congressional investigators.

Some of the officials of the Justice Department, according to a New York Times report, felt blindsided and were left astonished with the explosive testimony as the panel did not provide them with videos or transcripts of her taped interviews with committee members beforehand.

The surprise hearing came as a parallel investigation is going on by the federal prosecutors to determine the extent of the former president’s involvement in the riots and it will soon converge.

The committee members have also suggested that Attorney General Merrick B Garland is not moving swiftly enough in investigating leads. But Senior Justice Department officials say that committee members’ resistance to turn over transcripts has slowed their progress.

Shweta Sharma30 June 2022 06:36

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At least one of the ‘witness tampering’ messages shown in hearing was sent to Hutchinson

Gustaf Kilander30 June 2022 06:20

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Liz Cheney: Republicans cannot be loyal to both Trump and constitution

In her speech that drew a standing ovation from a room full of GOP, Liz Cheney said that Republicans have to choose between being loyal to Donald Trump or the constitution.

“We have to choose, because Republicans cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and be loyal to the Constitution,” she said. “We must not elect people who are more loyal to themselves, or to power than they are to our Constitution.”

She went on to praise people testifying against Mr Trump, especially young women and White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for her bombshell testimony on Tuesday.

“And I have been incredibly moved by the young women that I have met and that have come forward to testify in the January 6 committee,” she said.

Regarding Ms Hutchinson she said: “Her superiors — men many years older — a number of them are hiding behind executive privilege, anonymity and intimidation. But her bravery and her patriotism yesterday were awesome to behold.”

“Little girls all across this great nation are seeing what it really means to love this country and what it really means to be a patriot.”

“I want to speak to every young girl watching tonight,” the congresswoman concluded. “The power is yours, and so is the responsibility. … These days, for the most part, men are running the world — and it is really not going that well.”

“I want to speak to every young girl watching tonight,” the congresswoman concluded. “The power is yours, and so is the responsibility. … These days, for the most part, men are running the world — and it is really not going that well.”

(AP)

Shweta Sharma30 June 2022 05:56

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Liz Cheney likens Trump to ‘domestic threat’ in Ronald Reagan Library speech

Liz Cheney called Donald Trump a “domestic threat” of the kind the US has never faced before in her speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday night.

“We are confronting a domestic threat that we have never faced before — and that is a former President who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our constitutional Republic,” said Ms Cheney. “And he is aided by Republican leaders and elected officials who have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man.”

She began the speech by saying: “My fellow Americans, we stand at the edge of an abyss, and we must pull back.”

“As the full picture is coming into view with the January 6 committee, it has become clear that the efforts Donald Trump oversaw and engaged in were even more chilling and more threatening than we could have imagined,” Ms Cheney said.

Shweta Sharma30 June 2022 05:43

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Lindsey Graham calls Jan 6 panel a ‘sham’ and a ‘one-sided Star Chamber tribunal’

Gustaf Kilander30 June 2022 05:40

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Meadows pushes back on claim he sought pardon

Gustaf Kilander30 June 2022 05:10

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Obama 2012 campaign manager says Jan 6 hearings are ‘way past Watergate’

Speaking on MSNBC on Wednesday, 2012 Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said that “the January 6 hearings have been incredible television. I think they’re way past Watergate. I think they’re doing really big harm to the President and his party with those swing voters”.

“Half of independent voters think the President did something wrong. You’re seeing Republicans sort of walk away from the president this morning … This kind of civil war inside the Republican Party continues,” he added.

Gustaf.Kilander30 June 2022 04:45

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Trump’s allies claim they were assured editorial input before filmmaker was subpoenaed

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Multiple people said they had been told the documentary was focused on Trump’s legacy and would be a flattering portrayal.

But 17 months later, that filmmaker, Alex Holder, has been subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection, and turned over hours of his footage. That has made some in the former President’s orbit nervous, they told CNN, mainly because several don’t recall the full extent of their comments.

