Russian missiles kill 20 in strikes on Odesa apartments, recreation center, Ukraine says

Yahoo! News

Russian missiles kill 20 in strikes on Odesa apartments, recreation center, Ukraine says

Niamh Cavanagh, Producer – July 1, 2022

LONDON — Russian missiles struck an apartment building near the Ukrainian city of Odesa early on Friday, leaving at least 20 people — including a child — dead, officials said.

The overnight attack targeted the small town of Serhiivka, located about 30 miles southwest of the major Black Sea port city. Authorities said 16 civilians were killed in an apartment block, while four were found dead in a recreational center.

Rescuers evacuate the body of a person from a destroyed building that was hit by a missile strike in the Ukrainian town of Serhiivka, near Odesa, killing at least 20 people and injuring 30, on Friday.
Rescuers evacuate a body from a destroyed building that was hit by a missile strike in the Ukrainian town of Serhiivka on Friday. (Oleksandr Giminov/AFP via Getty Images)

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote on Telegram that at least 38 others were injured, including six children and a pregnant woman. All 38 civilians have been hospitalized, the official added.

Video footage posted online appears to show the charred remains of the recreational building while emergency workers search for survivors among the debris.

Speaking outside the ruins of the apartment block, Ukrainian First Deputy Interior Minister Yevhenii Yenin said rescue operations were continuing but that officials “don’t expect to find anyone alive.” He added that there were no military targets located near the areas that were attacked.

A damaged residential building is seen in Odesa, Ukraine, early Friday, following Russian missile attacks.
A damaged residential building in Odesa early Friday, following Russian missile attacks. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia had targeted civilians. “I would like to remind you of the president’s words that the Russian armed forces do not work with civilian targets,” Peskov said.

The attack followed a missile strike on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday that killed more than 20 people.

Zelensky released CCTV footage on Tuesday apparently showing a Russian missile striking the mall with an estimated 1,000 people inside.

The clip, shown during Zelensky’s nightly address to the nation, appears to show a missile hitting a large building site before it bursts into flames. Zelensky accused Russia of wanting to “kill as many people as possible” and called the strike “one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history.”

Blasts rock Ukraine’s Mykolaiv after missiles kill 21 near Odesa

Reuters

Blasts rock Ukraine’s Mykolaiv after missiles kill 21 near Odesa

Iryna Nazarchuk – July 1, 2022

Damaged residential building is seen at the site of the missile strike in Mykolaiv
Damaged residential building is seen at the site of the missile strike in Mykolaiv
Aftermath of a missile strike in Mykolaiv
Aftermath of a missile strike in Mykolaiv
Rescuers evacuate a dog from a damaged residential building in Mykolaiv
Rescuers evacuate a dog from a damaged residential building in Mykolaiv

SERHIIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Powerful explosions rocked the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv early on Saturday, the mayor said, a day after authorities said at least 21 people were killed when Russian missiles struck an apartment building near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

Air raid sirens sounded across the Mykolaiv region, which borders the vital exporting port of Odesa, before the blasts.

“There are powerful explosions in the city! Stay in shelters!” Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Senkevich wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

It was not immediately known what caused the explosions. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Explosions flattened part of an apartment building while residents slept on Friday, the latest in a series of what Ukraine says are Russian missile attacks aimed at civilians.

In his nightly video address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced the strikes as “conscious, deliberately targeted Russian terror and not some sort of error or a coincidental missile strike.”

Kyiv says Moscow has intensified its long-range missile attacks, hitting civilian targets far from the frontline. Russia says it has been aiming at military sites. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cited President Vladimir Putin’s statements “that the Russian Armed Forces do not work with civilian targets”.

SIFTING THROUGH RUBBLE

A Russian missile earlier this week struck a crowded shopping mall in central Ukraine, killing at least 19 people.

Thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what Moscow calls a “special operation” to root out nationalists. Ukraine and its Western allies say it is an unprovoked war of aggression.

Residents in the resort village of Serhiivka helped workers pick through the rubble of the nine-storey apartment block, a section of which had been destroyed in Friday’s early-morning strike.

Walls and windows of a neighbouring 14-storey apartment block were damaged by the blast wave. Nearby holiday camps were also hit.

