Politics

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday endorsed a bipartisan Senate gun-safety proposal as “meaningful progress” as he announced new gun-trafficking charges in an effort to crack down on the gun violence plaguing America.

“We do think that at least the framework that I read about this morning with respect to the bipartisan negotiations would be meaningful progress in that direction,” Garland said at a news conference.

Garland’s comments came one day after a bipartisan group of senators announced a gun safety bill designed to win approval by Republicans and Democrats alike.

President Joe Biden’s administration is facing mounting pressure to take action in the wake of last month’s mass-shootings at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

Garland said a Justice Department strike force focused on firearms trafficking had charged a Texas man for illegal purchases and re-sales of 92 guns, 16 of which were later recovered in connection with homicides, assaults and drug trafficking.

“We are cracking down on the criminal gun-trafficking pipelines that flood our communities with illegal guns,” Garland said.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Lisa Shumaker)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s primary lawyers during the then-president’s failed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, must now answer to professional ethics charges, the latest career slap after law license suspensions in New York and the District of Columbia.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the disciplinary branch of the District of Columbia Bar, filed the charges against the former federal prosecutor and New York mayor alleging that he promoted unsubstantiated voter fraud claims in Pennsylvania. The action was filed June 6 and became public Friday.

At issue are claims Giuliani made in supporting a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania. That suit, which sought to invalidate as many as 1.5 million mail-in ballots, was dismissed by courts.

The counsel’s office said Giuliani’s conduct violated Pennsylvania Rules of Professional Conduct “in that he brought a proceeding and asserted issues therein without a non-frivolous basis in law and fact for doing so” and “that he engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.”

The counsel asked that the D.C. Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility take up the matter. Giuliani has 20 days to respond, according to the filing. An attempt Saturday to reach a lawyer for Giuliani was unsuccessful.

The step is the latest against Giuliani for his role in Trump’s debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

Last June, an appeals court suspended him from practicing law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Trump’s loss. An attorney disciplinary committee had asked the court to suspend his license on the grounds that he had violated professional conduct rules as he promoted theories that the election was stolen through fraud.

The D.C. Bar temporarily suspended him last July although the practical implication of that action is questionable, given that Giuliani’s law license in Washington has been inactive since 2002.

News of the counsel’s action follows the first public hearing by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Giuliani met for hours with the committee last month.

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DALLAS (AP) — There is little evidence that gasoline prices, which hit a record $5 a gallon on Saturday, will drop anytime soon.

Everyone seems to have a favorite villain for the high cost of filling up.

Many blame President Joe Biden and his policies that they say are hurting the petroleum industry. Others say it’s because Russian President Vladimir Putin recklessly invaded Ukraine, even though prices were going up before that occured. Democrats in Congress accuse the oil companies of price gouging.

As with many things in life, the answer is complicated.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Gasoline prices have been surging since April 2020, when the initial shock of the pandemic drove prices under $1.80 a gallon, according to government figures. They hit $3 in May 2021 and cruised past $4 this March.

State averages ranged from $6.43 a gallon in California to $4.52 in Mississippi.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

Several factors are coming together to push gasoline prices higher.

Global oil prices have been rising — unevenly, but sharply overall — since December. The price of international crude has roughly doubled in that time, with the U.S. benchmark rising nearly as much, closing Friday at more than $120 a barrel.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions by the United States and its allies have contributed to the rise. Russia is a leading oil producer.

The United States is the world’s largest oil producer, but U.S. capacity to turn oil into gasoline is down 900,000 barrels of oil per day since the end of 2019, according to the Energy Department.

Tighter oil and gasoline supplies are hitting as energy consumption rises because of the economic recovery.

Finally, Americans typically drive more starting around Memorial Day, adding to the demand for gasoline.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO GET MORE OIL?

Analysts say there are no quick fixes; it’s a matter of supply and demand, and supply can’t be ramped up overnight.

If anything, the global oil supply will grow tighter as sanctions against Russia take hold. European Union leaders have vowed to ban most Russian oil by the end of this year.

