Ex-president ‘will lose mind’ over Jan 6 hearing as Trump allies hit back – latest

A man with at least one weapon was arrested near the Maryland home of US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and threatened to kill him, according to The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the investigation.

A suspect with “at least one weapon and burglary tools” was detained on a nearby street early on Wednesday in Montgomery County, according to the report, which claims that the man was angry about a forthcoming decision on the 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade and abortion access in the US.

A statement from the Supreme Court’s public information officer to The Independent also reports that a man was arrested at 1.50am.

Andrew Feinberg and Eric Garcia write:

Allies of Mr Trump who’ve questioned the panel’s legitimacy in lawsuits seeking to block the committee from obtaining documents have pointed to the lack of GOP members when arguing that the panel is improperly constituted, but multiple federal courts have rejected such arguments.

Kurt Bardella, a former adviser to ex-GOP House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa who now advises the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Independent that Mr McCarthy’s decision to withdraw all his picks in a fit of pique was a “massive strategic error” that has left the former president without anyone to defend or run interference for him.

He also predicted the former president would “lose his mind” when he watches the select committee’s hearings and realises no one is there to interject with talking points representing his side of the argument.

Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, is one of a number of his inner circle and key allies who have appeared on TV to insist that no one will watch Thursday’s prime time hearing of the January 6 committee into the Capitol riot.

She described the January 6 investigation as the “biggest scam … perpetrated on the American people since the Russia collusion hoax”.

“This is total nonsense that you’re going to see on Thursday,” Ms Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News.

“And the problem is they know it. The Democrats know people do not care about this. They’re desperately trying to get people to buy into this, but the problem is people are more concerned, Sean, with the super-high gas prices.”

Georgia representative Majorie Taylor Greene and Colorado lawmaker Lauren Boebert echoed Ms Trump insisting that Americans are more concerned with inflation, gas prices, high crime, the baby formula shortage, and the border.

Ms Boebert added that November’s midterms will not be kind the “partisan hacks” of the Democratic Party.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says that Fox News’ decision to not broadcast the January 6 committee hearing on their main channel during primetime on Thursday is one of the “most cowardly journalistic decisions in modern memory”.

The Independent contacted multiple Republican senators to ask whether they own or have shot an AR-15. Here’s what they told Eric Garcia:

When the House January 6 select committee convenes its first hearing to examine the worst attack on the US Capitol since 1814, the nine-member panel and the two witnesses who will testify Thursday will be the highest-profile occupants of the ornate Cannon House Office Building Caucus Room since the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee used it for hearings in the mid-20th century.

The panel’s first hearing in prime time will feature a filmmaker who captured footage of a meeting between Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes, Eric Garcia and Andrew Feinberg report.

The trial of a Colorado businessman on charges that he ripped off thousands of donors who contributed $25 million to a campaign to build a wall along the southern U.S. border ended Tuesday in a mistrial after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.

The mistrial in the prosecution of Timothy Shea was granted by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres after the jury reported for a third time that it could not reach a verdict on any count, saying the deadlock was “abundantly clear.” They said extended deliberations had left them “further entrenched in our opposing views.”

After previous notes, the judge urged them to try again.

Shea was left to stand trial alone after Steve Bannon, a onetime adviser to then-President Donald Trump, was pardoned. And two other defendants pleaded guilty.

Democrat Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has been interviewed by the January 6 select committee, both NBC News and Ms Benson confirm.

The Secretary participated in an interview with committee investigators last week, as follow up to the previous conversations they have had with Secretary Benson and the Bureau of Elections.

Benson previously provided documents to the Jan 6 committee. A letter was sent by Benson in January 2022 to the US House Select Committee and United States Attorney General Merrick Garland which provided information about coordination between the former president and the people in Michigan to overturn the 2020 election results.

Benson says the letter was meant ensure members of the Committee and leaders at the Department of Justice were made aware of events that occurred in Michigan.

Conservative anti-Trump group The Republican Accountability Project has released a new ad about tomorrow’s public hearings on the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.

The ad asks why it took former President Donald Trump 187 minutes to respond as Congress was under attack.

An emotional Matthew McConaughey took to the White House briefing room on Tuesday to plead for stronger gun laws in the wake of the mass shooting that claimed the lives of 19 students and 2 teachers in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.

The veteran actor became emotional as he held up artwork and photos of children slain by the 18-year-old gunman and described the severity of wounds inflicted by the AR-15-style rifle used in that massacre.

“Make these lives matter,” he said.