AFP

A former top White House aide with unique access to Donald Trump and inner workings of the West Wing was expected to testify publicly Tuesday before the committee probing the attack on the US Capitol.

Cassidy Hutchinson, an executive assistant to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, was a central figure in the White House around the period of the insurrection on January 6 last year.

She has already been the source of several blockbuster revelations, appearing in videotaped depositions at two previous hearings and memorably naming a group of House Republicans who sought pardons from Trump following the violence.

She was also in contact with officials in the battleground state of Georgia, where Trump infamously pressured officials to “find” enough votes to overcome Joe Biden’s victory margin in a phone call that is the subject of a criminal probe.

Hutchinson testified behind closed doors in February, March and May, revealing she saw Meadows incinerate documents in his office after meeting a Republican congressman implicated in the plot to overturn the election.

The lawmaker, Scott Perry, was pivotal in Trump’s failed effort to install his own pliant attorney general as part of a plan to co-opt the Justice Department into his scheme to cling to power.

It was Hutchinson, according to CNN, who told the select committee that Trump voiced approval for the “hang Mike Pence” chants from rioters at the Capitol — an allegation that was among the many eye-popping claims to come out of the opening hearing on June 9.

Hutchinson also testified that she remembered a Secret Service agent informing Meadows of intelligence reports saying there could potentially be violence on January 6.

– ‘Public spirit’ –

“I don’t know what Cassidy Hutchinson will say today,” conservative political commentator Bill Kristol, a founder of the advocacy group Defending Democracy Together, posted on Twitter. 

“But by agreeing to step forward and testify under oath, this young woman is showing far more public spirit, integrity and courage than many of her well-established elders who have chosen a far easier and less honorable path.”

Meadows himself has refused to testify before the panel since handing over thousands of text messages and other documents in the early stages of the investigation.

The House of Representatives held Meadows in contempt in December but the Justice Department decided not to charge him.

The announcement of Tuesday’s hearing with less than 24 hours’ notice raised eyebrows across Washington, since the committee had said it was pushing the rest of its hearings to July and perhaps beyond.

The panel revealed the about-face in a brief release which didn’t mention the purpose of the hearing or reveal who would appear, simply saying it would “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.”

The reason for the change of plan remained a mystery hours ahead of Hutchison’s appearance, although US media reported she had become more cooperative since changing lawyers earlier this month.

Congressional media outlet Punchbowl reported that there had been “sincere concerns” about Hutchinson’s safety because of what she knows and has already revealed.

The committee did not say if there would be more than one witness and Washington insiders speculated that documentary filmmaker Alex Holder’s footage of Trump and his family could also figure.

Meanwhile, Trump lawyer John Eastman, the architect of the former president’s scheme to overturn the election, revealed in a court filing Monday that the FBI had seized his cell phone. 

He said he was confronted by FBI agents as he was leaving a restaurant and called for a judge to have his phone returned.

US police Tuesday were investigating the grim discovery of about 50 bodies in and around a trailer truck abandoned in sweltering heat near the Texas city of San Antonio, with victims identified as from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.

The shocking finding was one of the worst disasters involving migrants in the United States in recent years — and came five years after a similar deadly incident in the same Texas city, a few hours from the Mexican border.

The White House — facing intense pressure over its immigration policies — called the tragedy “absolutely horrific and heartbreaking,” and said President Joe Biden, flying to a NATO summit in Madrid, has been briefed on the incident.

San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters that at least 46 victims had died and 16 people had been transported to the hospital alive and conscious — 12 adults and four children.

Early Tuesday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the toll had reached 50, mostly from Latin American nations including Mexico.

“It’s a tremendous misfortune… so far there are 50 dead: 22 from Mexico, seven from Guatemala, two from Honduras and 19 still without information about their nationality,” the Mexican leader said at a morning press conference.

US officials said three people were in custody over the incident.

Hood, the fire chief, said survivors had suffered heat stroke and heat exhaustion, and that there were no signs of water in the truck.