The U.S. has already imposed a ban even as Biden acknowledged it would affect American consumers. He said the ban was necessary so that the U.S. does not subsidize Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Defending freedom is going to cost,” he declared.

The U.S. could ask Saudi Arabia, Venezuela or Iran to help pick up the slack for the expected drop in Russian oil production, but each of those options carries its own moral and political calculations.

Republicans have called on Biden to help increase domestic oil production — for example, by allowing drilling on more federal lands and offshore, or reversing his decision to revoke a permit for a pipeline that could carry Canadian oil to Gulf Coast refineries.

However, many Democrats and environmentalists would howl if Biden took those steps, which they say would undercut efforts to limit climate change. Even if Biden ignored a big faction of his own party, it would be months or years before those measures could lead to more gasoline at U.S. service stations.

At the end of March, Biden announced another tapping of the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down gasoline prices. The average price per gallon has jumped 77 cents since then, which analysts say is partly because of a refining squeeze.

WHY IS U.S. REFINING DOWN?

Some refineries that produce gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other petroleum products shut down during the first year of the pandemic, when demand collapsed. While a few are expected to boost capacity in the next year or so, others are reluctant to invest in new facilities because of Administration policies and a transition to electric vehicles would reduce demand for gasoline over the long run.

The owner of one of the nation’s largest refineries, in Houston, announced in April that it will close the facility by the end of next year.

WHO IS HURTING?

Higher energy prices hit lower-income families the hardest. Workers in retail and the fast-food industry can’t work from home — they must commute by car or public transportation.

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association estimates that the 20% of families with the lowest income could be spending 38% of their income on energy including gasoline this year, up from 27% in 2020.

WHEN WILL IT END?

It could be up to motorists themselves — by driving less, they would reduce demand and put downward pressure on prices.

“There has got to be some point where people start cutting back, I just don’t know what the magic point is,” said Patrick De Haan, an analyst for the gas-shopping app GasBuddy. “Is it going to be $5? Is it going to be $6, or $7? That’s the million-dollar question that nobody knows.”

HOW ARE DRIVERS COPING?

On Saturday morning at a BP station in Brooklyn, New York, computer worker Nick Schaffzin blamed Putin for the $5.45 per gallon he was shelling out and said he will make sacrifices to pay the price.

“You just cut back on some other things — vacations, discretionary stuff, stuff that’s nice to have but you don’t need,” he said. “Gas you need.”

At the same station, George Chen said he will have to raise the prices he charges his customers for film production to cover the gas he burns driving around New York City. He acknowledged that others aren’t so fortunate.

“It’s going to be painful for people who don’t get pay increases right away,” he said. ”I can only imagine the families who can’t afford it.”

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JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The special primary for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat moved forward as planned Saturday following a tense legal fight over ballot access issues that had cast a shadow over the election.

The legal drama was the latest twist in what has already been an extraordinary election, packed with 48 candidates running for the seat left vacant by the death in March of U.S. Rep. Don Young. Young, a Republican, held the seat for 49 years.

The Alaska Supreme Court on Saturday reversed and vacated a lower court order that barred state elections officials from certifying the results of the special primary until visually impaired voters were given a “full and fair” opportunity to participate.

Attorneys for the state had interpreted Friday’s order from Superior Court Judge Una Gandbhir as preventing elections officials from concluding voting as scheduled on Saturday. They asked the supreme court to reverse the order.

The high court said an explanation of its reasoning would follow at a later time.

Gandbhir on Friday ruled that Alaska elections officials could not certify the results of the by-mail special primary until visually impaired voters “are provided a full and fair opportunity to participate” in the election. She did not specify what that would entail.

The ruling came in a case filed earlier this week by Robert Corbisier, executive director of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights. Corbisier sued state elections officials on behalf of a person identified as B.L., a registered voter in Anchorage with a visual impairment.

Attorneys for Corbisier said the election lacks options that would allow people with visual impairments to cast ballots “without invasive and unlawful assistance from a sighted person.” Attorneys for the state said that adequate methods for secret voting were available.

