First Thing: January 6 testimony puts Donald Trump in even greater peril
Former president and senior aides face exposure over knowledge that supporters were armed and intended to march on Capitol. Plus, boost your mood with exercise
Wed 29 Jun 2022 11.11 BST
Last modified on Wed 29 Jun 2022 11.33 BSTGood morning.
Donald Trump and his two closest advisers could face widening criminal exposure over the Capitol attack after the ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified about their potentially unlawful conduct to the House January 6 select committee at a special hearing on Tuesday.
The testimony revolved around the disclosure – one of several major revelations from Hutchinson – that the former president directed supporters to descend on the Capitol even though he knew they were armed and probably intended to cause harm.
Hutchinson testified under oath that Trump was deeply angered that some of his supporters who had gathered on the National Mall were not entering the secure perimeter for the Save America rally at the Ellipse, where he was due to make remarks.
The supporters did not want to enter the secure perimeter, Hutchinson testified, because many were armed with knives, blades, pepper spray and, as it later turned out, guns, and did not want to surrender their weapons to the Secret Service to attend the rally.
What did Hutchinson say was Trump’s response to the supporters having weapons? According to her, he said: “I don’t fucking care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the fucking mags [magnetometers] away.”
What are the key takeaways from latest January 6 hearing? The sixth hearing heard from just one witness but presented a series of explosive revelations. Here are the key points from an extraordinary two hours on Capitol Hill.
Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking crimes
Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison in her New York sex-trafficking case for procuring teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse. Maxwell, 60, has maintained her innocence.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier whose elite associates once included Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, was captured by federal authorities in July 2019, on sex-trafficking counts. He killed himself in a New York City federal jail just over one month after his arrest.
Maxwell’s attorneys had pushed for leniency in sentencing, saying that she should receive “well below” the 20 years recommended by federal probation officials. Prosecutors pushed for a sentence of 30 to 55 years in prison.
Maxwell, a former British socialite, was convicted on 29 December of five of the six charges she faced. The jury came to their decision after 40 hours of deliberations spanning six days.
Did Maxwell show remorse? She did not offer much in the way of an apology for her actions and attempted to pin all the blame on Epstein.
What did the victims say? The victims who addressed Judge Alison Nathan described harrowing abuse at the hands of Maxwell and Epstein and the long-term emotional impact that still haunts them.