“We came here to the site, assessed the situation together with emergency workers and locals, and together helped those who survived. And those who unfortunately died. We helped to carry them away,” said Oleksandr Abramov, who lives nearby and had rushed to the scene when he heard the blast.

Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa regional administration, said 21 people had been confirmed killed, including a 12-year-old boy. Among the fatalities was an employee of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center set up by Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova in the resort.

The strike on Serhiivka took place shortly after Russia pulled its troops off Snake Island, a strategically important outcrop about 140 km (85 miles) southeast of Odesa that it seized on the war’s first day.

The chief of Ukraine’s General Staff, Valeriy Zaluzhny, accused Russia of failing to abide by its assertions that it had left Snake Island as a “gesture of good will”. On his Telegram channel, Zaluzhny said two Russian warplanes had taken off from a base in Crimea and bombed targets on the island on Friday evening.

He posted a video of what he said was the attack. Reuters could not confirm the authenticity of the video or the Russian action depicted. There was no immediate Russian comment.

Russian forces had used Snake Island to control the northwestern Black Sea and impose a blockade on Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters.

Moscow denies it is to blame for a food crisis, which it says is caused by Western sanctions hurting its own exports.

Putin met the president of Indonesia on Thursday and spoke by phone on Friday to the prime minister of India, promising both major food importers that Russia would remain a big supplier of grain.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from the territories that Russian forces have seized since its invasion.

The Kremlin has denied stealing grain and did not reply to requests for comment on Friday.

NO GAS, ELECTRICITY, WATER

Russia’s stepped up campaign of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities coincides with its forces grinding out success on the battlefield in the east, with the aim of forcing Ukraine to cede Luhansk and Donetsk provinces.

Moscow has been on the verge of capturing Luhansk since taking the city of Sievierodonetsk last week after some of the heaviest fighting of the war.

Ukraine’s last bastion in Luhansk is Sievierodonetsk’s sister city, Lysychansk, across the Siverskyi Donets river, which is close to being encircled under Russian artillery barrages.

In Russian-occupied Sievierodonetsk, residents emerged from basements to sift through the rubble of their city.

“Almost all the city infrastructure is destroyed. We are living without gas, electricity and water since May,” Sergei Oleinik, 65, told Reuters.

More weapons were needed in eastern and southern Ukraine, Zelenskiy said, as the Pentagon announced the United States was sending two NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, four additional counter-artillery radars and ammunition as part of its latest arms package.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by William Mallard)

Ukraines using rocket system to hit Russian command posts

THe Hill

Pentagon: Ukraines using rocket system to hit Russian command posts

Ellen Mitchell – July 1, 2022

Ukrainian forces are having “a good deal of success” using a U.S.-given advanced rocket system to target Russian command posts, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.

The Ukrainians have used the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) advanced rocket system to target the Kremlin positions in its fight for the eastern region of the country known as the Donbas.

“Because it is such a precise, longer-range system, Ukrainians are able to carefully select targets that will undermine the effort by Russia in a more systematic way, certainly than they would be able to do with the shorter-range artillery systems,” the official told reporters.

Ukrainian forces are still in the early days of operating the HIMARS systems — four of which the U.S. has already sent to the former Soviet country and four additional it pledged late last month — as only a handful of Ukrainian troops can operate it after taking a brief training course.

The HIMARS, which has a range of about 40 miles, has given the Ukrainians the ability to hit faraway targets with more accuracy than they have been able to prior when using shorter-ranged artillery.

“What you see is the Ukrainians are actually systematically selecting targets and then accurately hitting them, thus providing this, you know, precise method of degrading Russian capability,” the official said.

“I see them being able to continue to use this throughout Donbas.”

Former defense secretary James Mattis rips Putin’s ‘pathetic’ military performance in Ukraine:

Business Insider

Former defense secretary James Mattis rips Putin’s ‘pathetic’ military performance in Ukraine: ‘We’re watching Russia wither before our eyes’

Natalie Musumeci – July 1, 2022

FILE - In this April 26, 2018, file photo, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis listens to a question during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Mattis warns bitter political divisions have pushed American society to the “breaking point” in his most extensive public remarks since he resigned in protest from the Trump administration.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis.Associated Press
  • Former US Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Friday called Russia’s war with Ukraine “operationally stupid.”
  • “We’re watching Russia wither before our eyes right now,” Mattis said while speaking at the Seoul Forum 2022, CNN reported.
  • Mattis also ripped Russia’s military performance in the Eastern European country as “pathetic.”