An attorney for Corbisier did not respond to a request for comment.

This is the first election under a system approved by voters in 2020 that ends party primaries and uses ranked choice voting in general elections.

Prominent candidates include former Gov. Sarah Palin, Nick Begich, Tara Sweeney and Josh Revak, all Republicans; independent Al Gross; and Democrats Christopher Constant and Mary Peltola. A self-described “independent, progressive, democratic socialist” whose legal name is Santa Claus has gotten attention but has not been raising money.

Each voter picks one candidate in the special primary, which will whittle the list from 48 to four. The four candidates who win the most votes advance to a special election in which ranked choice voting will be used. The winner of the special election will serve the rest of Young’s term, which ends in January.

The special election is set to coincide with the Aug. 16 regular primary. The regular primary and November general election will decide who serves a two-year term beginning in January.

The special primary is mainly being conducted by mail, which elections officials said they opted for given the tight timeline to hold an election after Young’s death.

As of Friday afternoon, around 130,000 ballots had been returned to the Division of Elections. Ballots began going out in late April.

For some voters, trying to sort through 48 candidates was daunting. Candidates tried to distinguish themselves from their opponents and break through with their messages.

Peltola, a former state lawmaker from Bethel who has been involved in fisheries issues, said she entered the race with low name recognition but believed that had changed and that she has momentum behind her candidacy.

She and Constant, an Anchorage Assembly member, have run perhaps the most visible campaigns among the six Democrats in the race, which also includes 22 independents and 16 Republicans.

Most of those running have reported no fundraising to the Federal Election Commission. Of those who have, Palin reported the biggest haul between April 1 and May 22, more than $630,000. Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2020, reported receiving about $545,000 between March 23 and May 22.

Begich, who began running for the House seat last fall, had the most available cash as of May 22, about $715,000. He has loaned his campaign $650,000 so far.

Independent Jeff Lowenfels, a gardening expert with a legal background, reported bringing in about $150,000 from April 1 to May 22, which includes $100,000 he loaned his campaign.

Palin was endorsed by some national political figures, including former President Donald Trump, and took time to campaign in Georgia last month for David Perdue, who lost the Republican primary for governor in that state to incumbent Brian Kemp.

Trump participated in a “telerally” for Palin, saying she would “fight harder than anybody I can think of,” particularly on energy issues.

Some Alaskans questioned Palin’s commitment. She resigned partway through her term as governor in 2009, months after her unsuccessful run for U.S. vice president. In a radio ad, she seeks to assure voters: “I’m in this for the long haul. … I’m going to see this thing through and earn your support.”

During the campaign, opponents seized on that point. Gross said Palin “quit on Alaska.” Begich and Sweeney made points of saying they are not quitters.

Begich, a Republican from a family of prominent Democrats, earned endorsements from conservatives in the state along with the Alaska Republican Party. Sweeney was assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department under Trump and has been endorsed by a group representing leaders of the state’s influential Alaska Native regional corporations.

Gross, in an email to supporters, said Palin and Begich are candidates who will be hard to beat but said he is “ready and able to take on this fight.”

He stood in the morning drizzle in Juneau on Saturday, waving signs with supporters and said he felt good about his campaign.

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The District of Columbia office that polices attorneys for ethical misconduct filed charges on Friday against President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, over baseless claims he made in federal court alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

In the new charges, the District’s disciplinary office alleges that Giuliani, who is a member of the D.C. bar, made baseless claims in federal court filings about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania.

A lawyer for Giuliani did not have an immediate comment.

The charges come a day after the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol had its first prime-time hearing in which it outlined evidence that Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 election and incite throngs of his supporters to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory.

Giuliani has been among Trump’s most fervent supporters, and repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election had been stolen.

The new ethics charges filed Friday by the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility center on a series of legal challenges Giuliani filed in the Pennsylvania federal court.

