Jan. 6 hearing: Pence could have avoided constitutional crisis

• The nine-member House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held its third public hearing on Thursday. Two advisors to then-Vice President Mike Pence appeared in person. The committee concluded that Pence said no to President Donald Trump’s request to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

• The Jan.6 panel started a series of public hearings this month after some closed-door sessions involving people close to President Trump, including
  • Bill Barr, former attorney general of the Trump administration
  • Ivanka Trump, daughter of Trump
  • Jared Kushner, former White House senior adviser and husband of Ivanka
  • Jason Miller, former Trump campaign advisor
  • Alex Cannon, former Trump campaign attorney
  • Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • Marc Short, former chief of staff for Pence

• The schedule of the public hearings and the testifiers are as follows:
  • Thursday, June 9 at 8 p.m. EDT (full video)
    • Caroline Edwards, a Capitol Police officer injured in the attack
    • Nick Quested, a filmmaker captured the first violent moments of the attack
  • Monday, June 13 at 10 a.m. EDT (full video)
    • Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager in the 2020 election (via video deposition)
    • Chris Stirewalt, former Fox News political editor who was dismissed after the 2020 election
    • BJay Pak, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia
    • Al Schmidt, former Philadelphia city commissioner
    • Benjamin Ginsberg, election attorney
  • Wednesday, June 15 at 10 a.m. EDT (postponed, no new date provided)
  • Thursday, June 16 at 1:00 p.m. EDT (full video)
    • Greg Jacob, former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence
    • J. Michael Luttig, former federal judge and informal advisor to Pence
  • Tuesday, June 21 at 1:00 p.m. EDT
  • Thursday, June 23 at 1:00 p.m. EDT

• Some other individuals at the center of the event are:
  • John Eastman, a lawyer and Trump’s advisor who aggressively pushed to overturn the 2020 election with Pence’s authority
  • Steve Bannon, former adviser and close ally to Trump who was held in contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena by the Jan. 6 committee
  • Peter Navarro, economic adviser to President Trump who was indicted for defying a subpoena by the Jan. 6 committee
  • Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff

Key European leaders visit Ukraine

• Leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and Romania met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday, pledging to back “immediate” EU candidacy for Ukraine and more military aid to the country.

• Zelenskyy previously criticized France, Germany, and Italy for remaining connections with Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent call for “not humiliating Russia” further angered Kyiv. Yesterday, Macron defended the comment by saying France “lost the peace because it wanted to humiliate Germany” a century ago.

• Despite the discords, all the leaders condemned Russia for its actions in Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the war as "unimaginable cruelty" and "senseless violence," French President Emmanuel Macron called Russian attacks "barbarism," and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi accused Russia of destroying the nurseries and the playgrounds.

• According to Russian media, a Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk on Monday caused at least five civilians dead.

North Korea announces infectious intestinal disease outbreak

• North Korean state media announced an “acute enteric epidemic” in the country, weighing on an already severe COVID outbreak. The number of infections was unspecified. The diseases ramp up the challenges to the country’s stability and could have spillover effects on the region’s security.