Page 27 - bon-dia-aruba-20220510

A27
u.s. news Diamars 10 mei 2022

Call Trump or Pence? It’s decision time for Jan. 6 panel

(AP) — The House com- worst attack on the Capitol the evidence it has compiled
mittee investigating the in more than two centu- is enough to link Trump to a
Jan. 6 insurrection has ries, the House committee federal crime.
interviewed nearly 1,000 has interviewed hundreds of
people. But the nine- witnesses and received more Much of the evidence the
member panel has yet than 100,000 pages of docu- committee has released so far
to talk to the two most ments. Interviews have been has come from White House
prominent players in that conducted out of the public aides and staff — including
day’s events — former eye in obscure federal office little-known witnesses like
President Donald Trump buildings and private Zoom Cassidy Hutchinson, a for-
and former Vice President sessions. mer special assistant in the
Mike Pence. Trump White House, and
The Democratic chair- Greg Jacob, who served as
As the investigation winds man, Mississippi Rep. Ben- Pence’s chief counsel in the
down and the panel plans a nie Thompson, said in early vice president’s office. The
series of hearings in June, April that the committee has panel also has thousands
members of the committee been able to validate a lot of of texts from Trump’s final
are debating whether to call the statements attributed to chief of staff, Mark Mead- Jan. 6, when Trump made his ate at all.
the two men, whose con- Trump and Pence without ows, and has talked to two final plea for Pence to over-
flict over whether to certify their testimony. He said at of the former president’s turn the election when he While Pence has yet to com-
Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential that time there was “no ef- children, Ivanka Trump and presided over the Electoral ment on the committee’s
election win was at the cen- fort on the part of the com- Donald Trump Jr., who were College count in Congress. work, Trump would certainly
ter of the attack. Trump pres- mittee” to call Pence, though with their father the day of Lawmakers have been able to be a hostile witness. He has
sured Pence for days, if not there have been discussions the attack. document most of Trump’s fought the investigation in
weeks, to use his ceremonial since then about potentially end of the call but not what court, demonized the com-
role presiding over the Jan. 6 doing so. Among hundreds of others, Pence said in response. mittee on TV and tried to as-
count to try to block or delay the committee has also inter- sert executive privilege over
Biden’s certification. Pence Speaking about Pence, viewed former White House In the hours after Trump White House papers and any
refused to do so, and rioters Thompson said the panel had aide Jared Kushner, Ivanka’s and Pence spoke, the vice conversations he had with his
who broke into the building “initially thought it would husband, former communi- president issued a statement aides — demands that would
that day called for his hang- be important” to call him, cations director Alyssa Farah saying he did not have the certainly apply to his morn-
ing. but “there are a lot of things and multiple Pence aides, power to object to the count- ing call with Pence.
on that day we know — we including his chief of staff, ing of electoral votes. But the
There are reasons to call ei- know the people who tried to Marc Short, and his national president did not relent, and In addition, calling a former
ther or both of them. The get him to change his mind security adviser, Keith Kel- went on to publicly pressure president or vice president
committee wants to be as about the count and all of logg. Former White House Pence at his massive rally in to testify in a congressional
thorough as possible, and that, so what is it we need?” press secretaries Kayleigh front of the White House and investigation is a rare, if not
critics are sure to pounce if McEnany and Stephanie then on Twitter even after his unprecedented, move that
they don’t even try. But some A lot of the people they are Grisham have also appeared, supporters had broken into could face major legal hur-
lawmakers on the panel have interviewing, Thompson as has former senior policy the Capitol. dles and backfire politically.
argued that they’ve obtained added, “are people we didn’t adviser Stephen Miller.
all the information they need have on the original list.” Still, it is unlikely that the The Jan. 6 committee has
without Trump and Pence. There are still questions that two former leaders would given only a glimpse of what
The panel, comprised of Trump and Pence could an- speak about the conversation it has found, mostly in court
Nearly a year into their wide- seven Democrats and two swer, including what they to the committee — and it’s filings where excerpts of
ranging investigation into the Republicans, has said that talked about the morning of unclear if they would cooper- transcripts have been used.

More human remains in Lake Mead found amid water level drop

(AP) — A week after a de- Vegas police said. The re-
cades-old body was found mains are currently with the
in receding Lake Mead, Clark County Coroner’s Of-
authorities in Las Vegas fice.
are trying to identify a
second set of newly dis- The discovery came after a
covered human remains. body in a barrel was found
May 1 along newly exposed
Two sisters from the Las Ve- shoreline of the lake formed
gas suburb of Henderson by Hoover Dam between
were paddle boarding on the Nevada and Arizona.
drought-stricken Colorado
River reservoir when they In that case, police said the
spotted bones Saturday in the body was a man who had
Callville Bay area of the lake. been shot, probably between
the mid-1970s and the early
Lindsey Melvin told KLAS- 1980s because he was wear-
TV that they thought at first ing shoes manufactured dur-
it was a bighorn sheep, but ing that period.
saw what appeared to be a
human jaw and called park Drought has dropped the
rangers. The National Park Lake Mead water level so
Service confirmed in a state- much that Las Vegas’ upper-
ment that the bones found most water intake became
were human. visible two weeks ago.
Investigators are not treating
the case as a homicide, Las