In legal pleadings and during oral arguments in November 2020, the complaint says Giuliani sought “extraordinary relief” from the court including an emergency order to prohibit the certification of the presidential election, an order to invalidate ballots cast by certain voters in seven counties, and other orders that would have permitted the state’s assembly to choose its electors and declare Trump the winner in Pennsylvania.

Giuliani’s reputation has also been stained by his dealings with Ukraine and he is being probed by Manhattan federal prosecutors over those business ties.

He began representing Trump, a fellow Republican and New Yorker, in April 2018 in connection with then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that documented Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New YorkEditing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)

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By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The District of Columbia office that polices attorneys for ethical misconduct filed charges on Friday against President Donald Trump’s former attorney, Rudy Giuliani, over baseless claims he made in federal court alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel alleges that Giuliani, who is a member of the D.C. bar, made baseless claims in federal court filings about the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania.

A lawyer for Giuliani did not have an immediate comment.

The charges come a day after the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol had its first prime-time hearing in which it outlined evidence that Trump and his allies sought to overturn the 2020 election and incite throngs of his supporters to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

Giuliani, a former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan and New York City mayor, has been among Trump’s most fervent supporters, and repeatedly claimed without evidence that the election had been stolen.

The new ethics charges center on a series of legal challenges Giuliani made in Pennsylvania federal court in 2020. The charges were filed with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility.

The complaint says Giuliani sought an emergency order to prohibit the certification of the presidential election, an order to invalidate ballots cast by certain voters in seven counties, and other orders that would have permitted the state’s assembly to choose its electors and declare Trump the winner in Pennsylvania.

The charges say his conduct violated two professional conduct rules in Pennsylvania that bar attorneys from bringing frivolous proceedings without a basis in law or fact and prohibit conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.

Charges can lead to the suspension of a license to practice law or disbarment.

The charges mark the second time that a bar office has taken action against Giuliani.

His New York law license was suspended in June 2021 after a state appeals court found that he made “demonstrably false and misleading” statements that widespread voter fraud undermined the election.

Apart from having two of his law licenses suspended, Giuliani’s reputation has been stained by his dealings with Ukraine and he is being probed by Manhattan federal prosecutors over those business ties.

He began representing Trump, a fellow Republican and New Yorker, in April 2018 in connection with then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that documented Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Giuliani has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing. His lawyer has said the federal probe is politically motivated.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Karen Freifeld in New YorkEditing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)

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By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday accused the U.S. oil industry, and Exxon Mobil Corp in particular, of capitalizing on a supply shortage to fatten profits after a report showed inflation surging to a new 40-year record.

U.S. consumer inflation accelerated in May https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/soaring-gasoline-food-prices-boost-us-consumer-inflation-may-2022-06-10 as gasoline prices hit a record high and the cost of food soared, leading to the largest annual increase in four decades. A gallon of regular gasoline cost an average $4.99 nationwide on Friday, according to motorist group AAA.

Biden, who came into office vowing to reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, said on Friday he was hoping to speed up oil production, which is expected to hit record highs in the United States next year.

But he also issued a warning to the industry, whose profits have jumped with oil and gas prices, pointing to the gains as evidence consumers are paying for more than higher labor and shipping costs.

“Exxon made more money than God this year,” Biden said in a speech to dockworkers and union representatives at the Port of Los Angeles. U.S. oil companies are not using higher profits to drill more but to buy back stock, he added.

Share buybacks improve earnings per share by reducing the number of shares outstanding, indirectly helping to boost share prices. Companies see buybacks as a way to reward investors.

“Why aren’t they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil,” Biden said. “Exxon, start investing and start paying your taxes.”

Exxon pushed back at the comments, noting it has continued to increase its U.S. oil, gasoline and diesel production, and had borrowed heavily to increase output while suffering losses in 2020.

“We have been in regular contact with the administration, informing them of our planned investments to increase production and expand refining capacity in the United States,” said spokesman Casey Norton.

Exxon will hike spending 50% in its West Texas shale holdings, he said, where it expects to add 25% more output this year after adding 190,000 barrels to oil production last year. An ongoing Texas refinery expansion will add the equivalent of a “new medium sized refinery,” said Norton.