“It was a refrigerated tractor-trailer but there was no visible working A/C unit on that rig,” Hood said.

– ‘Desperation of migrants’ –

San Antonio, which lies about 250 kilometers (150 miles) from the border, is a major transit route for people smugglers.

It has also been gripped by a record-breaking heat wave, and temperatures in the area hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.5 degrees Celsius) on Monday.

The US Customs and Border Protection agency director, Chris Magnus said he was “horrified” at the deaths near San Antonio.

“This speaks to the desperation of migrants who would put their lives in the hands of callous human smugglers who show no regard for human life,” he added on Twitter.

The vehicle was found near Highway I-35, a major US artery that stretches to the Mexican border.

According to San Antonio police chief William McManus, authorities were first alerted by an emergency call at about 5:50 pm local time (2250 GMT).

“A worker who works in one of the buildings up here behind me heard a cry for help,” he told reporters. 

“(He) came out to investigate, found a trailer with the doors partially open, opened them up to take a look, and found a number of deceased individuals inside.”

– Migration politics –

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who advocates a tough line on immigration, quickly hit out at Biden over the disaster — blaming the Democrat’s “deadly open border policies.”

“These deaths are on Biden,” Abbott tweeted. “They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.”

San Antonio was the site of a similar migrant tragedy in 2017, when 10 people suffocated to death in a sweltering trailer with broken air conditioning and clogged ventilation holes.

The truck driver later pleaded guilty to charges related to the deaths.

In Geneva, the United Nations’ human rights office said it was “deeply disturbed” by the incident.

“This is not the first such tragedy, and it illustrates again the critical need for regular safe pathways for migration as well as for accountability for those persons whose conduct has directly led to such loss of life,” said spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he would meet US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid for talks on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the bloc’s expansion into two Nordic states.

Analysts believe the meeting could play a crucial role in breaking down Turkey’s resistance to bids by Sweden and Finland to join the Western defence alliance in response to the war.

The two leaders have had a chilly relationship since Biden’s election because of US concerns about human rights under Erdogan.

Biden and Erdogan last met briefly in October on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Rome.

“We spoke with Mr Biden this morning and he expressed his desire to get together tonight or tomorrow. We said it was possible,” Erdogan said.

He was speaking to reporters before flying to Madrid for talks that will start with his meeting with the leaders of the two Nordic countries and the NATO secretary general.

Erdogan said he wanted to see the results of preparatory talks held on Monday in Brussels before deciding whether Sweden and Finland had done enough to lift his objections to their membership of the military alliance.

Turkey is a NATO member and could veto both countries’ applications at the summit.

“We are a 70-year-old member of NATO. Turkey is not a country that randomly joined NATO,” Erdogan said.

“We will see what point they (Finland and Sweden) have reached,” he added. “We do not want empty words. We want results.”

– ‘Open mind’ –

Ankara has accused Finland and more particularly Sweden of offering a safe haven to Kurdish militants who have been been waging decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

The Turkish leader has also called on the two countries to lift arms embargoes imposed on Turkey in 2019 over Ankara’s military offensive in Syria.

The two countries went into the NATO meeting open to the possibility that Turkey might only lift its objections after the summit concludes on Thursday.

“We have made progress. That is definitely the case,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde.

“We are prepared for something positive to happen today, but also for it to take more time,” she added. “We must be patient and continue discussions even after the summit.”

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said that he was neither “optimistic nor pessimistic at this stage”.

“We will go into this afternoon’s discussion with Erdogan with an open mind,” he told Finnish media.

– Fighter jet talks –

Erdogan’s ability to maintain a close working relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin while supporting Ukraine’s war effort has made him an important player in the conflict.

But those ties have also complicated his relations with Biden and the NATO bloc.

Washington has sanctioned Ankara for taking delivery of an advanced Russian missile defence system in 2019.

The purchase saw the United States drop Turkey from the F-35 joint strike fighter programme and impose trade restrictions on its military procurement agency.

