“Multiple” fatalities, dozens injured in Amtrak derailment in Missouri – National & International News – MON 28Jun2022

“Multiple” fatalities, dozens injured in Amtrak derailment in Missouri. Jan. 6 committee sets surprise hearing tomorrow. Afghanistan: Aid slow to reach villages after deadly earthquake.

NATIONAL NEWS

“Multiple” fatalities, dozens injured in Amtrak derailment in Missouri

An Amtrak passenger train carrying 243 passengers and 12 crew members between Los Angeles and Chicago derailed at about 12:42 p.m. local time today in Mendon, MO. Eight passenger cars and two locomotive engines jumped the track after colliding with a truck. According to the superintendent of the local Chariton County Ambulance Service, there are multiple fatalities and at least 50 people injured. This is a developing story and authorities are still at the scene.

This is the second fatal Amtrak crash in two days. Yesterday, 3 people were killed and 2 seriously injured when an Amtrak train hit a car in Brentwood, CA.

Jan. 6 committee sets surprise hearing tomorrow

Following last Thursday’s live hearing, the Jan. 6 committee announced they’d be taking a break of several weeks. Today they announced a surprise hearing broadcast tomorrow, Tuesday Jun. 28, at 1 p.m. ET/ 12 p.m. CT. So far, the committee have not announced what the subject of tomorrow’s hearing will be, except to say that they will be presenting “recently obtained evidence”.

The surprise hearing comes after members of the committee met last week with Alex Holder, a British filmmaker. From the end of the 2020 campaign cycle until the final weeks of Trump’s presidency, Holder was filming a documentary titled Unprecedented with the cooperation of the Trump family. During that time, Holder had extensive and intimate access to Trump and his family members.

The committee has been in possession of Holder’s raw footage for an indeterminate amount of time. Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (R-MS) said the committee needed time to review the hours of footage. It appears some of the contents of the footage may contradict previous witness testimony.

Trump aides had no idea about the documentary

Holder coordinated the filming of Unprecedented directly with the Trump family, who granted him “unparalleled access” according to Holder. This arrangement apparently left several of Trump’s former senior aides completely in the dark about the documentary. Having seen a previous write-up about the documentary in Politico, one former Trump aide reached out to Rolling Stone asking, “What the f— is this?”. Another summed up the Trumps’ decision to allow a documentary film crew into their lives as “a terrible idea”. To Trump, a former reality star who prides himself on his media savvy, it must have seemed only natural.

Holder says that he and his crew had “no agenda” when they embarked on the project, except “to better understand who the Trumps were and what motivated them to hold onto power so desperately”.

It remains to be seen whether any of Holder’s footage will present the committee with any incriminating bombshells. Again, it’s not even certain whether Holder or his footage will be the focus of tomorrow’s hearing. The committee has also expressed interest in hearing from Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Pat Cipollone, a former Trump White House attorney. Either Thomas or Cipollone could offer enough information to merit a solo hearing, but so far there is no indication that either of them has come forward.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Afghanistan: Aid slow to reach villages after deadly earthquake

In the early hours of Wednesday, June 22, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck a rural area in southeast Afghanistan. Officials estimate that the initial quake killed about 1,150, injured 2000 and destroyed 10,000 homes in the remote mountainous region. Homes in the region are generally built from mud and collapsed in on residents as they slept.

Torrential rains over the following days have hampered efforts to locate survivors and victims, tend to the injured and bring in much-needed supplies. The rains have also triggered landslides that have either washed out or obstructed many of the dirt roads that are the only terrestrial route to many of the villages. Because of this, the Taliban government and some international aid organizations have been flying supplies in by helicopter. On top of that, the area has experienced several powerful aftershocks that have residents afraid to sleep inside what homes remain.

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