Former US Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Friday slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war with Ukraine as “operationally stupid” — and called Moscow’s military performance “pathetic.”

“We have a saying in America — we say that nations with allies thrive, nations without allies wither and we’re watching Russia wither before our eyes right now,” Mattis said while speaking at the Seoul Forum 2022 in South Korea, according to CNN.

Mattis, a former Marine four-star general who led the Pentagon during the first two years of the Trump administration, condemned “the immoral, the tactically incompetent, operationally stupid and strategically foolish effort” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, CNN reported.

When asked during the forum what military lessons could be learned from Russia’s more than four-month-long war with Ukraine, Mattis replied, “One is don’t have incompetent generals in charge of your operations,” according to the news outlet.

More than a dozen Russian generals have so far been killed in the fighting, according to officials from Ukraine and other countries.

Putin launched his country’s invasion of Ukraine back in late February, with Russian troops surrounding and shelling towns and cities across the country.

Russian forces shifted their focus on eastern Ukraine after the military failed to swiftly capture Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv and other major cities early on in the invasion.

Thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since the war began.

Last month, a former US general compared Russia’s war in Ukraine to a “heavyweight boxing match” and predicted that a “knockout blow” is on the horizon.

“In 2 months of fighting, there has not yet been a knockout blow. It will come, as RU forces become more depleted,” retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who served as the commander of the US Army in Europe, said in a tweet.

Ukraines Minister of Defence: Its too late for Putin to “save face”

Ukrayinska Pravda

Ukraines Minister of Defence: Its too late for Putin to “save face”

Alona Mazurenko – July 1, 2022

Referring to a suggestion made by some of Ukraine’s partner countries, Ukraine’s Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov said he believes that it is too late for Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, to “save face”.

Sourcepress service of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine

Quote from Reznikov: “After the atrocities in Bucha, Borodianka, Irpin, and Mariupol…We are defending our land, fighting for our freedom, defending the entire European continent. Let’s just fight the enemy together, and win.”

Details: Reznikov also made comments on the losses suffered by the Russian army, the Kremlin’s possible future actions, and the threat posed by Belarus.

Quote from Reznikov: “The enemy has lost over 30,000 soldiers in Ukraine. Over 90,000 Russians have been wounded. Many have gone missing. The Russian government reports of their troops as ‘lost’ in order to avoid paying monetary compensation to their families.”

Details: Reznikov said that the Russian Federation wants to advance as far as the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

The Russian military is also carrying out the tasks of maintaining the security of the land corridor with occupied Crimea, and blocking Ukrainian shipping in the Black Sea.

He added that Russia is using the territory of Belarus to launch missile strikes on Ukraine.

Mark Meadows’ associate threatened ex-White House aide before her testimony

The Guardian

Mark Meadows’ associate threatened ex-White House aide before her testimony

Hugo Lowell in D.C. and Martin Pengelly in New York – July 1, 2022

<span>Photograph: Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

The former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson received at least one message tacitly warning her not to cooperate with the House January 6 select committee from an associate of former chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Related: Explosive testimony piles pressure on Trump – how likely are criminal charges?

The message in question was the second of two warnings the committee disclosed at the end of its explosive special hearing on Tuesday, when Hutchinson testified about matters including how Donald Trump directed a crowd he knew was armed to march on the Capitol, the sources said.

“[A person] let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition,” the message read. The redaction was “Meadows”, the sources said.

The message was presented in closing remarks at the special hearing by the committee vice-chair, Liz Cheney, who characterized the missive as improper pressure on a crucial witness that could constitute illegal witness tampering or intimidation.

On Wednesday, another committee member, the California Democrat Pete Aguilar told CNN he believed the messages constituted witness tampering, adding: “I think that that’s something that should be looked at by our committee and potentially by the Department of Justice.”

The identity of the person who sent Hutchinson the message – beyond the fact they were an associate of Meadows – could not be confirmed. That may be in part because the committee may wish to interview that person, the sources said.

