Anatomy of a smashed window: Pezzola tells his Jan. 6 story

Few events on Jan. 6 symbolized the fragility of American democracy more clearly than the moment Dominic Pezzola — a Proud Boy from upstate New York — smashed a Senate window with a stolen police riot shield, paving the way for a pro-Trump mob to enter the Capitol.

On Wednesday, Pezzola tried to rewrite that history, telling a jury that the shield smash — which coincided with the frantic evacuation of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence — was the result of adrenaline, fear and confusion, not the carefully executed plot of an insurrectionist.

It was, he said at the federal courthouse in Washington D.C., “just more of being caught up in the confusion, panic, chaos, mayhem that happened that day. It was stupid. I’m sorry I did it. It wasn’t anything I’m proud of. But it happened. What can I say?”

“I should’ve stopped. I should’ve turned and went home,” he continued. “For some reason I felt I didn’t have total control of my actions.“

Pezzola took the stand Wednesday to fend off charges that he and four Proud Boys leaders plotted to forcefully derail the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. The seditious conspiracy charges he and his four codefendants face are the gravest leveled by prosecutors in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack.

Prosecutors are expected to cross-examine Pezzola Thursday and are sure to challenge many of the claims he made.

Pezzola is expected to be the final witness in a trial that has stretched more than four months and been marked by interminable delays, intense legal quarrels and high stakes testimony from cooperating witnesses and defendants. Alongside Pezzola, prosecutors have charged Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl with joining the alleged seditious conspiracy.

Pezzola’s testimony, like the riot itself, was chaotic. He described feeling in mortal danger from police crowd-control measures, the resolve to face down the “enemy” that he drew from his military training, an intensifying fear that he might not live to see his wife and daughters, fury at police for lobbing flashbangs in the area of women in the crowd and an “autopilot” that he said took over just before he smashed the window.

Pezzola told jurors he had no inkling of any plan to topple the government and was irritated at his Proud Boys allies for diverting the group away from Trump’s speech that morning for a march to the Capitol. But when he arrived, he nevertheless made his way toward the front of the gathering mob — a decision he attributed to “car crash syndrome.”

“Why I moved over there was basically out of curiosity,” he said.

That’s when the rubber bullets started raining down, Pezzola said, including one that cut through the cheek of rioter Joshua Black, spraying blood all over the ground at the front of the police line. Though Pezzola said he considered the crowd to have been passive at that moment, video of the scene shows skirmishes along the police line, which officers positioned on a nearby overhang were witnessing with a birds eye view.

“It felt like being under sniper fire,” Pezzola said, adding, “In my mind, this is pretty much what I felt like combat would be like, being shot at by the enemy.”

Pezzola, who was right behind Black, said the barrage of less-lethal munitions aimed at the crowd infuriated him and he attempted to engage officers in an argument about the appropriate use of force. He also lunged to grab a shield from a nearby Capitol Police officer — which he said was meant for self-protection — but came away empty-handed. Eventually, the swell of the crowd knocked him down, he said, and in the chaos, he observed another rioter wrest a shield from the same officer, and Pezzola managed to grab the loose shield for himself.

Pezzola’s lawyer, Steve Metcalf, repeatedly asked Pezzola why he didn’t just turn around and leave amid the chaos. He said he refused to leave the Capitol grounds even after police began firing rubber bullets in his direction because his “military training” had conditioned him to “keep your eye on where the threat is coming from.”

“I’m pissed off Steve, that’s all I can really say,” Pezzola said. “The adrenaline is so high at that point. You’re on autopilot. I guess I’m just programmed to charge toward danger.”

Pezzola later added that he was particularly infuriated when he saw munitions landing in the crowd near women, and he repeatedly asked his lawyer to pause video of those moments so he could highlight women who were visible in the crowd to the jurors.

