Jan 6 hearings latest – live: Pat Cipollone meets panel as report says Oath Keeper head will testify under oath to committee

Pat Cipolline arrived for his meeting with the January 6 committee at approximately 8.45am. It is still going on after more than six hours.

Stacey Abrams’ fundraising continues to accelerate, swamping Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and pushing close to $50m raised in the seven months since the Georgia Democrat announced her campaign in December.

Abrams announced Friday that her direct campaign and its associated One Georgia committee raised $22m during the two months ended June 30 and together had $18.5m in cash on hand.

On Friday, Oath Keeper ringleader Elmer Stewart Rhodes—now facing charges for seditious conspiracy—extended an offer to testify under oath before the Jan. 6 committee investigating the US Capitol attack and former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The proposal was first reported by CBS News. And when Daily Kos contacted Rhodes’ attorney, James Lee Bright, on Friday by phone, Bright confirmed the offer had been made and said it would only be honored if the committee agrees to Rhodes’ conditions.

Rhodes wants his testimony in an “open forum,” Bright said. The remarks must be taken publicly in front of committee members “face-to-face and subject to cross-examination and under oath with counsel present.”

“He will be willing to testify regarding the history of the Oath Keepers, the manner in which they were founded, their membership, their involvement in the election in terms of support of Trump or not, the things that they were doing at various rallies in the months leading up to the election and as well as what became of January 6,” Bright said.

Bright added that Rhodes would also be willing to testify about what the Oath Keepers and himself specifically were doing on January 6

President Joe Biden signed a book of condolence for Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Japanese embassy in Washington, DC.

Mr Abe was assassinated earlier today while making a speech in the city of Nara, Japan.

The White House press pool provided an photo of what the president wrote.

Vanity Fair writer Joe Hagan earlier posted an example of the US tabloid take on the state of the relationship between former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The Washington Post’s Jacqueline Alemany notes that this coming week may not be the end of the January 6 committee’s hearings as more witnesses come forward.

Citing people familiar with the investigation, she tweets: “For those expecting next Thurs to be the Jan 6 cmte’s finale, that’s still TBD. W more GOPers coming forward & more expected to come forward, hearings could potentially continue into August & beyond as investigators accumulate more evidence.”

Asked about the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Joe Biden tells reporters at the White House he has placed a call to current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who he calls “a very solid guy”.

He adds that he will visit the Japanese embassy later today “to sign the condolence book” for the late Japanese leader.

Here’s more of the president’s comments:

In a proclamation issued after Mr Biden made the comments, he ordered all flage to be lowered to half-mast until Sunday as a mark of respect.

A statement about Prime Minister Abe reads:

The longest-serving Prime Minister in Japan’s history, Abe Shinzo was a proud servant of the Japanese people and a faithful friend to the United States. He worked with American Presidents of both parties to deepen the Alliance between our nations and advance a common vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Even in the moment he was attacked and killed, he was engaged in the work of democracy, to which he dedicated his life.

Discussing the concept of executive privilege and the closed-door testimony of former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, attorney Chuck Rosenberg tells Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC: “Executive privilege is a real thing. All presidents have enjoyed it, and all presidents have relied on it. That said, there’s a bunch of things that Mr Cipollone could tell the committee that aren’t privileged.”

President Joe Biden says “We cannot allow an out-of-control Supreme Court, working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican Party, to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy. The choice we face as a nation is between the mainstream and the extreme.”

Mr Biden made the remarks before signing an executive order to help safeguard access to abortion and contraception.

NBC News reports that a source familiar with the ongoing testimony of Pat Cipollone to the January 6 committee has described him as “a cooperative witness within the parameters of his desire to protect executive privilege for the office of general counsel.”