Day 632: "A question about accountability."
1/ The Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump, demanding documents and his testimony under oath. “This is a question about accountability to the American people,” the panel’s chair, Bennie Thompson, said ahead of the vote. “He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions.” In the committee’s ninth public hearing, the panel focused on Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office and his efforts to reverse the 2020 election, including his role in events that led to the violence at the Capitol. Before voting to subpoena Trump, the committee revealed new evidence that Secret Service agents in charge of assessing the risks of the Jan. 6, 2021, protest had expressed concerns about the rally more than a week before, were aware that many in the crowd would have weapons, and that Trump’s supporters planned to go to the Capitol threatening violence, including that Pence would be “‘a dead man walking if he doesn’t do the right thing.’” One agent described the morning of Jan. 6 as the “calm before the storm.” The panel also disclosed an email that Trump’s election night speech to falsely declare victory was part of a “premeditated plan.” The committee also revealed that Trump secretly ordered all U.S. troops withdrawn from Afghanistan and Somalia days after losing reelection to leave the problem to “the next guy.” The order was signed but was never carried out, which the committee says is evidence that Trump knew he had lost the election. The panel’s vice chairwoman, Liz Cheney, added that the committee “may ultimately decide” to make a series of criminal referrals to the Justice Department. The subpoena will expire at the end of this congressional term, which is Jan. 3, 2023. If Trump refuses to comply with the subpoena, the committee could vote to hold him in criminal contempt of Congress. If they do, it will then go to the full House for a vote. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News)
2/ The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to intervene in the Justice Department’s investigation of classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. The one-sentence order turned aside an emergency request from Trump, who had asked the Supreme Court to allow special master Raymond Dearie to review the classified documents taken during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. In response, the Justice Department told the court that allowing Dearie to review the classified documents would “irreparably injure” government, arguing that Trump legally had “no plausible claims” to ownership of the classified government material. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier ruled that 103 of the seized documents, which were marked as classified, should be exempt from Dearie’s review. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios)
3/ Security camera footage shows a Trump aide moving boxes out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago before and after the Justice Department issued a subpoena in May demanding the return of classified documents. The Justice Department has interviewed Walt Nauta several times but is not formally cooperating with the investigation. Separately, but perhaps related, a Trump employee told the FBI about moving boxes – at the specific direction of Trump – out of a basement storage room at Mar-a-Lago after Trump received a subpoena for classified documents. It’s not clear whether that employee was Nauta. It’s also unclear if the boxes that were moved were among the material later retrieved by the FBI. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge to stop Trump from transferring his business assets to a new holding company amid a pending civil lawsuit accusing him, Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization of widespread fraud. On Sept. 21, the same day that James sued Trump and the other defendants, Trump’s lawyers registered a new company in Delaware, called “Trump Organization II LLC.” James asked the court to freeze the Trump Organization’s New York assets and install an independent monitor over concerns that Trump “may be seeking to move assets out of state” to avoid accountability. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios)
5/ The Consumer Price Index, a measure of what consumers pay for goods and services, increased 8.2% from a year ago. While the reading was down from 8.3% in August and 9.1% in June – which was the highest inflation rate in four decades – prices still climbed 0.4% in September compared to August’s 0.1%. Economists had forecast a 0.2% gain. The core inflation, which excludes food and energy, increased 6.6% from a year ago – the highest level since 1982. From a month earlier, the measure is up 0.6%. Economists had expected a 0.4% monthly rise. The inflation report puts pressure on the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates by another 0.75 percentage point at its November meeting. The Fed has hiked interest rates 3 full percentage points since March. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
6/ Mortgage rates jumped to their highest level in more than 20 years. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 6.92% this week. The last time the 30-year rate was this high was in April 2002. A year ago, the average rate was 3.05%. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / Money)