Exxon, the largest U.S. oil producer, lost some $20 billion in 2020, and had borrowed more than $30 billion to finance operations. It paid $40.6 billion in taxes last year, $17.8 billion more than in 2020, he said.

The president spoke during a visit to the Port of Los Angeles, where he defended his economic and job creation record and deflected blame for inflation, which spiked 8.6% in the year to May according to a new Labor Department report.

In a statement about May inflation data, Biden chided U.S. oil, gas and refining industries for using “the challenge created by the war in Ukraine as a reason to make things worse for families with excessive profit-taking or price hikes.”

Exxon posted its biggest quarterly profit in seven years when it reported fourth-quarter earnings in February. After halting share buybacks several years ago, it resumed them this year and pledged to spend up to $30 billion through next year.

Other oil majors, including Chevron, TotalEnergies and U.S. shale producers, have reported strong results as the industry’s biggest players concentrate on share repurchases and dividend investments.

Numerous companies have said they are holding down spending that could boost oil output to lower $100-plus per barrel oil prices, because that is what investors are demanding.

The surging costs have become a political headache for the Biden administration, which has tried several measures to lower prices. These include a record release of barrels from U.S. strategic reserves, waivers on rules related to the production of summer gasoline, and leaning on major OPEC countries to boost output.

Biden in his Friday remarks urged Congress to pass legislation to cut energy, prescription drugs and shipping costs.

Shipping companies made $190 billion in profit, a seven-fold increase in one year, Biden said at the port. The situation made him so “viscerally angry” that he wanted to “pop them,” he said.

(Reporting by David Gaffen in New York, Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Heather Timmons, John Stonestreet and Richard Chang)

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Latin American leaders rebuked President Joe Biden face-to-face on Thursday over his exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from an Americas summit he is hosting, underscoring the challenges he faces to reassert leadership in the region.

Biden was targeted for criticism by two fellow leaders in speeches that followed his opening address in Los Angeles in which he laid out his plan for a new U.S. economic partnership with Latin America.

Speaking on the first day of the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, Biden said his administration was committed to helping Latin America and the Caribbean recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, tackle irregular migration and improve living standards.

But he quickly faced sharp pushback over his decision to cut out Washington’s three main regional antagonists, which spurred a boycott by some leaders led by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Shortly after Biden’s speech that extolled the virtues of democracy in the region, Belize’s Prime Minister John Briceno, criticized the exclusion of Communist-ruled Cuba and leftist Venezuela, calling the “illegal blockade against Cuba” an “affront to humanity.”

“In fact, it is un-American. The time has come, Mr. President, to lift the blockade,” Briceno said, upbraiding Biden as he sat only a few feet away.

Briceno was followed by Argentina’s left-leaning president, Alberto Fernandez, who declared “the silence of those who are absent is calling to us” and insisted that the host country did not have the power to impose “right of admission” to the conference.

“We definitely would’ve wished for a different Summit of the Americas,” Fernandez said.

Two other speakers, the leaders of Panama and Paraguay, mostly stuck to the summit agenda.

Responding in his closing remarks, Biden told the leaders: “I heard a lot of important ideas raised. Notwithstanding some of the disagreements related to participation, on the substantive matters, what I heard was almost unity.”

The summit was conceived as an opportunity to rebuild U.S. influence and counter China’s growing economic inroads in the region after years of relative neglect under former President Donald Trump. But Biden’s efforts have been undercut by the controversy over the guest list.

Speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference, Biden urged U.S. business executives to help bolster the region’s troubled economies with increased investment and support for his environmentally friendly partnership plan.

Biden’s hosting of the opening session, which focused heavily on clean energy initiatives, was followed by his first formal encounter with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, an outspoken climate change skeptic.

Bolsonaro, a far-right Trump admirer who has had chilly relations with Biden, said the two countries had drifted apart for ideological reasons and that he was interested in getting closer to the United States.