An attorney for Holder denies that the Trumps were granted editorial control over the final product.

”The Trumps did not request, and were not granted, any editorial control over the series. To the contrary, Alex Holder said at the outset that he would have full editorial control. The Trumps also did not request any contractual right of control, or even review, so there is none,” Russell Smith said in a statement provided to CNN.

Holder’s “Unprecedented” three-part docuseries about the 2020 election will be released on Discovery Plus, which is owned by CNN’s parent company, later this summer. The documentary includes never-before-seen footage of the Trump family on the campaign trail and their reactions to the outcome of the election.

The then-President’s children sat for multiple interviews with the British filmmaker, who was there in the final weeks of Trump’s time in office. Ivanka Trump did three interviews, her husband, Jared Kushner, was interviewed twice and Eric Trump was interviewed twice, Holder told CNN. Donald Trump Jr. was interviewed once for an hour, but an attempt at a second interview with him did not come to fruition.

Several of the interviews, including with Ivanka Trump, were conducted after Trump had lost the election but as he was still contesting it. Most of Ivanka Trump’s interview focused on her relationship with her father, in addition to a public comment about the ongoing legal challenges over the election. Trump Jr. sat down with Holder about three weeks before the election, another source said.

Now there is some concern among certain figures about what was said on camera given hours of footage have been turned over. One former aide downplayed the likelihood anything relevant to the committee was said.

A person familiar with the matter said the interviews were orchestrated by Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s Middle East peace envoy who left the administration in 2019 but remained in close touch with top officials. Greenblatt has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.

Holder sat for a deposition with the committee Thursday morning behind closed doors.

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US

Peter Navarro subpoenaed in Jan. 6 investigation

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Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department as part of the probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Navarro, who was a trade adviser to Trump, revealed the subpoena Tuesday in a lawsuit he filed against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the bipartisan House committee investigating the attack.

“On May 26, 2022, two FBI special agents banged loudly on my door in the early morning hours to present me with a fruit of the poisonous tree,” a grand jury subpoena “commanding me to comply with the original … subpoena issued to me by the Committee dated February 9, 10 2022,” Navarro said in the 88-page complaint.

Navarro’s case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, a 2014 Obama appointee who served in the Clinton Justice Department from 1996 to 2001, including as head of the Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal advice to the executive branch on such matters as executive privilege claims.

The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Navarro in February seeking records and testimony from the former trade adviser, who has written and publicly discussed the effort to develop a strategy to delay or overturn certification of the 2020 election.

Navarro responded at the time with a statement rejecting the request and the committee’s legitimacy and blaming Pelosi, among others, for the violence that occurred Jan. 6, 2021. He argued that Trump “has invoked Executive Privilege; and it is not my privilege to waive.”

The House then voted in April to hold Navarro and former White House communications chief Daniel Scavino Jr. in contempt of Congress, leading to criminal referrals to the Justice Department, which has the power to charge the two former officials with misdemeanors that can result in up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

The pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was trying to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election win. The attack resulted in the deaths of five people and injuries to about 140 members of law enforcement.

Navarro is among several Trump advisers who have been subpoenaed by the select committee and are seeking to avoid testifying by citing Trump’s claim of executive privilege. The panel has also issued subpoenas to five House Republicans, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.).

Two other former senior Trump White House aides have raised executive privilege claims in pending cases before a federal judge in Washington.

Like Navarro, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has sued the House Jan. 6 committee after receiving a subpoena. Former Trump strategist Stephen K. Bannon has moved to toss charges of criminal contempt of Congress after refusing to appear before the committee.

Both cases are before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, a 2019 Trump appointee who served in George W. Bush’s Justice Department from 2005 to 2009, including as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the civil division.

In a February letter accompanying the original Navarro subpoena, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the select committee, cited news reports that the former Trump trade adviser “worked with Steve Bannon and others to develop and implement a plan to delay Congress’s certification of, and ultimately change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.”

