AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT
Aide: Trump dismissed Jan. 6 threats, wanted to join crowd
WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump rebuffed his own security's warnings about armed protesters in the Jan. 6 rally crowd and made desperate attempts to join his supporters as they marched to the Capitol, according to dramatic new testimony Tuesday before the House committee investigating the 2021 insurrection.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a little-known former White House aide, described an angry, defiant president that day who was trying to let armed protesters avoid security screenings at a rally that morning to protest his 2020 election defeat and who later grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential SUV when the Secret Service refused to let him go to the Capitol.
And when the events at the Capitol spiraled toward violence, with the crowd chanting to 'œHang Mike Pence,'ť she testified that Trump declined to intervene.
Trump 'œdoesn't think they're doing anything wrong,'ť Hutchinson recalled hearing from her boss, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Hutchinson's explosive, moment-by-moment account of what was happening inside and outside the White House offered a vivid description of a president so unwilling to concede his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden that he acted out in rage and refused to stop the siege at the Capitol. It painted a damning portrait of the chaos at the White House as those around the defeated president splintered into one faction supporting his false claims of voter fraud and another trying unsuccessfully to put an end to the violent attack.
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Trump painted in testimony as volatile, angry president
WASHINGTON (AP) - When President Donald Trump learned his attorney general had publicly rejected his election fraud claims, he heaved his lunch at the wall with such force that the porcelain plate shattered and ketchup streamed down.
On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, consumed by crowd size concerns, he directed staff in profane terms to remove metal detectors he thought would slow down supporters who'd amassed in Washington for a speech. Never mind that some were armed - they weren't there to hurt him, he said.
And later that day, irate at being driven back to the White House instead of the Capitol, Trump uttered words to the effect of, 'œI am the f'ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now" and grabbed at the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle.
Trump's volcanic temper has been the stuff of lore throughout his career in business, but during his presidency it has rarely been described with such evocative detail as in the testimony Tuesday of Cassidy Hutchinson, a junior White House staffer whose proximity to the-then president and top aides that day gave her a remarkably close view.
Hutchinson offered previously unknown details about the extent of Trump's rage in his final weeks of office, his awareness that some supporters had brought weapons with them and his ambivalence as rioters later laid siege to the Capitol.
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Colorado GOP rejects candidates who back Trump election lie
DENVER (AP) - Colorado Republicans on Tuesday rejected two of the state's most prominent election deniers, a setback for the movement to install those who echo former President Donald Trump's lies about mass voter fraud in positions overseeing voting.
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, who gained national notoriety after her felony indictment for her role in a break-in of her own county election system, lost her bid for Colorado's top elections position to Pam Anderson, a former suburban Denver clerk who has criticized Trump's election lies. Anderson will face Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold in November. Peters was not formally endorsed by Trump but appeared at his Florida resort, Mar-A-Lago, and counted many of the former president's backers as supporters.
State Rep. Ron Hanks, who attended the Jan. 6 rally and claimed President Joe Biden was not properly elected, lost his bid for the GOP's U.S. Senate nomination to Joe O'Dea, a businessman backed by Washington and Colorado establishment Republicans.
The twin losses add to a very mixed record for Trump's movement. So far, four supporters of his election falsehoods have won Republican primaries for secretary of state, including in New Mexico and Nevada. But he's also suffered embarrassing losses, such as in Georgia, where challengers he recruited lost badly against Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who refused to declare him the victor in 2020 because Biden won the state.
Tuesday's Colorado decisions came as voters in six other states went to the polls in the first primaries since the Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right of women to obtain abortions. Abortion was a dominant issue in Colorado's Senate race because O'Dea is a rare Republican supporter of most abortion rights. He backs a ban on late term abortions but said the decision earlier should be between 'œa woman and her God.'ť He will face Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in November.
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NY Democrats choose Hochul for governor; GOP picks Zeldin
NEW YORK (AP) - Nine months after she stepped into the job of New York governor as a relative unknown, Democrat Kathy Hochul easily locked up her party's nomination Tuesday, setting her on an expected glide path to win the office in November.
Hochul was serving as an under-the-radar lieutenant governor under the shadow of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo until last year, when he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations, catapulting her into office.
Hochul beat back primary challenges Tuesday from New York City's elected public advocate, Jumaane Williams, and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a moderate from Long Island. She now turns her eyes to becoming the first woman to win election to the New York governor's office this fall.
In a nod to the barrier-breaking campaign, Hochul gave an election night speech Tuesday on a stage underneath a glass ceiling at an event space in Manhattan.
'œI'm also here because I stand on the shoulders of generations of women, generations of women who constantly had to bang up against that glass ceiling. To the women of New York, this one's for you," Hochul said.
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Rep. Miller defeats Rep. Davis in Illinois GOP House primary
WASHINGTON (AP) - Illinois Republican Rep. Mary Miller has defeated fellow incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis in a primary pitting two House colleagues against each other.
Miller, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, beat Davis in the 15th Congressional District, a sprawling, heavily red part of central Illinois that was redrawn after the state's shrinking population cost it a congressional seat.