However, Bolsonaro appeared to suggest he would accept the outcome of Brazil’s October presidential election, after having raised doubts in the past, prompting U.S. concerns. “I was elected by democracy and I am sure that when I leave the government, it will also be in a democratic way,” he said.

SUPPLY CHAINS

Biden outlined his proposed “Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity” to the business conference, saying it was aimed at bringing supply chains closer to home, reforming the Inter-American Development Bank, streamlining investment and kicking climate actions “into high gear.”

But the plan, which appears to be a work in progress, stops short of offering tariff relief and will initially focus on countries that already have U.S. trade accords.

Taking a veiled dig at China, Biden said: “We want to make sure our closest neighbors have a real choice between the debt trap development that has become … more and more common in the region, and the high-quality transparent approach to infrastructure investment that delivers lasting gains for workers and families.”

U.S. officials have openly accused China of pushing deals in the developing world with strings attached to saddle their partners with long-term debt.

With problems at the U.S.-Mexico border also high on Biden’s list of priorities, leaders were poised to issue a declaration on Friday pledging measures to curb irregular migration and help countries hosting large number of migrants to cope with them, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

The United States will announce programs to aid hiring of temporary Central American workers as part of a series of actions, according to White House documents seen by Reuters on Thursday. [nW1N2V0031

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CHALLENGES AT HOME AND ABROAD

Biden hosts the summit facing challenges at home and abroad ranging from surging inflation, debate over gun control after more mass shootings, and the war in Ukraine.

Yet instead of burnishing regional unity, the summit has been bedeviled by diplomatic strife sparked by Washington’s barring of the trio of leftist countries, citing their poor records on human rights and democracy.

Mexico’s Lopez Obrador made good on a threat to stay away if not all nations were invited while several other leaders did the same and a few others stayed home for different reasons. That thinned the line-up of visiting heads of state and government in attendance to 21.

“No,” Biden responded when a reporter asked whether he was concerned about some leaders boycotting the summit. His aides have played down the absences.

Speaking in Mexico City, Lopez Obrador backed Washington’s drive to strengthen economic ties in the region, but urged the United States to get over its decades-long differences with Cuba. Havana was invited to the past two Americas summits.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Lisandra Paraguassu, Matt Spetalnick, Humeyra Pamuk, Daina Beth Solomon and Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh, Ted Hesson; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Dave Graham; Editing by Grant McCool, Richard Pullin and Bradley Perrett)

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By Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A congressional panel investigating last year’s assault on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters presented evidence at its prime-time hearing that the former president posed a danger both to American democracy and his vice president, Mike Pence.

Representative Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the House of Representatives select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, told the hearing on Thursday that Trump spoke approvingly of the mob’s chants to “hang Mike Pence.”

The Democratic-led committee is holding a series of six hearings this month to share findings of its nearly year-long investigation into the events on and before the day of the attack.

“You will hear that President Trump was yelling and, quote, ‘really angry’ at advisers who told him he needed to be doing something more” to quell the riot, Cheney told the hearing. “And, aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: quote, ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea,’ Mike Pence, quote, ‘deserves it.’”

The congresswoman’s father Dick Cheney served as U.S. vice president from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush.

The Capitol attack was launched in a failed bid to stop members of Congress from formally certifying in a process overseen by Pence the Republican Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 election.

Normally a routine event, the certification became a focus for Trump, who saw it as a last-ditch chance to retain the presidency despite losing the election. His supporters flocked to Washington to rally with Trump, who had made repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

When thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol, they sent lawmakers, staff, journalists and Pence himself fleeing for their lives. The crowd did not just call for the vice president to be hanged, it erected a makeshift gallows outside the Capitol.

The committee played a video of Trump’s remarks at the rally in which he urged supporters to march on the Capitol – the seat of Congress – and “fight like hell.”

“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to re-certify, and we become president – and you are the happiest people,” Trump told the raucous crowd.

“Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us – and if he doesn’t that will be a sad day for our country,” Trump added.