That appears to indicate that the person who sent the message was a close associate of the former White House chief of staff and may be a fact witness to what Trump and Meadows were doing and thinking before and during the Capitol attack.

Neither a spokesman for Meadows nor Hutchinson responded to a request for comment.

The other message disclosed by the committee was also directed at Hutchinson, the sources said. The quote displayed was from one of several calls from Trump allies that Hutchinson described to House investigators.

“What they said to me is, as long as I continue to be a team player, they know that I’m on the team, I’m doing the right thing, I’m protecting who I need to protect, you know, I’ll continue to stay in the good graces in Trump World,” the slide read.

“And they reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind as I proceeded through my depositions and interviews with the committee.”

The identity of the people who called Hutchinson, presumably warning her not to implicate the former president, could not be established beyond the fact they were close to Trump. The committee is understood to be aware of all of the people.

Politico, which first reported that the message came from a Meadows associate, also said it came before Hutchinson’s second interview with the committee. Hutchinson changed lawyers before a fourth deposition that preceded her public testimony.

Since that testimony, given in answer to questions from Cheney, the deputy chair has taken her message of defiance to Trump to other stages.

On Thursday, she participated in a primary debate in Sheridan, Wyoming.

Pointing to testimony presented by the January 6 committee, Cheney said: “It is not true that there was sufficient fraud to change the results of the 2020 election. The president’s own attorney general has said that, the president’s own deputy attorney general has said that and … President Trump’s campaign manager said that; President Trump’s White House counsel said that; President Trump’s own family said that.”

She added: “We are now embracing a cult of personality. I won’t be part of that, and I will always stand for my oath and stand for the truth.”

This was the scariest moment in Arizona’s GOP governor’s debate. Be warned, America

AZ Central – The Arizona Republic

This was the scariest moment in Arizona’s GOP governor’s debate. Be warned, America

Laurie Roberts, Arizona Republic – July 1, 2022

There was no shortage of cringeworthy moments during Thursday’s food fight, otherwise known as Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial debate.

There was the squabbling, of course, and the two leading candidates embracing their inner 8-year-old as they hurled insults at one another.

There was Scott Neely’s remark about his opponents, all of them accomplished in their respective professional fields: “I haven’t been on a stage with this many women since I’ve been to a baby shower.”

But the cringiest, creepiest, scariest moment of all was when Kari Lake asked for a show of hands of how many of the four candidates believe the 2020 presidential election was “corrupt and stolen.”

Three hands immediately shot up.

After all this, they think the election was stolen

After sample audits and a “full forensic audit” found no evidence that the election was rigged …

After eight unsuccessful lawsuits, including a two-day detailed hearing that produced no evidence that Trump was robbed …

After two independent investigations cleared the Dominion Voting Systems machinery and a third confirmed the election equipment was never hooked to the internet …

After a hand count of Maricopa County’s 2.1 million ballots confirmed the results of the election …

Analyze this: 5 takeaways from the Republican debate for Arizona governor

After every county election official in the state – both Republican and Democrat – certified the results as good and true, as did a Republican governor and a Republican attorney general …

After then-President Donald Trump’s own attorney general said there was no credible evidence of widespread fraud …

After millions of dollars wasted and 18 months of searching turned up no proof of any widespread conspiracy …

… three of Arizona’s four Republicans running for governor believe the election was stolen.

If Kari Lake loses, 2022 is fraudulent, too?
(From left) Scott Neely, Kari Lake, Ted Simons, Paola Tulliani Zen and Karrin Taylor Robson prepare before a debate with Republican candidates ahead of the Aug. 2 primary election for the Arizona governor's office in Phoenix.
(From left) Scott Neely, Kari Lake, Ted Simons, Paola Tulliani Zen and Karrin Taylor Robson prepare before a debate with Republican candidates ahead of the Aug. 2 primary election for the Arizona governor’s office in Phoenix.

Only Karrin Taylor Robson hasn’t taken the swan dive of delusion down that rabbit hole, though she’s quick to assure Republican voters that she doesn’t believe the election was fair.

But she, at least, stopped short of crying “Fraud!” given the complete and total absence of any credible evidence.

Meanwhile, Kari Lake continues to spout utter nonsense about hundreds of thousands of conspiracy-laced ballots that resulted in a “corrupt” election and an “illegitimate president”. She even suggested that she might not accept the results of the Aug. 2 primary unless she’s the winner.