Pezzola would take the shield back to fellow members of the Proud Boys and pose for a picture before returning to the front of the mob, surging to the foot of the Capitol and destroying a window leading to the Senate wing of the building. That breach, which prosecutors have described as the first time the Capitol was breached by hostile actors since the war of 1812, came at the precise minute the Senate shut down its effort to certify the results of the election.

Pezzola said that when he got inside, he had no plan and no knowledge of the Capitol’s layout, so he basically wandered around and followed the crowd while taking pictures and videos. POLITICO recently identified footage of Pezzola encountering the evacuation of Sen. Chuck Grassley, who had been presiding over the Senate just moments before.

He would soon shoot a celebratory selfie video that prosecutors view as a key piece of evidence in the case. “Victory smoke in the Capitol, boys. This is fucking awesome,” he said in the video while smoking a cigar. “I knew we could take this motherfucker over [if we] just tried hard enough.” Pezzola told jurors he took the video because he wanted to say something “profound” on a day he believed would be “historic.”

Moments later, Pezzola joined the portion of the mob that chased Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman to the edge of the Senate chamber, where a standoff ensued. All told, Pezzola said he was inside the building for about 20 minutes, and he handed the shield back to a police officer as he exited.

Asked by Metcalf to characterize his actions, Pezzola called it, “A bad reaction to a bad situation.”

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Elton John joins Senate hearing in support of AIDS relief program

"There is no better symbol of American greatness than PEPFAR," John said during his opening remarks.

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House GOP plows ahead on risky immigration plan

House Republicans dug in Wednesday on a two-track strategy to project commitment to border security. Both tracks seem headed toward failure.

On one side, Judiciary Committee Republicans are in the midst of an hourslong debate on a sweeping border and immigration plan they'll vote to advance Wednesday afternoon after weeks of closed-door negotiations.

Meanwhile, Republicans are also quietly laying the groundwork to potentially impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as he appears before the Homeland Security panel —ostensibly to talk about his department's budget request but instead facing a cascade of GOP fury over his handling of the border.

The border bill and Mayorkas impeachment already faced heavy skepticism from a coalition of GOP centrists that's showing no signs of fading. Centrists have raised fears that the immigration plan goes too far in limiting asylum claims, while also blanching at conservative demands to take the historic step of impeaching a Cabinet official.

Though neither House GOP effort has a chance at success in the Democratic-controlled Senate, a failure to get border security measures through the one chamber of Congress they control would mark a significant stumble for Republicans on an issue highly important to their base.

“I am confident leadership will not bring anything to the floor that does not have the votes to pass. … However long that takes, that’s what you want,” said Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), a vocal critic of the Judiciary Committee's bill.

Criticism from purple-district Republicans amounts to a political tee-ball pitch for Democrats, who are all too happy to cite their GOP colleagues in making their case against the immigration legislation.

“This bill has no chance of being enacted into law, and most of its provisions cannot even pass on the House floor because of opposition from Republicans,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), his party's top member on the Judiciary panel.

In a nod toward Gonzales, Nadler added that Republicans “should heed the advice of one of their own.”

While the intra-GOP fight has blasted to the forefront, given the Judiciary Committee's advancement of the border security bill Wednesday, Gonzales remains locked in a monthslong public spat with Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who has vocally pushed more conservative immigration measures.

Though Roy’s bill isn’t in the Judiciary package, pieces of the committee’s proposed changes to asylum laws closely reflect sections of the Texas Republican's plan.

Many Republicans defended the Judiciary Committee bill, arguing it was needed to push back against more than two years of Biden administration policies and, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) added, “to restore the successful Trump policy.” Republicans argue the border influx was much more manageable under the former president, when the Trump administration placed drastic limits on migrants' ability to claim asylum.

Meanwhile, Democrats aren't making it easy for Republicans to pass the legislation, offering a slew of potential changes that could appeal to skeptical centrists.

The first Democratic amendment would have stripped out so-called e-verify requirements, which require that certain businesses check the citizenship status of their employees — a bid to turn agriculture-minded Republicans like Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) against the broader bill.

