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Mo News: Shocking New Jan 6 Revelations
**Thanks to everyone who tuned into our first week of the Mo News Podcast! Your listens, subscriptions and reviews have launched us to the top of the charts. 🚀 Mo News hit the Top 40 for ALL Podcasts (#34) on Apple and the Top 10 for News Podcasts (#6). We also hit the top 20 news podcasts on Spotify. Tune In **
Hi everyone,
Hope you had a good week! Here's today's rundown:
Jan 6 Hearing: Trump was told his plan to overturn election was illegal; harrowing details on the danger Mike Pence was in
Gas prices are still averaging $5 a gallon nationwide, BUT it appears demand has finally dipped.
Stocks plunge on concerns about a recession and fears that the Fed doesn't have a handle on inflation.
More than 110 days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is Ukraine at its breaking point?
Less than two weeks after Abbott reopened its baby formula plant in Michigan, flooding has shut it down again. How long will it be until production resumes?
🏀There is a new NBA Champ.
Elon Musk holds a town hall with Twitter employees. Why he wants Twitter to take a page from China's WeChat.
What to expect from Beyonce's new album.
And as always, what we're watching, reading and eating this weekend.
Another huge thank you to everyone who listened to our new podcast. We loved putting it together and can't wait to keep growing. Please let us know what you think.
And Happy Father's Day weekend to all the dads out there. We can't do it without you!
~ Jill & Mosh
🏛1/6 DETAILS: HOW MUCH PRESSURE TRUMP PUT ON PENCE
The third January 6th committee hearing Thursday was a doozy. New photos and testimony revealed how former President Trump pressured Mike Pence to go along with a plan to effectively blow up voter certification EVEN AFTER Trump was told it was illegal. The former President did not stop his push, even after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol and threatened Pence’s life.
Here is what we learned from Thursday's Jan 6 committee hearing:
Trump’s closest advisers viewed his last-ditch efforts as “nuts,” “crazy” and even likely to incite riots, according to testimony. Pence's chief of staff Marc Short said the VP and White House attorneys advised Trump "many times" in the lead up to 1/6 that he didn't have the legal or constitutional authority to overturn the results while presiding over Congress.However, Trump followed the obscure advice of one attorney, John Eastman, who believed Pence could defy more than a century of precedent and block certification of the election, even if it meant violence across the nation. We learned that Eastman later asked for a pardon before Trump left office. ~Washington PostA text message from Fox News anchor Sean Hannity to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows about the plan that week said, “I’m very worried about the next 48 hours.” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said people inside the Trump circle called the plan “crazy.” ~AP News
In an abusive phone call the morning of 1/6, Trump called Pence a wimp and then the "p-word," after the former VP said he would not follow through with Trump's plan to blow up vote certification, overturn results and declare him the winner of the election. Trump later condemned Pence in tweets that afternoon, even after insurrectionists breached the Capitol.
Pence watching a Trump Twitter video statement on his phone while sheltering in the loading dock under the US Capitol. 📸 via 1/6 Committee
An angry mob chanting “hang Mike Pence” came within 40 feet of the vice president as he was being evacuated. He spent nearly five hours in an underground loading dock below the US Capitol. Never-before-shown photos showed Pence and his team sheltering. ~LA TimesWeeks later, Pence defended his actions, saying, "there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.” ~NY Times
J. Michael Luttig, a conservative retired federal judge who served as an informal adviser to Pence, told the committee that had Pence followed Trump’s orders to stop certification, he “would have plunged America into what I believe would have been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America."
The Jan 6 committee is continuing its investigation and has two additional hearings scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday next week---both at 1pmET. The final set of hearings will then be held in the fall.
⛽ GAS PRICES, INFLATION, & RECESSION CONCERNS
It looks like $5 a gallon gas may finally be the breaking point for many drivers. According to AAA, price increases at the gas pump have eased (slightly!) as demand finally dips. The national average for a gallon of gas is $5, down a penny. However, AAA warns that crude prices are still volatile, so drivers should still expect elevated prices. ~ AAA
President Biden is again calling on US oil companies to produce more gas. [Many companies cut back on production-- and their capacity to refine oil into gas-- at the start of the pandemic when prices dropped precipitously.] The president says it's time to ramp up that production again. ~ NPRBiden is also headed to Saudi Arabia-- one of the world's largest oil producers-- mid-July, where he'll meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Officially the White House says the trip is NOT about gas prices, but most analysts say the president will likely try to plead with Saudi Arabia to start pumping out more oil.
💵 ON WALL STREET: Stocks plunged on Thursday. Investors are worried the economy is headed toward a recession, and the Fed waited too long to start raising interest rates to tame inflation. Strategists from JPMorgan now say there's an 85% chance of a recession in the US. ~ Bloomberg
By the Numbers: The Dow fell below 30,000 for the first time since January 2021, now down 19% from its all-time highs. The S&P 500 is 24% from its high, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is 34% from its high. ~ CNBC
Inflation: On Wednesday, the Fed announced aggressive action to try to tame inflation: raising interest rates by .75%, the biggest interest rate hike since 1994. Inflation surged 8.6% from May 2021 to May 2022, with the price of staples like gas, food and rent climbing a lot more than that.What it means for you: For families, an interest rate hike means higher borrowing costs for mortgages, car loans and credit cards.