The letter also cited Navarro’s recent book, in which he detailed a plan he called “The Green Bay Sweep,” which he described as the “last best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats’ jaws of deceit.” The subpoena also described a Navarro report released online that repeated “many claims of purported fraud in the election that have been discredited.”

Navarro said in his lawsuit against Pelosi and the committee that he was directed to testify before a grand jury June 2 and present “[a]ll documents relating to the subpoena dated February 9, 2022” that he received from the committee, “including but not limited to any communications with formal President Trump and/or his counsel or representative.”

“As demonstrated in this brief, the executive privilege invoked by President Trump is not mine or Joe Biden’s to waive,” Navarro maintained. “Rather, as with the Committee, the U.S. Attorney has constitutional and due process obligations to negotiate my appearance before [the grand jury] not with me but rather with President Trump and his attorneys and I am bound by privilege to fail to comply with this Grand Jury Subpoena absent these negotiations and guidance from President Trump.”

Jacqueline Alemany and Tom Hamburger contributed to this report.

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US

Exclusive: Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle’s phone records subpoenaed by January 6 committee

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It appears to be the first time the select committee has issued a subpoena that targeted a member of the Trump family, in what marks a significant escalation of the investigation into Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection. The decision to subpoena communication records involving the Trump family underscores the aggressive tack the committee is taking as it races to complete its investigation while battling Trump in court over access to documents from his administration.

The phone records obtained by the committee are part of a new round of call detail records subpoenaed from communication companies, multiple sources tell CNN. These records provide the committee with logs that show incoming and outgoing calls, including the date, time and length of calls. The records also show a log of text messages, but not the substance or content of the messages.

Still, the information can be a critical investigative tool for the committee in piecing together a road map of who was communicating before, during and after January 6.

Both Eric Trump and Guilfoyle played prominent roles in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” efforts, including Guilfoyle fundraising off the lie that the election was stolen. Both spoke at the January 6 rally on the Ellipse that preceded the attack on the Capitol.

The records may also help the committee flesh out the text messages and phone records it has received from others, like former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, as well as fundraisers and rally organizers.

CNN reported last month that the committee had already subpoenaed the phone records of more than 100 people as part of its investigation.
In some cases, communication companies have notified the targets of subpoenas from the select committee, which led to several lawsuits to try to prevent panel from obtaining the call detail records.

The newly obtained records include the cell phone number used by Eric Trump, according to sources familiar with the number. The cell phone number for Guilfoyle was confirmed by sources familiar with her number and her text messages. The committee previously identified this number as Guilfoyle’s number in text message exchanges with other witnesses.

There is no indication the committee has directly subpoenaed either Eric Trump or Guilfoyle for interviews or documents. Nor is there any evidence that the committee has subpoenaed communication records related to Trump’s other children, Ivanka Trump or Donald Trump Jr., or his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The committee did release text messages that Donald Trump Jr. sent to Meadows as the January 6 attack was unfolding, which Meadows voluntarily provided to the committee before he stopped cooperating.

Reached by CNN on Tuesday afternoon, the committee declined to comment on the new Trump and Guilfoyle subpoenas.

But in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon on Monday night, select committee member Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, said, “We’re piecing together information from the President’s inner circle and others who were in a position to see and hear what the plot was leading up to the riot.”

Lofgren declined to say whether the committee had received information from the Trump family, while adding, “nothing is off the table.”

According to a source familiar with Eric Trump’s thinking about the subpoena of his call records, “He’s not losing any sleep over it.”

An attorney for Guilfoyle said she had not been notified of any subpoena being issued for her records. The attorney, Joseph Tacopina, said the subpoena is “of no consequence to her because she has absolutely nothing to hide or be concerned about.”

Trump, Guilfoyle roles in ‘Stop the Steal’

The committee is interested in Eric Trump due to his involvement with the events of January 6, including efforts related to “Stop the Steal,” according to a source familiar with the investigation. Eric Trump spoke at the January 6 rally at the Ellipse, quoting his father’s tweet calling rally participants “patriots” and questioning the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s win.