But Washington has signalled that it may be willing to move past the dispute.

Biden’s administration has dangled the possibility of supplying Ankara with older-generation F-16 jets that could replenish Turkey’s ageing air force fleet.

“The most important issue is the F-16 issue. It is still on the table,” Erdogan said of his upcoming talks with Biden.

At least 46 migrants were found dead Monday in and around a large trailer truck that was abandoned on the roadside on the outskirts of the Texas city of San Antonio.

The grim discovery was one of the worst disasters involving migrants in the United States in recent years — and came five years after a similar deadly incident in the same central Texas city, a few hours from the Mexican border.

“At this time we have processed approximately 46 bodies that have been triaged and tagged and declared deceased,” San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters.

He said that 16 people had been transported to the hospital alive and conscious — 12 adults and four children.

There were no initial details on the age or nationalities of the deceased.

“The patients that we saw were hot to the touch, they were suffering from heat stroke, heat exhaustion, no signs of water in the vehicle, it was a refrigerated tractor-trailer but there was no visible working A/C unit on that rig,” Hood said.

Officials said three people were in custody over the incident.

“Tonight we are dealing with a horrific human tragedy,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg told a press conference.

“So I would urge you all to think compassionately and pray for the deceased, the ailing, the families,” he said.

“And we hope that those responsible for putting these people in such inhumane conditions are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” 

– ‘Alleged human smuggling’ –

San Antonio, which lies about 250 kilometers (150 miles) from the border, is a major transit route for people smugglers.

It has also been gripped by a record-breaking recent heat wave, and temperatures in the area hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.5 degrees Celsius) on Monday. 

The vehicle was found on a road near Highway I-35, a major US artery that stretches all the way to the border with Mexico.

A large-scale emergency operation was underway at the scene involving police, firefighters and ambulances.

According to San Antonio police chief William McManus, authorities were first alerted by an emergency call at about 5:50 pm local time (2250 GMT).

“A worker who works in one of the buildings up here behind me heard a cry for help,” he told reporters. 

“(He) came out to investigate, found a trailer with the doors partially open, opened them up to take a look, and found a number of deceased individuals inside.”

He said the probe had been turned over to the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In a statement, the DHS said it had initiated an investigation after receiving the call from San Antonio police “regarding an alleged human smuggling event”.

Dozens of emergency responders who had worked at the scene underwent a stress debriefing following the operation.

“We’re not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there, none of us come to work imagining that,” Hood said.

– ‘A better life’ –

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican who advocates a tough line on immigration, hit out at President Joe Biden over the disaster — blaming the Democrat’s “deadly open border policies.”

“These deaths are on Biden,” Abbott tweeted. “They show the deadly consequences of his refusal to enforce the law.”

Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic party’s candidate to run against Abbott in November, called for “urgent action” following the incident.

“Dismantle human smuggling rings and replace them with expanded avenues for legal migration that reflect our values and meet our country’s needs,” he said.

Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, called the incident a “tragedy” and said the Mexican consul was headed to the site. 

Ebrard said the nationalities of the victims were not yet known, but that two Guatemalans were among the survivors.

San Antonio was the site of a similar migrant tragedy in 2017, when 10 people suffocated to death in a sweltering trailer with broken air conditioning and clogged ventilation holes as they traveled into the United States.

Dozens more had been hospitalized with heat stroke and dehydration — with the truck believed to have been holding as many as 200 people, most of whom fled when it stopped in a parking lot. The truck driver later pleaded guilty to charges related to the deaths.

After news broke of Monday’s discovery, the archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo Garcia-Siller tweeted “Lord have mercy on them. They hoped for a better life.”

“Once again, the lack of courage to deal with immigration reform is killing and destroying lives.”

In Geneva, the United Nations’ human rights office said it was “deeply disturbed” by the incident.

“This is not the first such tragedy, and it illustrates again the critical need for regular safe pathways for migration as well as for accountability for those persons whose conduct has directly led to such loss of life,” said spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.