Cheney and Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chair, outlined plans for the remaining hearings. One will focus on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to refuse to count electoral votes. Cheney played a video clip of Pence saying in remarks this past February: “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.”

Other future hearings will feature testimony by Greg Jacob, Pence’s former general counsel, about Trump’s demands. Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff, is also expected to testify.

“Witnesses in these hearings will explain how the former vice president, as well his staff, informed President Trump over and over again that what he was pressuring Mike Pence to do was illegal,” Cheney said.

Short said in a deposition to the committee that Pence ultimately knew that his fidelity to the Constitution was his “first and foremost oath.”

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham)

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By Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A congressional hearing into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat presented testimony on Thursday showing that close allies – even his daughter – rejected his false claims of voting fraud.

The House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault also showed graphic footage of thousands of rioters attacking police and smashing their way into the Capitol. It was the first of six planned hearings intended to show that the Republican former president tried to subvert the U.S. Constitution and unlawfully hold onto power.

The Democratic-led committee presented video of testimony from notable Trump administration figures including his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, Attorney General William Barr, campaign spokesperson Jason Miller and General Mark Milley.

It also showed part of Trump’s incendiary speech before the attack in which he repeated false election fraud claims and directed his supporters’ anger at Vice President Mike Pence, who was at the Capitol overseeing congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election win – a process the riot failed to prevent.

Democratic committee chair Bennie Thompson said Trump was at the center of a conspiracy to thwart American democracy and block the peaceful transfer of power.

“Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt, as one writer put it shortly after Jan. 6, to overthrow the government,” Thompson said. “The violence was no accident. It was Trump’s last stand.”

Barr in videotaped testimony said: “I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I call the bullshit. And, you know, I didn’t want to be a part of it.”

Barr’s view convinced Trump’s daughter.

“I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying,” Ivanka Trump said in videotaped testimony.

Trump, who is publicly flirting with another White House run in 2024, issued a statement before the hearing calling the committee “political Thugs.”

“Aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Well, maybe our supporters have the right idea,’” said Representative Liz Cheney, one of the two Republicans on the nine-member panel and its vice chairperson.

Since leaving office last year, Trump has kept up his false claims that his 2020 election loss to Biden was the result of widespread fraud, an assertion rejected by numerous courts, state election officials and members of his own administration.

“We can’t live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that there was fraud in the election,” Barr, who resigned about two weeks before the Capitol attack, said in the video.

Kushner was shown on video dismissing threats by some Trump aides to resign after the riot, deeming their concerns “whining.”

The hearing also featured two witnesses who testified in person, U.S. Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards, who sustained a brain injury in the attack, and Nick Quested, a filmmaker who captured footage of the far-right Proud Boys group, accused of helping to plan the attack.

Edwards described insults hurled by rioters at her during the melee but said she was proud of fighting them off even after being injured.

“I was slipping in people’s blood,” Edwards said. “It was carnage. It was chaos.”

“What I saw was just a war scene,” Edwards added.

The hearings are being held ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine whether Biden’s party retains control of the House and the Senate.

‘SUMMONED THE MOB’

The mob attacked police, sent lawmakers and Pence fleeing for their safety and caused millions of dollars in damage. Four people died that day, one fatally shot by police and the others of natural causes. More than 100 police officers were injured, and one died the next day. Four officers later died by suicide.

“Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen and that he was the rightful president,” Cheney said. “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.”

To her fellow Republicans – who voted to remove her from her House leadership position – Cheney offered a warning: “Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: ‘There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.’”

Biden on Thursday described the attack as “a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution,” telling reporters: “I think these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election.”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday underscored the partisan lens through which many Americans view the assault. It found that among Republicans about 55% believed the false claim that left-wing protesters led the attack and 58% believed most of the protesters were law-abiding.

Two Republican Georgia state election officials who Trump tried to pressure to “find” votes that would overturn his election defeat will testify at hearings later this month, a source familiar with the matter said.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Linda So, Trevor Hunnicutt, Kanishka Singh and Jason Lange; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone, Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell)

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