“I’ve got a question for you. Is there any person here that actually thinks that Joe Biden won this election?” Eric Trump asked at the rally. “I don’t either, guys, I don’t either.”

Guilfoyle, who was involved in raising money for the Trump campaign and the January 6 rally, also spoke at the Ellipse. “Look at all of us out here, God-loving, freedom-loving, liberty-loving patriots, that will not let them steal this election,” Guilfoyle said. “We will not allow the liberals and the Democrats to steal our dream or steal our elections.”

The committee has identified Guilfoyle’s number in text message exchanges with other witnesses, according to two sources. In November, ProPublica first reported that Guilfoyle bragged over text messages about raising millions for the January 6 rally.

Guilfoyle’s attorney denied to ProPublica that the texts were related to the January 6 rally or that Guilfoyle was involved with fundraising or approving speakers.

Trump has amassed a war chest of more than $100 million in the months after he left the White House, raising tens of millions of dollars while spreading his lies about the 2020 election being stolen.

The batch of texts the committee released last month included one exchange between Donald Trump Jr. and Meadows as the January 6 attack was unfolding. Trump Jr. wrote to Meadows, “He’s got to condemn this sh*t ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”

“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” Meadows responded.

The content of those texts was revealed in December by Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s top Republican, during the House vote to hold Meadows in contempt. Cheney said that Trump Jr. texted “again and again,” including texting Meadows, “We need an Oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”

Cheney has said that the committee has “firsthand testimony” that Ivanka Trump went to the Oval Office on “at least two occasions” to try to get her father to say something to stop the attack on the Capitol.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify the committee’s interest in Kimberly Guilfoyle and Eric Trump.

CNN’s Kara Scannell and Christie Johnson contributed to this report.

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Business

Lucid Motors subpoenaed by the SEC over its SPAC deal. Shares plunge

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The company said the probe “appears to concern” the SPAC deal that took it public earlier this year, along with “certain projections and statements.”

Lucid (LCID) raised $4 billion through its combination with Churchill Capital Corp., which was a shell company set up to take a company public without having to go through the typical initial public offering process. The deal was announced in February and shares started trading on Nasdaq in July.
Lucid, founded and headed by former Tesla engineer Peter Rawlinson, has been a relatively hot EV company, even though it just started its first delivery of electric vehicles at the end of October. Its Lucid Air Dream edition has been certified by the EPA as being able to go 520 miles on a single charge, the longest range of any pure battery EV yet, including any Tesla. And the Lucid Air was named the MotorTrend Car of the Year in October.

Shares of Lucid had nearly doubled since they started trading on the Nasdaq.

Lucid is the latest in a growing group of upstart EVs with big questions about financial projections.

Shares of Nikola, which plans to make electric and fuel-cell powered trucks, plunged in September 2020 after Hindenburg Research, a short-seller, accused the company of an “intricate fraud.” Hindenburg claimed Nikola’s products were much farther from reaching the market than they advertised. Its founder, Trevor Milton, was forced to resign and in February the company’s own internal investigation found he misled investors. Milton now faces federal criminal charges, as well as charges from the SEC that he deceived investors.
Another electric truck start-up, Lordstown Motors, was also hit by a report from Hindenburg which raised questions about the orders for its trucks. Its CEO and CFO also were forced to resign.
Both companies also went public through use of a SPAC, and both traded at lofty prices before questions were raised about their claims of future plans and sales. Neither company’s shares recovered. Both are down nearly 90% from their record highs.

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Jeffrey Clark, a Trump DOJ official, subpoenaed by House January 6 select committee

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Trump-era Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark has been subpoenaed to appear before the Jan. 6 select committee on Oct. 29.

“We need to understand Mr. Clark’s role in these efforts at the Justice Department and learn who was involved across the administration,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and one of the chairs of the select committee.

The news comes after Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee last week released conflicting reports on the controversy surrounding accusations former President Donald Trump pressured the DOJ to investigate election fraud claims.