Miller, first elected in 2020, called the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade a 'œhistoric victory for white life'ť during a weekend rally with Trump. Her spokesperson said she misspoke and meant to say a victory for the 'œright to life.'ť
Shortly after winning her seat, she quoted Adolf Hitler, saying during a rally that 'œHitler was right on one thing. He said, '~Whoever has the youth has the future.''ť She later apologized after Democrats in Illinois called for her resignation. She also voted against certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election and is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.
Davis was a co-chair of Trump's 2020 Illinois campaign but voted to certify the 2020 presidential election results. He was backed by nearly all of the district's 35 county party chairs and has vowed to 'œreimplement'ť Trump policies, including walling off the U.S.-Mexico border.
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51 migrants die after trailer abandoned in San Antonio heat
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Desperate families of migrants from Mexico and Central America frantically sought word of their loved ones as authorities began the grim task Tuesday of identifying 51 people who died after being abandoned in a tractor-trailer without air conditioning in the sweltering Texas heat.
It was the deadliest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the border from Mexico.
The driver of the truck and two other people were arrested, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas told The Associated Press.
He said the truck had passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint northeast of Laredo, Texas, on Interstate 35. He did not know if migrants were inside the truck when it cleared the checkpoint.
Investigators traced the truck's registration to a residence in San Antonio and detained two men from Mexico for possession of weapons, according to criminal complaints filed by the U.S. attorney's office. The complaints did not make any specific allegations related to the deaths.
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Turkey lifts its objections to Sweden, Finland joining NATO
MADRID (AP) - Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, ending an impasse that had clouded a leaders' summit opening in Madrid amid Europe's worst security crisis in decades, triggered by the war in Ukraine.
After urgent top-level talks with leaders of the three countries, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that 'œwe now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.'ť He called it 'œa historic decision.'ť
Among its many shattering consequences, President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has prompted Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-held nonaligned status and apply to join NATO as protection against an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable Russia - which shares a long border with Finland. Under NATO treaties, an attack on any member would be considered an attack against all and trigger a military response by the entire alliance.
NATO operates by consensus, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to block the Nordic pair, insisting they change their stance on Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey considers terrorists.
After weeks of diplomacy and hours of talks on Tuesday, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said the three leaders had signed a joint agreement to break the logjam.
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Ukrainian survivor: Only a 'monster' would attack a mall
KREMENCHUK, Ukraine (AP) - The mall was nothing extraordinary, but in the middle of a war it was an escape for those in this Ukrainian city who had decided not to flee. Then it exploded in a Russian airstrike.
In moments on Monday afternoon, a summer hangout became a hellish inferno. Life and death depended on a shopper's decision whether to heed yet another air raid siren and take shelter. Among those who stayed, at least 18 are dead, more than 20 are missing and scores are wounded.
The crowded mall in Kremenchuk, which housed the largest toy store in town, is now the latest shorthand for allegations of war crimes against Russia. As with earlier attacks on a theater, a train station and a hospital elsewhere in Ukraine, authorities in Moscow said the mall was not the target.
One day after the airstrike, the scene still smelled of charred debris. Grit hung in the air, irritating the skin and throats. Visitors laid red carnations, a spot of color in the still-smoking ruins.
Images on social media showed the burned body of a woman, white sneakers still intact, who appeared to have been caught in the blast as she tried to run. In another video, around the time of impact, a man could be heard calling for his mother.
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Maria Ressa: Philippines affirms news site shutdown order
HONOLULU (AP) - Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa announced in a speech in Hawaii Tuesday that the Philippine government is affirming a previous order to shut down Rappler, the news website she co-founded, which has gained notoriety for its reporting of President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.
The Philippines' Securities and Exchange Commission affirmed its earlier decision to revoke the certificates of incorporation of Rappler, Ressa said while speaking at the East-West Center in Honolulu.
'œPart of the reason I didn't have much sleep last night is because we essentially got a shutdown order,'ť Ressa told the audience.
Last year, Ressa became the first ever Filipino and first working journalist in more than 80 years to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was a featured speaker at this week's East-West Center's International Media Conference.
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EXPLAINER: Abortion, tech and surveillance
With abortion now or soon to be illegal in over a dozen states and severely restricted in many more, Big Tech companies that vacuum up personal details of their users are facing new calls to limit that tracking and surveillance. One fear is that law enforcement or vigilantes could use those data troves against people seeking ways to end unwanted pregnancies.
History has repeatedly demonstrated that whenever people's personal data is tracked and stored, there's always a risk that it could be misused or abused. With the Supreme Court's Friday overruling of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, collected location data, text messages, search histories, emails and seemingly innocuous period and ovulation-tracking apps could be used to prosecute people who seek an abortion - or medical care for a miscarriage - as well as those who assist them.
'œIn the digital age, this decision opens the door to law enforcement and private bounty hunters seeking vast amounts of private data from ordinary Americans,'ť said Alexandra Reeve Givens, the president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based digital rights nonprofit.
IT'S ALREADY HAPPENING
Until this past May, anyone could buy a weekly trove of data on clients at more than 600 Planned Parenthood sites around the country for as little as $160, according to a recent Vice investigation. The files included approximate patient addresses - derived from where their cellphones 'œsleep'ť at night - income brackets, time spent at the clinic, and the top places people visited before and afterward.