“We have a movement. Our campaign is a movement,” she said, when asked whether she would accept the results of the primary election. “We’re going to show up in droves. They are going to have to cheat even harder to win it.”

So there you have it. If Kari Lake loses, the election must be fraudulent. (Haven’t we seen this movie before?)

And scariest part?

Kari Lake may just win this thing.

No proof that voters returned to their senses

I’d say our beloved state is in a state of temporary insanity except 18 months of psychosis is hardly temporary and there’s no evidence that a good chunk of this state’s voters are returning to their senses.

Election deniers are leading in the polls for the state’s three top jobs: Blake Masters (Senate); Mark Finchem (secretary of state) and Lake (governor). This, as early ballots for the Aug. 2 primary hit mailboxes next week.

Unless the non-deluded wing of the Republican Party prevails over the next month or Democrats somehow pull off a miracle in November, this swing state could well be about to careen from temporary insanity into full-blown, flat-out crazy.

As bellwethers go, this one should be clanging loudly all across the land.

Be afraid, America. Be very afraid.

Hutchinson’s testimony raises fresh questions about Secret Service’s handling of Jan. 6

ABC News

Hutchinson’s testimony raises fresh questions about Secret Service’s handling of Jan. 6

Lucien Bruggeman and Josh Margolin – June 30, 2022

A former White House aide’s stunning testimony before the House panel investigating the Capitol attack indicated that the U.S. Secret Service may have had advanced warning of the potential for violence at the Capitol, raising new questions about the agency’s planning ahead of the riot and actions taken by agents on Jan. 6.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top deputy to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told lawmakers on Tuesday that the security team guarding then-President Donald Trump and senior White House officials were aware there was a serious threat posed by some descending on Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, when Trump was planning to address a rally to support his baseless accusations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

In Hutchinson’s telling, the agency famous for its teams of bodyguards, sharpshooters and hyper-skilled drivers was aware that among the throngs headed to Washington were some who were planning to carry a variety of weapons and military gear, and were seeking to target members of Congress and breach the Capitol building.

MORE: Jan. 6 hearing witness: Irate Trump grabbed wheel, demanded to go to Capitol

If so, the Secret Service apparently failed to coordinate effectively with law enforcement partners, the public, or congressional leaders to strengthen the security posture — and instead ferried a number of people under their protection to the Capitol complex with little more than their personal security details.

The Secret Service declined to answer questions from ABC News.

If true, the lapse in security — laid out on national television during a committee session Tuesday — represents perhaps the most glaring evidence to date that the Secret Service, responsible for guarding key political figures and their families, failed at its most basic responsibilities in how it dealt with Trump’s rally and the meetings of the House and Senate on Jan. 6, according to John Cohen, a former ranking Department of Homeland Security official who is now an ABC News contributor.

“It appears that senior officials at the White House were not only aware of plans to march on the U.S. Capitol, but also appeared to be planning for the president to join,” Cohen said, citing another of Hutchinson’s allegations. “This testimony raises highly disconcerting questions about what the Secret Service knew about this event and why more wasn’t done to prepare.”

PHOTO: A video of President Trump's motorcade leaving the January 6th rally on the Ellipse is displayed as Cassidy Hutchinson testifies in a public hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on Capitol, June 28, 2022. (Pool via Reuters)
PHOTO: A video of President Trump’s motorcade leaving the January 6th rally on the Ellipse is displayed as Cassidy Hutchinson testifies in a public hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Attack on Capitol, June 28, 2022. (Pool via Reuters)

Notoriously tight-lipped about their job and how they do it, the Secret Service is under renewed focus this week after Hutchison, 26, alleged shocking new details about the president’s interactions with his security agents on Jan. 6 and how they were so concerned about possible violence at the Capitol that they refused Trump’s directive to drive him there.

“The president said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now’ — to which Bobby [Engel, the head of Trump’s security detail], responded, ‘Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing,'” Hutchinson testified she was told by Tony Ornato, a senior Secret Service official who was at the time White House deputy chief of staff for operations.

Trump, responding to Hutchinson’s testimony, said, “I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and ‘leaker’).”