That failed in the Judiciary Committee along party lines. A second amendment from Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) that would have delayed the implementation of the e-verify mandate also failed.

“I’m surprised that this bill is in here, frankly. … It’s never been able to pass on the House floor,” Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said.

The immigration package is likely to clear the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday without getting tangled in GOP infighting, in part because the panel is stocked with conservatives. But what can clear that panel, Republicans acknowledge, isn’t automatically reflective of what could get 218 votes on the House floor.

And Republicans have set an ambitious goal to clear legislation through the chamber by the middle of next month.

In the meantime, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a vote on its own border bill next week. The Rules Committee is then expected to merge the two proposals, allowing Republicans to make more changes before a final product gets to the floor.

The Homeland Security panel had initially been expected to hold a vote on its proposal this week, but that was delayed by Mayorkas' scheduled testimony. And Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), the panel’s chair, reportedly told donors this month that he believed his committee was making the case for Mayorkas' impeachment — a move that would require near-total House GOP unity to succeed.

Republicans have so far rolled out two impeachment resolutions against Mayorkas, and neither has won over even close to a majority of the House GOP conference.

One, from Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), currently has 42 cosponsors, while a separate resolution from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) has 32. Democrats, and some GOP lawmakers, have warned that their colleagues are equating a policy disagreement — namely, that Mayorkas isn't appropriately handling increased migration levels — to a high crime or misdemeanor.

“I was dismayed to see that, speaking to a group of campaign contributors last week about today’s hearing, the chairman said, and I quote, ‘Get the popcorn, it’s going to be fun.’ I think that tells Americans all they need to know,” said Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee.

During Wednesday's hearing, Green zeroed in on the GOP's argument for impeachment, telling Mayorkas that “you have not secured our borders, and I believe you’ve done so intentionally.”

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Florida expands ban on sexual orientation and gender identity teachings through high school

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Board of Education expanded the state’s restrictions on teaching students about sexual orientation or gender identity Wednesday to all K-12 public schools.

Under the updated rule expanding the legislation panned as “Don’t Say Gay” by critics, teachers run the risk of losing their educator credentials for leading instruction on those topics to students through 12th grade instead of strictly kindergarten through grade 3. This new guideline, which board members approved unanimously, appears to be even stronger than the parental rights expansions that Republican lawmakers are currently advancing at the statehouse.

State education officials said the rule is meant to ensure that educators stick to Florida’s teaching standards while opponents warned it could wedge a divide between LGBTQ students and teachers who support them.

“The curriculum and the standards taught in an academic classroom have nothing to do with the school’s compassion and being able to provide services to individual students,” Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said at the meeting in Tallahassee. “They’re not being shunned, none of this is being addressed here.”

“We shouldn’t be asking our teachers to be teaching mental health or providing that,” Diaz added. “They should be more of a conduit to pass that on.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to announce a bid for president soon, defended last year’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation and signed it into law in March 2022, saying at the time that “In Florida, we not only know that parents have a right to be involved — we insist that parents have a right to be involved.” At the time, Democrats and LGBTQ advocates decried the law and warned that it could marginalize LGBTQ students and their families.

DeSantis’ support for the legislation also sparked a yearlong fight with the Walt Disney Co., which opposed the bill and law. The governor pushed the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature to curtail the California-based entertainment giant’s authority over its central Florida theme parks, though the company and state are still feuding over it.

The changes backed Wednesday bolster a rule the board initially established in October carrying out the controversial bill from last year. This policy outlined that teachers “shall not intentionally” lead instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through grade 3.

Now, it stipulates that instruction on those two topics is also prohibited in pre-kindergarten and grades 4-12 unless the lessons are required by state standards or required for a reproductive health course, which parents can opt-out students.

These provisions are baked into Florida’s professional code of conduct for educators that are meant to hold teachers accountable. As such, the state education commissioner can pursue disciplinary action against the license of any teacher who violates that code, including the expansions approved Wednesday.