SENATE JUDICIARY GOP ARGUES CLAIMS OF TRUMP PRESSURE ON DOJ AFTER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ARE OVERBLOWN

Democrats on the committee claim that Trump was intent on following through with Clark’s plan to send a letter to state legislatures asking them to appoint replacement electors and fire former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.

“This report shows the American people just how close we came to a constitutional crisis,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said of the report.

But the GOP report contends that Trump “did not pressure” the DOJ to investigate any specific claims, citing several interviews with top DOJ officials and Rosen.

The GOP report also downplayed Trump’s interest in Clark’s plan, arguing that a Jan. 3 White House meeting was only held to “formally and finally decide the issues at play, which were two-fold: whether to send Clark’s draft letter and whether to remove Rosen as acting attorney general and replace him with Clark.”

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The Republicans said that Trump “listened to all seven individuals” in the meeting but noted that it “culminated in President Trump rejecting sending Clark’s draft letter and rejecting terminating Rosen.”

The news also comes as Biden’s White House counsel told the archivist of National Archives to turn over Trump-era documents to the select committee, writing “the President further instructs you to provide those pages 30 days after your notification to the former President, absent any intervening court order.”



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Business

The Reddit-fueled GameStop rally is reportedly under federal investigation for possible market manipulation – and Robinhood has been subpoenaed

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Getty Images / Corbis News

Federal authorities are probing the retail-trading phenomenon that boosted shares of GameStop, AMC, and other highly shorted stocks throughout January, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Prosecutors and regulators are investigating whether the frenzy of day trading was a form of market manipulation or other illicit activity. The Justice Department’s fraud arm and the San Francisco US attorney’s office are seeking information from brokerages and social-media platforms that fueled the trading activity, the Journal reported.

Robinhood Markets, the discount brokerage popular among the investors involved in the rallies, has been subpoenaed for its role in the event along with other brokers, according to the report.

Shares of GameStop and other recently unloved companies skyrocketed last month as members of the Wall Street Bets subreddit furiously piled into the stocks. Posts urging more traders to buy shares reached the top of Reddit’s “popular” page, exposing even more novice investors to the trend as shares surged higher.

Read more: Barclays says buy these 33 beaten-down stocks that are perfectly poised to capitalize on the reopening of the economy in the years ahead

Reddit users also cheered the trade as a way to drive massive losses at short-selling hedge funds. Language on Wall Street Bets took on a populist tone that pitted the everyday trader against the Wall Street establishment.

Separately, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating how the horde of casual investors aimed to bid up silver by trading futures and a silver-tracking exchange-traded fund, according to the report. Wall Street Bets traders pivoted to silver shortly after GameStop shares fell back to earth. More recently, the crowd has targeted cannabis stocks for their next bullish bets.

Proving the GameStop phenomenon was a case of market manipulation requires authorities to wade into a murky regulatory environment. Officials would need to prove that investors used online forums to disseminate incorrect information and lift shares to an artificially inflated price. This kind of manipulation is commonly known as a pump-and-dump scheme.

Decoding such a scheme is made harder by the anonymous nature of Reddit accounts. Posts calling on more traders to buy shares were also largely comical and enthusiastic in nature and lacked claims about companies’ underlying businesses. While some Wall Street Bets members stood out for their outsize gains or popular memes, most blended into the army of faceless day traders.

Lawmakers have also shown interest in dissecting the event and how it exploded into the mainstream. The House Financial Services Committee is slated to hold a hearing on February 18 on the matter. Rep. Maxine Waters of California said last week she wanted representatives from GameStop and Robinhood to testify along with Keith Gill, a Reddit user who allegedly made millions off the GameStop rally.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown indicated last month he too aims to hold a hearing. 

Read more: Bank of America shares 9 stocks to buy as the pandemic prompts consumers to shift their spending habits towards ‘solitary leisure’ activities like golf and biking

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