Balancing Act: The Fed is trying to find the right balance between raising interest rates to slow down the economy and decrease demand, while not triggering a recession.
🇺🇦 WAR IN UKRAINE
Next week will mark 4 months of war and the tide appears to be turning in the Russian's favor. [ We did a status check on the Mo News Podcast Thursday.] Ukraine is outgunned and outnumbered 10 to one on the battlefield, according to Ukrainian officials. To that end, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging Western nations to send more weapons and send them fast. Officials say about 1,000 Ukrainian fighters are being killed or wounded each day in the eastern Donbas region. ~ CNN
The US promised another $1 billion in weapons this week but the Ukrainians say that is is not enough to stop Russia from pushing further into Donbas and then taking even more land inside Ukraine. ~Politico
"I think that you're about to get to the point where one side or the other will be successful. Either the Russians will reach Slovyansk and Kramatorsk or the Ukrainians will stop them here. And if the Ukrainians are able to hold the line here, in the face of this number forces, that will matter." -- Senior US official
Russia may have captured two American volunteers fighting in Ukraine near Kharkiv. A U.S. government source tells Rolling Stone that "Washington was working to locate the two men and — if they are indeed alive and in Russian hands — would attempt to secure their release." ~ Rolling Stone
End Game: President Biden reportedly told his Secretaries of Defense and State to tone it down when they said publicly in April that the US wants the Ukrainians to "win the war against Russia, not just defend themselves, and that the U.S. hoped to weaken Russia to the extent that it could not launch another unprovoked invasion." ~ NBC NewsBiden reportedly thought the comments could increase the chance that the US would be forced into direct conflict with Russia.
🗞 THE SPEED READ
The Warriors captured their first championship since 2018 and became the first team to win four titles over an eight-season span since the Chicago Bulls won six from 1991-98. Stephen Curry wrapped up NBA Finals MVP honors, scoring 34 points, including going 6-of-11 from 3-point range.
Abbott has stopped production of its infant formula at its Sturgis, Mich., plant less than two weeks after restarting due to severe thunderstorms that caused flooding inside the plant. The company says it will re-sanitize the plant and production is likely to resume in a few weeks.
The forces of fire and ice shaped Yellowstone National Park over thousands of years. It took decades longer for humans to tame it enough for tourists to visit, often from the comfort of their cars. In just days, heavy rain and rapid snowmelt caused a dramatic flood that may forever alter the human footprint on the park’s terrain and the communities that have grown around it.
"The landscape literally and figuratively has changed dramatically in the last 36 hours. A little bit ironic that this spectacular landscape was created by violent geologic and hydrologic events, and it’s just not very handy when it happens while we’re all here settled on it.” -- Bill Berg, a commissioner in nearby Park County.
At least 2,000 and potentially as many as 10,000 Kansas cattle have died in recent days amid soaring temperatures and high humidity in the 100s. Kansas is the third largest U.S. cattle state behind Texas and Nebraska, with more than 2.4 million cattle in feedlots. Industry publication DTN Progressive Farmer explains how the tragedy happened.
The deaths add pain to the U.S. cattle industry as producers have reduced herds due to drought and grappled with feed costs that climbed as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tightened global grain supplies. Ukraine is one of the leading exporters of corn in the world.
Elon Musk spoke at an all-hands employee meeting and reiterated his plans for Twitter should he complete his purchase of the company, including an ambitious expansion of the user base and belt-tightening on corporate culture. Musk pointed to Chinese app WeChat as the model he planned to use for Twitter, noting that people in China "basically live on WeChat."
USA Today removed 23 stories from website, other platforms following audit of reporter’s work (USA Today)
After receiving an external correction request, USA TODAY audited the reporting work of Gabriela Miranda. The audit revealed that some individuals quoted were not affiliated with the organizations claimed and appeared to be fabricated. In addition, some stories included quotes that should have been credited to others. As a result, USA TODAY removed 23 articles from its website and other platforms for not meeting our editorial standards. Miranda has resigned as a reporter for USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network.
Beyoncé announced that her forthcoming sixth solo album, “Renaissance,” will be arriving on July 29. The album will feature both dance and country-leaning tracks, sources tell Variety, with contributions from hit songwriter Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote her 2008 hit “Halo.” It's also possible that Beyonce could drop a new song as soon as soon as this weekend honor of Juneteenth, as she did with her “Black Parade” single in 2020.
🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN' WEEKEND
What We're Watching: Jennifer Lopez's Halftime documentary (Netflix)
What We're Reading: Tom Hanks Explains it All (NY Times)
What We're Eating: BBQ for Father's Day and we're drinking Gazoz, a fermented fruit soda, popular in Turkey and Israel. Check out Alex's recipe for the refreshing summer drink.
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