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What happened in 187 minutes on Jan. 6

Nicole Fallert   | Paste BN

House lawmakers have called former President Donald Trump's inaction on Jan. 6, 2021, a "complete dereliction of duty." A key agreement allows Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain to world markets and mitigate global food crises. Comic-Con is back to pre-pandemic levels of nerd chaos.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert. Happy Friday. Here's the news.

🌅 Up first: A Michigan woman who sued a man for $10,000 for standing her up on a date got into a heated argument with a judge in a scene captured on video. According to the claim filed in Michigan's 67th District Court of Genesee County, the experience caused her emotional distress because the date fell on her late mother's birthday. Read more

More news to know now:

🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, Never-before-seen video of former President Trump is released at the House committee hearing on the Jan 6th attack on the Capitol and Paste BN Pentagon Correspondent Tom Vanden Brook says that the Army is in a recruiting crisis. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker.

😮 What happened this week? Netflix lost subscribers, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck tied the knot and an iconic insect was added to the endangered list. Test your knowledge on this week's news.

What did Trump do on Jan. 6, 2021?

In Thursday night's hearing, the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol described what occurred in Congress and the White House in the 187 minutes between then-President Donald Trump’s fiery speech and his video encouraging the mob to go home. Two former Trump administration officials — Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews — testified in great detail about the three hours of Trump's inaction.

Bigger picture: The committee argued Trump’s inaction was a "complete dereliction of duty" under the Constitution to protect Congress.

  • Watching Fox News: The in-person and videotaped testimony detailed that Trump was mostly watching cable news, specifically Fox News, for more than two and a half hours during the height of the violence.
  • Trump outtakes: The committee showed a never-before-seen video of Trump's statement on the day after the Capitol riot, in which he refused to accept losing the 2020 election. "I don’t want to say the election’s over," he said.
  • Witnesses back up Hutchinson: Two witnesses supported previous testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, who said during an earlier hearing how Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol with protesters. 

Trump made no attempts to coordinate a response with Pentagon officials, according to testimony the panel showed. Instead, Trump was reaching out to GOP senators during the riot about ways to change the 2020 election outcome. Check out our replay of last night's hearing.

Deal for Ukraine grain exports set to be sealed

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were due on Friday to oversee the signing of a key agreement that would allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and Russia to export grain and fertilizers — ending a standoff that has threatened world food security. Last week, the sides reached a tentative agreement on a U.N. plan that would enable Ukraine to export 22 million tons of desperately needed grain and other agricultural products that have been stuck in Ukraine's ports due to the war with Russia. Read more 

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Monarch butterflies a step closer to extinction

Scientists put the iconic orange-and-black insect on the endangered list Thursday because of its fast-dwindling numbers. The group estimates that the population of monarch butterflies in North America has declined 22% to 72% over 10 years, depending on the measurement method. Experts say the butterflies are imperiled by a loss of habitat and increased use of herbicides and pesticides for agriculture, as well as by climate change. Read more

  • Ocean update: A dead great white shark 7 to 8-feet long washed ashore on a beach in Long Island, New York.
  • Another concerning large animal: A Florida woman died in an alligator attack. How rare is that? 
  • More nature news: The world's oldest male giant panda, An An, died at age 35 in Hong Kong.
  • On climate change: Stymied by Congress, Biden took some action this week to slow the impact of climate change.

Army recruiting crisis results in soldier shortage, record enlistment bonuses

The Army faces the worst recruiting environment since the all-volunteer force was created in 1973. The shortfall in soldiers comes as the Pentagon sends troops to reinforce NATO after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. One cause of the crisis is that the attractive civilian job market and a shrinking pool of qualified candidates has left the Army critically short of the young people it needs to fill its ranks and perform vital tasks. To entice recruits, the Army is offering $50,000, its highest bonus ever, for recruits who commit to six-year enlistments. Read more 

  • Related coverage:  An Alaskan army base is the epicenter of military suicides. Soldiers know why.

ICYMI: Some of our top stories yesterday

He-Man's 40th celebrated at revived Comic-Con

The pop culture extravaganza that is Comic-Con International is back to its old extravagance. Stars, cosplayers and fans are filling the San Diego Convention Center through Sunday in full force after the pandemic forced it to go virtual for two years. Thousands of fans came in droves on Thursday for the convention's first day, where 80s nostalgia ran rampant during celebrations of the 40th anniversary of He-Man. Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in the 1987 "Masters of the Universe" film, showed up to reminisce at a panel that also featured a surprise appearance by "Star Trek" icon William Shatner. Read more 

📷 Photo of the day: Comic-Con is back! 📷

Lovers of all things geeky are descending from around the globe to attend arena-sized star-studded panels on films and TV shows that resemble sporting events. Anticipated panels this year include a preview from Warner Bros. of the antihero film “Black Adam" featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and peeks at the fantasy series' coming to TV, such as the “Game of Thrones” prequel “House of the Dragon” and the “Lord of the Rings” prequel “The Rings of Power.”

Click here to see more photos from Comic-Con 2022.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN. Send her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to Paste BN here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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