Closing summary
It was something of a wild morning for Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s campaigns, who came to a sudden agreement over their debate schedule. The story began when a top Biden campaign official announced that the president would be willing to participate in two debates – which Trump, who has long sought to face off against the man who beat him in 2020, quickly said would work for him. In a series of back-and-forth announcements, Biden and Trump agreed to face off on 27 June in an Atlanta event hosted by CNN, and against on 10 September at a yet-to-be-announced location organized by ABC. But the Trump campaign has argued for even more debates, and the former president announced he had accepted an invitation from Fox News for a third debate in October. The Biden campaign later accused Trump of “playing games”.
Here’s what else happened today:
Biden’s campaign also pulled out of a series of debates planned by the non-profit Commission on Presidential Debates, striking a blow to an organization that has traditionally coordinated the closely watched events.
Robert F Kennedy Jr was not pleased about being left out of the debates.
The president echoed Clint Eastwood in a video where he announced his plans to face Trump on the debate stage.
Rightwing House lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna proposed awarding Trump Congress’s highest civilian honor.
House Republicans investigating the January 6 committee are reportedly demanding documents from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump White House aide who gave startling testimony about his conduct during the insurrection.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Donald Trump’s final White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, offered some of the most eyebrow-raising testimony during the January 6 committee’s hearings in 2022.
House Republicans are now investigating the committee’s work, and NBC News reports they are demanding documents from Hutchinson as part of their inquiry. Here’s more:
In the letter, first obtained by NBC News, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chair of the House Administration subcommittee on oversight, asked Hutchinson to turn over all communications through this month with former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the Jan. 6 panel’s vice chair, and a number of top Trump White House officials. They include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin; former White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato; former White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann; and former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
In addition, Loudermilk asked Hutchinson for communications related to “potential publishing or book deals or related compensation,” as well as on employment after the White House; the 25th Amendment, which covers removing a president from power; and her itinerary for a trip to the Florida’s Gulf Coast in early 2021.
Last fall, Hutchinson wrote a best-selling book about the events of Jan. 6, “Enough.”
Loudermilk wrote that the request for documents and other communications is necessary because the select Jan. 6 panel — which was created by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. — “failed to properly archive their records, including as many as 900 interview summaries or transcripts, over one terabyte of digital data, and over 100 deleted or encrypted documents.”
“The Subcommittee has no choice but to repeat much of the work of the Select Committee to understand their investigative findings,” Loudermilk said.
In March, the GOP released a report that it said contradicted Hutchinson’s claim that Trump lunged for the steering wheel of the vehicle he was being driven in as the January 6 insurrection unfolded:
