Evidence Trump controlled plot to overthrow government: In last night”™s televised hearing by the House January 6th Committee, conservative Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, co-chair of the committee, revealed evidence that the attack on the Capitol was part of a plot controlled by Donald Trump to overthrow the U.S. government and seize power even though he had been defeated in the 2020 presidential election. Cheney presented evidence that Trump had been told by his campaign officials and White House advisors that he lost the election and he knew he had lost yet continued telling lies to his supporters. Cheney showed a portion of testimony by Trump”™s daughter Ivanka in which she said she believed Trump Attorney General William Barr”™s determination that there was no election fraud even while her father continued to lie about it.
Trump refused to defend Capitol, protect Pence: Cheney presented evidence that when Trump was told that rioters at the Capitol were trying to find and hang Vice President Mike Pence, Trump refused to make any effort to protect Pence. Trump expressed a belief that maybe Pence deserved to be killed for not going along with Trump”™s plot. Evidence showed that Trump refused to do anything to defend the Capitol and it was Pence who called the Department of Defense to send the National Guard.
GOP Congressmen sought pardons for participation in plot: Also during last night”™s hearing, Congresswoman Liz Cheney revealed that Republican Congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and several other Republican members of Congress asked for presidential pardons to protect themselves from being charged with crimes for their activities in connection with the plot to overturn the election and keep Trump in power.
Uvalde school police chief says he wasn’t in charge: Peter Arredondo, police chief of the school district in Uvalde, Texas, who is blamed for keeping police out of the classrooms at the Robb Elementary School while the shooting was taking place, has told the Texas Tribune that he did not consider himself to be in charge of the law enforcement operations and believed someone else was in charge. He didn”™t say who that someone else might have been.
Manhattan apartment rents continue to climb: The median rent for an apartment in Manhattan reached the $4,000 threshold for the first time as lease signings continue to rise, according to the real estate firm Douglas Elliman.  The vacancy rate remained under 2% for the sixth consecutive month.
Inflation 8.6% in May: Inflation in the U.S. continues to rise, with the annual rate hitting 8.6% in May, the highest since December 1981, according to statistics released this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The energy index rose 34.6% over the last year, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending September 2005. The food index increased 10.1% for the 12-months ending in May.
Photo: Ron Cogswell / Flickr Creative Commons