Hutchinson also testified that in the days leading up to Jan. 6, Meadows at one point said, “Things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6.”

And on the morning of Trump’s planned speech at the Ellipse, just south of the White House grounds, Hutchinson said, Trump was made aware of individuals with weapons seeking to attend his rally and that many of them declined to pass through security checkpoints because they would have needed to surrender their weapons. Frustrated that those requirements were suppressing the size of the crowd, Trump suggested that the metal detectors be removed, Hutchinson testified.

MORE: Key takeaways from Cassidy Hutchinson’s bombshell testimony to Jan. 6 committee

Cohen said that, as concerned as he was about those developments, he was most troubled by the picture Hutchinson’s testimony painted of possible failures on the part of the Secret Service, an agency Cohen has worked closely with since it was folded in to DHS after the 9/11 terror attacks.

“Hutchinson’s testimony raises serious questions regarding security planning by the Secret Service on Jan 6. that will need to be answered,” Cohen said. “Did the Service leadership have advanced notice of the planned march on the Capitol? Did they have advanced notice of the president’s intent to join the crowd?”

Hutchinson said that Ornato, whom she described as “the conduit for security protocol between White House staff and the United States Secret Service,” was aware of possible violence planned for Jan. 6 in the preceding days — and alerted Meadows and Trump on the morning of Jan. 6.

Even with this information allegedly circulating among senior White House staff, the Secret Service ferried at least three of its protectees to travel to the Capitol — Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, and incoming Vice President Kamala Harris, who was still a senator from California — without supplementing their details with additional agents or coordinating with other agencies to shore up protection.

Ornato, a longtime Secret Service employee, currently serves as a senior official in the agency’s training branch. The Jan. 6 committee has expressed interest in interviewing him, and the Secret Service has said he is available to testify under oath, but did not provide further details.

PHOTO: Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testifies during the sixth hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol, June 28, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
PHOTO: Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testifies during the sixth hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol, June 28, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Law enforcement officials have broadly characterized Jan. 6 as an intelligence failure, claiming that Washington’s myriad of law enforcement agencies did not fully grasp the threat landscape — despite warnings that appeared on social media in the weeks leading up the rally.

Secret Service officials have also said that local officials did not ask DHS to establish a special national security designation for the Jan. 6 sessions of Congress, so their hands were tied — though Cohen said DHS and the Secret Service don’t have to wait for local officials to reach out if they are aware of active threats.

Hutchinson’s testimony indicated that the Secret Service either had advanced warning of the threats and failed to notify others and formulate an appropriate response plan — or they were misled by White House officials who had a clearer understanding of the potential for violence and neglected to alert the appropriate agencies, Cohen said.

“These security lapses may not have been a result of incompetence, but instead due to deliberate actions taken by senior White House officials,” Cohen said. “If this information was not provided to the Secret Service, or if it was and the Secret Service failed to expand security operations, that would be highly disconcerting.”

Don Mihalek, a former senior Secret Service agent who is now an ABC News contributor, said the “interplay of information” among senior White House staff and protective agents about possible threats happens regularly — but that agents cannot prevent a protectee from doing their job, except in the rare instance of a specific and credible threat.

Mihalek said he believes the breakdown in coordination between agencies handicapped the Secret Service’s planning and response as protesters marched on the Capitol building. He defended agents’ decision to allow Pence, his wife, and Harris travel freely to the Capitol, despite possibly knowing the risk in advance.

MORE: Rep. Liz Cheney ‘confident’ in Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony

“Nobody has a crystal ball,” Mihalek said. “There’s always a threat environment, and the Secret Service’s job is to mitigate threats as much as possible — and they don’t have the authority to override a protectee’s movement, outside of citing a credible and specific threat.”

In the wake of her appearance on Capitol Hill, Hutchinson has faced a deluge of criticism from Trump associates and supporters who have questioned her credibility. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl in an exclusive interview that she has full faith and confidence in Hutchinson’s word.

“I am absolutely confident in her testimony,” Cheney told Karl in a wide-ranging interview set to air in full on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” this Sunday. “The Committee is not going to stand by and watch her character be assassinated by anonymous sources, and by men who are claiming executive privilege.”

