Nation & World

In a Jan. 6 committee hearing already sprinkled with notable moments, Rep. Liz Cheney saved perhaps the most startling one for last. She said Tuesday that the panel had learned that former President Donald Trump had recently tried to contact a witness whom “you have not yet seen in these hearings.” The witness did not answer and instead contacted their lawyer, who referred the issue to the Justice Department. Though much remains uncertain about the call, including its purpose and the recipient, the manner it was described raised the prospect that Trump or people in his orbit were hoping to shape witness testimony in the ongoing congressional hearings into last year’s assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Newly released video of a hallway outside classrooms at a Texas elementary school where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers is renewing questions about police accountability. Nearly 80 minutes of surveillance video from Robb Elementary School on May 24 show heavily armed police officers lingering in the hallway for more than an hour before confronting the gunman. Some Uvalde residents at a City Council meeting Tuesday shouted questions about whether officers on the scene were still on the payroll after the video was made public. Local and state officials have urged to let investigations play out.

A defendant in a Mississippi welfare fraud case says she directed $1.1 million in welfare money to former NFL star Brett Favre at the direction of former Gov. Phil Bryant. Mississippi news outlets report that the accusation, which Bryant denies, is in a filing on behalf of defendant Nancy New. New has pleaded guilty to criminal charges. Her court filing is in a civil case filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Bryant issued a statement denying the accusation. Favre has repaid the money and has said he didn't know it had come from welfare funds. Favre has not been charged with criminal wrongdoing.

The plunge in prices for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies provides a cautionary tale for the handful of public pension funds that have dipped their toes into the crypto pool. Most have done it indirectly through stocks or investment funds that serve as proxies for the larger crypto market, though a pension fund for Houston firefighters last year directly bought bitcoin and other digital currency. A lack of transparency makes it difficult to tell whether they’ve made or lost money. Not only are pension funds exposed to risks in the crypto world, so are taxpayers who potentially could have to bail them out.

A former CIA software engineer accused of the biggest theft of classified information in CIA history has been convicted at a New York City retrial. A jury reached the guilty verdict against Joshua Schulte on Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. Schulte chose to act as his own defense attorney, calling himself a scapegoat for an embarrassing public release of a trove of CIA secrets by WikiLeaks in 2017. A mistrial was declared at his original 2020 trial after jurors deadlocked on the most serious counts. The so-called Vault 7 leak revealed how the CIA hacked Apple and Android smartphones in overseas spying operations, and efforts to turn internet-connected televisions into listening devices.

U.S. inflation surged to a new four-decade high in June because of rising prices for gas, food and rent, squeezing household budgets and pressuring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively -- trends that raise the risk of a recession. The government’s consumer price index soared 9.1% over the past year, the biggest yearly increase since 1981, with nearly half of the increase due to higher energy costs. Lower-income and Black and Hispanic American have been hit especially hard, since a disproportionate share of their income goes toward essentials such as transportation, housing and food. But with the cost of many goods and services rising faster than average incomes, a vast majority of Americans are feeling the pinch in their daily routines.

The widow of Jamal Khashoggi, the U.S.-based writer killed by Saudi government agents four years ago, says she received a commitment that President Joe Biden will bring up the murder when he meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The crown prince, whom Biden will be meeting for the first time in Jeddah on Friday, likely approved of the killing, according to U.S. intelligence. Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, the slain writer’s widow, told Spectrum News on Wednesday that she received assurances during a meeting with administration officials. A White House official says Khashoggi’s widow spoke with a senior administration official earlier this week, but is declining to provide details.

ISTANBUL (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the first meeting in weeks between Russia and Ukraine took “a critical step” forward Wednesday to ensuring the export of desperately needed grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to help ease the global food crisis.

President Joe Biden has opened a Mideast visit by offering anxious Israeli leaders strong reassurances of his determination to stop Iran’s nuclear program. Biden said he'd be willing to use force as a "last resort.” The president’s comments came in an interview aired Wednesday with Israel’s Channel 12 as Biden opened a four-day visit to the region. The U.S. and Israel are expected to unveil a joint declaration on Thursday cementing their close military ties and strengthening past calls to take military action against Iran’s growing nuclear program. Israel has said both countries would commit to “using all elements of their national power against the Iranian nuclear threat.”