10/16/22

By Aditi Jha

On Thursday, the January 6th hearing voted to subpoena Trump in a 9-0 vote. Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney said, "We must seek the testimony under oath of Jan. 6's central player." She said the House committee is "obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion. And every American is entitled to the answers, so we can act now to protect our republic." The committee chair, Bennie Thompson, said that the "need for this committee to hear from Donald Trump goes beyond our fact finding. This is a question about accountability to the American people. He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions." There was new footage of congressional leaders trying to find more police and national guard to protect the certification of the election and the lawmakers against the insurrectionists storming the Capitol. At the same time, Trump watched it all happen on television in the West Wing of the White House. The hearing included testimony from people like Alyssa Griffin, the head of White House strategic communications, who said that Trump knew he lost and he didn't care. He just wanted power. He said, "I can't believe I lost to this F-ing guy." Testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, revealed that Trump told Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, "I don't want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out." Even people who supported Trump, such as former US Attorney General Bill Barr and Fox News reporter Sean Hannity had privately requested that he stop. Rep. Jamie Raskin said that in 2022, election denialism still poses a large threat to our democracy. "There remains a clear and present danger to our electoral system and to democratic institutions," he said. "So that is something that will come through in our final hearing. This is not ancient history we're talking about; this is a continuing threat." Trump hasn't directly responded to the subpoena yet, but spokesman Taylor Budowich tweeted that "Pres Trump will not be intimidate(d) by their meritless rhetoric or un-American actions. Trump-endorsed candidates will sweep the midterms, and America First leadership and solutions will be restored." President Biden said that the hearing was "absolutely devastating."

Russia's nuclear exercise called Grom involves "live missile launches and a deployment of strategic assets," said John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council. US intelligence is watching for unusual movements of nuclear weapons during the exercise, given Putin's recent threats to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. A senior defense official told CNN that "Russia's nuclear rhetoric and its decision to proceed with this exercise while at war with Ukraine is irresponsible. Brandishing nuclear weapons to coerce the United States and its allies is irresponsible." On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that they will monitor all nuclear activity. "We will monitor that, as we always do. And of course, we will remain vigilant not least in light of the veiled nuclear threats and the dangerous nuclear rhetoric we have seen from the Russian side."

That's the news for today! Stay safe!