The campaign to discredit Cassidy Hutchinson has begun

Los Angeles Times

The campaign to discredit Cassidy Hutchinson has begun

Nolan D. McCaskill, Freddy Brewster – June 29, 2022

Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is sworn-in during a House Select Committee hearing to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol, in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on June 28, 2022. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, before her testimony Tuesday to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images)

In the hours after Cassidy Hutchinson delivered bombshell testimony to the Jan. 6 committee Tuesday, former President Trump and his allies rushed to attack the former White House staffer.

Hutchinson, who served as an aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told the panel that Trump was aware that some of his supporters were armed when he urged them to march to the Capitol. She also testified that Anthony Ornato, then the deputy White House chief of staff, told her the president was so “irate” that the Secret Service would not drive him to the Capitol that he reached for the steering wheel and lunged at an agent.

Trump and his allies have seized on media reports of unnamed Secret Service sources rejecting those statements to paint Hutchinson’s sworn testimony as unreliable. So far, though, none of the people who have disputed Hutchinson’s story have done so under oath.

Now members of the Jan. 6 committee, Hutchinson’s lawyer and several of Hutchinson’s former Trump administration colleagues are challenging her critics to follow the 25-year-old’s lead and testify before Congress under penalty of perjury.

“The lies and fabricated stories being told to the partisan Highly Unselect Committee, not only by the phony social climber who got caught yesterday, but by many others, are a disgrace to our, in serious decline, Nation,” Trump wrote Wednesday morning on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“No cross examination, no real Republicans, no lawyers, NO NOTHING. Fake stories and an all Fake Narrative being produced, with ZERO pushback allowed. Unselects should be forced to disband. WITCH HUNT!”

An anonymous Secret Service official told CNN that Ornato denies telling Hutchinson that Trump grabbed the steering wheel or an agent.

“The agents are prepared to say under oath that the incident itself did not occur,” the official told the network. CNN’s anonymous source did not dispute that Trump was furious that he was not being driven to the Capitol.

Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, would not confirm the CNN report to The Times, saying only that the federal law enforcement agency “has been cooperating fully with the select committee since its inception in spring of 2021 and we will continue to do so including by responding formally and on the record to the committee regarding new allegations that surfaced in [Tuesday’s] testimony.”

Trump’s backers have also spread inaccurate claims about the plausibility of the steering wheel story. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) retweeted a graphic of the “Beast,” the presidential limousine, which appeared to illustrate how passengers are separated from the driver.

“Cassidy Hutchinson lied and the @January6thCmte held a special hearing [Tuesday] to broadcast her lies,” Greene wrote. “In ’23, every single one of them need to be held accountable for what they are putting Pres Trump, his admin, & Republicans through on the people’s dime. Enough of this.”

Trump was actually transported in an SUV, not the Beast, on the morning of Jan. 6, a video played by the committee shows.

Jody Hunt, a former assistant attorney general under Trump who’s now working as Hutchinson’s legal counsel, called on others with knowledge of her testimony to come forward and testify under oath. “Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, and recounted what she was told,” Hunt tweeted. “Those with knowledge of the episode also should testify under oath.”

Other Trump White House officials who leaped to Hutchinson’s defense also challenged her critics to come testify under oath. Alyssa Farah Griffin, former Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary and White House strategic communications director, described Hutchinson as a “friend.”

“To anyone who would try to impugn her character, I’d be glad to put you in touch w/ @January6thCmte to appear UNDER OATH,” she said, highlighting the fact that skeptics of Hutchinson’s testimony have been able to dispute it publicly without penalty of perjury.

“Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is,” added Sarah Matthews, a former deputy press secretary.

“For those complaining of ‘hearsay,’ I imagine the Jan. 6 committee would welcome any of those involved to deny these allegations under oath.”

Former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Meadows, Ornato and Robert Engel, the head of Trump’s Secret Service detail and the agent Trump reportedly lunged toward, should be prepared to testify as well.

“This is explosive stuff,” Mulvaney tweeted. “If Cassidy is making this up, they will need to say that. If she isn’t they will have to corroborate. I know her. I don’t think she is lying.”

Committee members also stood by Hutchinson.

“I found Cassidy Hutchinson to be a thoroughly credible witness, telling us what she saw, what she heard,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) told MSNBC. “She was very careful to differentiate when she was a participant in the conversation or actions were related to her by others.”

