New details of Trump's Jan 6 inaction uncovered in special counsel probe: Live – The Independent

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Advisers, family members and White House staff implored former president to help quell Capitol riot violence
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Mike Pence denounces Jan 6 conspiracy about FBI
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the events surrounding the January 6 Capitol riot has unveiled fresh details about Donald Trump’s unwillingness to help stop the violence — including his reaction to hearing that his vice president had been relocated for safety purposes.
ABC News reports that Trump aide Nick Luna told Mr Smith’s team about the moment the then-president was informed that Mike Pence had to be moved to a secure location, and allegedly responded: “So what?”
Meanwhile, the United States Supreme Court will decide if Donald Trump can be kept off the 2024 ballots for his actions on that day in early 2021.
Justices will review the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that Mr Trump is ineligible for the ballot under Section 3 of the14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office.
Oral arguments will begin on 8 February 2024, per the court’s announcement.
On Friday, President Joe Biden slammed Mr Trump’s actions before, during and after the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot, telling voters in Pennsylvania: “He’s willing to sacrifice our democracy, put himself in power.”
Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday warned of an “all-out attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights” by Republicans and former president Donald Trump and stressed the importance of Black voters in her and President Joe Biden’s electoral prospects.
Ms Harris, who travelled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to address the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s Seventh District Women’s Missionary Society, recalled how Americans had shown up to vote in the middle of a global pandemic just over three years ago.
Andrew Feinberg reports:
Vice president hit Republicans on their efforts to make voting harder
As we reach the third anniversary of the attack on Congress, some 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes arising from January 6 and 750 sentenced but at least 80 bad actors have still not yet been identified, including the person in the grey hooded sweatshirt who left pipe bombs outside the offices of both the Democratic and Republican National Committees.
Here is a timeline of all the key developments that have occurred in the three years since that infamous day.
Republican looks likely to be his party’s presidential nominee again in 2024 but the failed insurrection’s legacy continues to dog his steps three years on

Daniel Bermudez’s family had fled Venezuela and was headed to the U.S. to seek asylum when the freight train they were riding through Mexico was stopped by immigration officials.
His wife tried to explain that her family had permission to go to the U.S. Instead, they flew her to Mexico’s southern border as part of a surge of enforcement actions that U.S. officials say have contributed to a sharp drop in illegal border crossings.
In addition to forcing migrants from trains, Mexico also resumed flying and busing them to the southern part of the country and started flying some home to Venezuela.
Even if temporary, the decrease in illegal crossings is welcome news for the White House. President Joe Biden’s administration is locked in talks with Senate negotiators over restricting asylum and $110 billion in aid for Ukraine and Israel hangs in the balance.
Continue reading the full article…
New York Republican Rep Elise Stefanik is under fire from Democrats for labelling January 6 prisoners “hostages,” echoing Donald Trump.
Ahead of the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, in a campaign speech in Sioux Center, Iowa, Mr Trump referred to individuals arrested and charged in connection to the Capitol attack as “J6 hostages.” He claimed, “Nobody’s been treated ever in history so badly as those people.”
On Sunday, Congresswoman Stefanik used the same language on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She said, “I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages.”
In response, high-profile figures in politics denounced her remarks.
Kelly Rissman reports on what they said:
‘I have concerns about the treatment of January 6th hostages,’ the New York lawmaker said, just days after Mr Trump used the same term
House Republicans are planning to take the first official steps towards attempting to have President Joe Biden’s son Hunter charged with criminal contempt of Congress after he declined to sit for a closed-door interview and demanded to give evidence in public instead.
The House Oversight Committee and House Judiciary Committee on Friday announced plans to mark up a resolution referring Hunter Biden for prosecution for not appearing for the 13 December deposition after receiving a subpoena compelling him to testify before the GOP-led Oversight panel, which has been conducting a year-long and largely fruitless probe into his father with the aim of tying the 46th president to his son’s overseas business ventures.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC:
Hunter Biden has offered to give evidence in a public hearing but Republicans refuse to allow him to testify except behind closed doors
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation has unveiled fresh details around Donald Trump’s indifference toward stopping the Capitol riot on January 6— including his reaction to the news that his vice president had been relocated for safety purposes, according to a report.
Trump aide Nick Luna told Mr Smith’s team about the moment Mr Trump was informed that Vice President Mike Pence had to be moved to a secure location, ABC News reported. The then-president allegedly responded, “So what?”
The revelations show what Mr Trump said and did as he reportedly sat and watched TV as the mob stormed the Capitol
Police are investigating an alleged physical altercation between Republican Rep Lauren Boebert and her ex-husband Jayson Boebert at a restaurant in Colorado on Saturday evening.
Police in Silt, Colorado, told The Independent that it is looking into reports of an incident involving the Colorado Republican at Miner’s Claim restaurant on 6 January.
Police Chief Mike Kite declined to elaborate further, citing that it was an “ongoing investigation.” He said the police are looking at security camera footage.
Mr Kite didn’t confirm who initiated the alleged fight and said no one had been arrested. When asked whether anyone had been hospitalised, he said: “Not that I know of.”
The Independent has contacted Rep Boebert’s office and the restaurant where the incident allegedly took place.
Continue reading…
The alleged incident occurred at Miner’s Claim restaurant in Silt, Colorado on 6 January
House Republican leadership and their counterparts among the Democratic Senate majority are set to announce a topline deal on spending for the next fiscal year, ending a pattern of short-term funding measures and shutdown threats in the nation’s capital.
The deal, which Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reached on Sunday, will supposedly include significant cuts to nondefence spending while also providing for a pay increase for service members.
Axios first broke news of the topline number, which is set at $1.59 trillion for the full package.
This is a developing story…
Congressional leaders could avert shutdown threats with deal for 2024 fiscal year
Voters in Illinois and Massachusetts have filed legal papers seeking to have former president Donald Trump declared ineligible to run for president under a provision of the US Constitution barring insurrectionists from federal office.
The litigation in both states is being organised by Free Speech for People, a nonprofit that has been supporting various efforts to hold Mr Trump and former members of his legal team accountable for their efforts to overturn the ex-president’s 2020 election defeat.
Andrew Feinberg reports:
Neither of the latest challenges are in states that have voted for a Republican in recent elections
Donald Trump has faced backlash for comments he made during a speech in Iowa on Saturday, 6 January. Mr Trump claimed that the American Civil War, which was fought over slavery, could have been negotiated and didn’t need to happen. He told the crowd of supporters: “I’m so attracted to seeing it. There was something that could’ve been negotiated… Abraham Lincoln, if he negotiated it, we wouldn’t know who Lincoln was. He wouldn’t have been the Abraham Lincoln. But that would’ve been ok.” Former Republican Rep Liz Cheney responded online, saying: “Which part of the Civil War ‘could have been negotiated’? The slavery part? The secession part? Whether Lincoln should have preserved the Union?” Mr Trump is currently in the lead to secure the Republican Party nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
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Donald Trump on the campaign trail in Iowa on 6 January 2024
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