10 things you need to know today: October 14, 2022

1. House Jan. 6 committee votes to subpoena Trump

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump. The vote came in the committee's ninth and likely final public hearing, and set up an unprecedented potential showdown with a former president. Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said the panel needs to hear "the testimony under oath of Jan. 6's central player," as Trump was the one pushing the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him and urging supporters to fight to overturn his privately acknowledged loss. "The vast weight of the evidence so far has shown us that the central cause of Jan. 6 was one man, Donald Trump, who many others followed," Cheney said.

USA Today

2. Parkland, Florida, school shooter avoids death penalty

A South Florida jury on Thursday recommended that Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz be spared the death penalty and serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for the massacre. There was never any question that Cruz shot and killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018. He confessed and pleaded guilty to fatally shooting 14 students and three staff members at the school with a semi-automatic rifle. Some victims' relatives in the courtroom shook their heads as the jury announced its decision to reject the prosecution's recommendation that Cruz, 24, be sentenced to death. He will be formally sentenced on Nov. 1.

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South Florida Sun-Sentinel

3. Supreme Court denies Trump request on Mar-a-Lago documents

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump's request to let special master Raymond Dearie review classified documents that federal agents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in August. The unsigned one-sentence order upheld a September appeals court decision barring Dearie from including the classified material in his review. Trump's lawyers argue some of the seized government documents are protected under executive and attorney-client privilege; the Justice Department says Trump has no executive claim to the files. The Supreme Court ruling did not affect the appellate court's decision to give the Justice Department access to all documents marked as classified for its criminal investigation into Trump's handling of government secrets after he left the White House.

NBC News

4. Russia says it is evacuating Kherson as Ukrainian forces advance

Russia announced Thursday that it is evacuating civilians from the occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine at the request of the Russian-installed leader there. "The government took the decision to organize assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region to other regions of the country," Marat Khusnullin, a Russian deputy prime minister, told state television. Ukrainian forces expanding a successful counterattack recently broke through Russian defenses in northwest Kherson, prompting Vladimir Saldo, a former mayor of the port city of Kherson installed in April by occupying Russian forces, to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to help anyone trying to flee the fighting. Ukrainian prosecutors have charged Saldo with treason.

The Guardian

5. North Korea flies warplanes near border, tests missile

North Korea on Friday continued a series of weapons tests by firing a short-range ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said. The North also sent about 10 military aircraft flying near the heavily fortified border separating the two Koreas, and South Korea responded by scrambling fighter jets. North Korea also fired dozens of artillery rounds into "sea buffer zones," South Korea's military command said. South Korea condemned the North's moves as a violation of a 2018 military agreement banning "hostile acts" on the border, and blacklisted 15 North Korean individual and 16 institutions involved in Pyongyang's missile program, in its first unilateral sanctions in nearly five years.

Reuters

6. New York attorney general asks court to freeze Trump assets

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday asked a state court to freeze the New York assets of former President Donald Trump's company, the Trump Organization, and put in place an independent monitor. James filed a $250 million lawsuit last month accusing Trump and his family real estate business of fraudulently overvaluing the company's properties to get better loans, and undervaluing them to get lower taxes. She said preventing Trump and his company from moving their assets is necessary to prevent them from continuing the "same fraudulent practices" and evading justice. Trump's team has denied any wrongdoing and said James' latest filing was "another stunt" to boost her re-election campaign.

Politico CNN

7. Social Security recipients to get 8.7 percent boost to match inflation

The Social Security Administration confirmed Thursday that millions of Social Security recipients will receive an 8.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment to their benefits in 2023. The hike, the largest in more than 40 years, will boost the average monthly benefit by $140 starting in January. The adjustment was calculated according to the most recent quarterly inflation. Many Social Security recipients welcomed the news, but some said it wouldn't be enough to offset the impact of soaring prices. It's "not much help," 85-year-old Shirley Parker of Chicago said. "Food is ridiculous." A separate government report released Thursday showed that consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in September, up from a 0.1 percent monthly increase in August, with prices up 8.2 percent compared to a year earlier.

The Associated Press

8. Gunman kills 5 along North Carolina nature trail

Five people were shot and killed along a nature trail in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday evening. One of the victims was an off-duty police officer, Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. At least two other people were injured and have been hospitalized. One was in critical condition, while the other, a Raleigh Police K-9 officer, was treated and released. "We must stop this mindless violence in America, we must address gun violence," Baldwin said. "We have much to do, and tonight we have much to mourn." Police told residents in the Hedingham neighborhood to shelter in place during a search for the male juvenile suspect, who was arrested four hours later. Police did not immediately release any information on the suspect's identity or motive.

The News & Observer The Associated Press

9. FBI agent says exposing Steele dossier source hurt national security

FBI counterintelligence agent Kevin Helson testified Thursday that the Trump administration's decision to release documents in 2020 that exposed the identity of an FBI source in its Russia investigation had damaged national security. Helson was testifying at the trial of the former informant, Igor Danchenko, who is charged with lying to the FBI as part of special counsel John Durham's investigation of the FBI's inquiry into former President Donald Trump's Russia ties. FBI agents had interviewed Danchenko because he was a central source of former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele's largely discredited 2016 dossier on then-presidential candidate Trump. Helson, a prosecution witness, said Danchenko provided valuable assistance as an FBI informant until his identity was revealed.

The Wall Street Journal The New York Times

10. Cuba Gooding Jr. avoids jail time in groping case

The Manhattan District Attorney's office confirmed to CNN on Thursday that actor Cuba Gooding Jr., the Oscar-winning star of Jerry Maguire, will not face jail time after pleading guilty to forcible touching. Gooding admitted that he kissed a waitress "on her lips" without her consent in 2018, and apologized for "ever making anybody feel inappropriately touched." He pleaded guilty in April, and his deal to avoid jail time required him to undergo alcohol and behavior counseling, and not get arrested again, according to The New York Times. In 2020, prosecutors said 30 women had come forward to accuse the actor of groping. Kelsey Harbert, who said Gooding groped her at a nightclub in 2019, slammed the plea deal as "a misstep," according to The Associated Press.

CNN The New York Times