“Cassidy Hutchinson is one of the most brave and honorable people I know,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) wrote in one tweet. He added in another: “Watching the desperation of Trump world to discredit the brave Cassidy Hutchinson reminds me of…. Everything trump does when he is busted and cornered.”

Punchbowl News reported Wednesday that Hutchinson was a target of alleged witness intimidation from Trump world.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) displayed two examples of what she described as attempts to influence what witnesses told the committee.

One statement said that “they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind.”

In another statement, a person was told, “He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”

Kinzinger says Hutchinson has ‘more courage than most in GOP’

The Hill

Kinzinger says Hutchinson has ‘more courage than most in GOP’

Mychael Schnell – June 30, 2022

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Thursday said former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified before the House Jan. 6 select committee this week, has “more courage than most” in the Republican Party.

Hutchinson, who previously worked as a special assistant to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, appeared before the Jan. 6 panel on Tuesday, where she answered questions under oath about what went on in the White House before, during and after the Capitol riot.

Hutchinson’s public testimony was a surprise — the committee announced the hearing 24 hours before it was slated to begin, after panel members said presentations would be put on pause until July. Before her public testimony on Tuesday, Hutchinson spoke to select committee investigators behind closed doors four times.

Kinzinger, one of the two Republican lawmakers serving on the committee, called Hutchinson, now 26, a “hero” and “a real patriot.”

“I want to again say, Cassidy Hutchinson is a hero and a real patriot (not a faux ‘patriot’ that hates America so much they would attempt a coup.),” Kinzinger wrote on Twitter Thursday.

“Of course they will try to bully and intimidate her. But she isn’t intimidated.  More courage than most in GOP,” he added.

During an appearance on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Wednesday night, Kinzinger, a frequent critic of his GOP colleagues and the Republican Party, said Hutchinson was “showing far more courage than her boss, and showing far more courage than 99.8 percent of Republican members of Congress, or 100.”

Among the shocking revelations Hutchinson delivered during her public hearing was that Trump allegedly knew the crowd at his Ellipse speech was armed, but did not care because they were “not here to hurt me,” the ex-aide recalled the then-president saying. Trump, knowing the crowd had weapons, still directed his supporters to march to the Capitol, she said.

Hutchinson, however, is now facing scrutiny for part of her testimony pertaining to a car ride Trump took after his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6. Hutchinson said she was told that Trump, angry he was not allowed to go to the Capitol with his supporters, lunged for the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle in which he was riding.

The ex-aide said Robert Engel, the head of Trump’s security detail, grabbed the president’s arm and instructed him to take his hand off the steering wheel.

“Trump then used his free hand to lunge at Bobby Engel,” Hutchinson told the committee.

Hutchinson said she learned of the incident from Tony Ornato, then deputy White House chief of staff. She also said Engel was in the room when Ornato was telling the story, and noted that the head of security did not refute any details.

Trump denied lunging at the Secret Service on Thursday, telling Newsmax in an interview “who would do that? I would grab a Secret Service person by the throat?”

Additionally, multiple outlets are now reporting that Ornato first heard of the alleged incident during the hearing, and that Engel and the driver of the vehicle are prepared to testify that Trump did not physically attack or assault them, or lunge at the steering wheel.

But Hutchinson is standing by her testimony, and lawmakers on the select committee are emphasizing her credibility.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chairwoman of the committee, told ABC News in an interview that she is “absolutely confident” in Hutchinson’s testimony.

A number of Republican figures have testified before the Jan. 6 select committee in both public and private settings, including Hutchinson, Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and members of the Trump family.

Others, however, have stonewalled the committee. Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro and former Trump White House strategist Stephen Bannon have both been indicted for contempt of Congress after they defied subpoenas from the panel.

The committee made its latest bid for cooperation on Wednesday, when it subpoenaed former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. He previously met with committee investigators in April, but did not participate in a formal recorded deposition.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Cheney said they were interested in hearing from Cipollone after their investigation “revealed evidence that Mr. Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump’s activities on Jan. 6 and in the days that preceded.”

“While the Select Committee appreciates Mr. Cipollone’s earlier informal engagement with our investigation, the committee needs to hear from him on the record, as other former White House counsels have done in other congressional investigations,” they added.