LGBTQ advocates opposed the rule change, contending it unfairly targets and bullies the LGBTQ community. They also argued that it puts the careers of educators in jeopardy for violating what some consider vague policies.

“This rule is by design a tool for curating fear, anxiety and the erasure of our LGBTQ community,” Joe Saunders, former state legislator and Equality Florida's senior political director, told the board Wednesday.

The rule also had its supporters at the meeting, including conservative groups such as the Christian Family Coalition, Florida Citizens Alliance and Moms for Liberty. Members of Moms for Liberty contended the policy would strengthen relationships between parents and their children, and that it’s necessary to ensure teachers are leading lessons approved by the state.

“The crowding out of academic learning, which his already deficient, by inappropriate sexual classroom content should be considered educational malpractice,” Yvette Benarroch, who leads the Collier County chapter of Moms for Liberty, told the board.

The parental rights expansions approved by the state board go beyond grade-level scope of legislation GOP lawmakers are currently advancing in the Legislature.

One bill that already passed the House, FL HB1069 (23R), would broaden the state’s prohibition on teaching about sexual identity and gender orientation from kindergarten through third grade to pre-K through eighth grade. It also restricts how school staff and students can use pronouns on K-12 campuses.

The measure is part of the push by Florida conservatives to uproot what they say is “indoctrination” in schools and is one of several bills taken up this session focusing on the LGBTQ community and transness.

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Air Force unit in document leaks case loses intel mission

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is investigating how a lone airman could access and distribute possibly hundreds of highly classified documents, and in the meantime has taken away the intelligence mission from the unit where the leaks took place, Air Force leaders said Tuesday.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Congress he has directed the Air Force inspector general to go look at the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira served and look at “anything associated with this leak that could have gone wrong."

Teixeira, 21, was charged Friday in the U.S. District Court in Boston with unauthorized removal and retention of classified and national defense information. He is expected back in court for a hearing Wednesday.

The leaks have raised questions as to how a single airman could have removed so many documents without being detected, why there were not safety checks in place and how the documents could have lingered online undetected for months.

“How could this guardsman take this information and distribute it electronically for weeks, if not months, and nobody knew about it?” Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana asked the Air Force leaders testifying before a Senate defense appropriations subcommittee.

These are questions the Air Force is asking, too. For top secret information across the military, there's supposed to be accountable control officers who are responsible for recording active top secret documents and ensuring they have been either properly secured or disposed of, such as through a shredder or by burning them.

Pending further review, “The 102nd Intelligence Wing is not currently performing its assigned intelligence mission. The mission has been temporarily reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force," the service said in a statement to The Associated Press.

In addition, the Air Force is conducting a service-wide review of how each command handles classified information, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown told members of subcommittee.

The Air Force's own reviews are on top of a military-wide review directed on Monday by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Austin has ordered that all military facilities that handle classified information report to him within 45 days on how they access, share, store and destroy the nation’s secrets following the leaks.

The leaked documents exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments on the war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.

Teixeira posted the highly classified material in a geopolitical chat room on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.

“He had access to some aspects based on his job as a cyber administrator. He took advantage of that access,” Brown said.

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DeSantis begins up-Hill battle for congressional GOP support

Many congressional Republicans are eager for a former President Donald Trump alternative in 2024. Yet even with Ron DeSantis right in front of them, few are committing early to Trump’s chief rival for the GOP nomination.

The Florida governor and former House member returns to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for the start of a prolonged courtship with his party's lawmakers — outreach he’ll need to step up if he hopes to topple Trump in a presidential primary. But among the nine Republicans who are formally co-hosting DeSantis’ congressional meet-and-greet, only three so far are willing to call it an endorsement.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said in an interview that he considers DeSantis a friend but that his co-hosting status for the governor's event is not an endorsement. In fact, Lee said he’d be willing to co-host other GOP presidential contenders in the same fashion — including Trump.

Another two of the nine lawmakers listed as co-hosts of the event harmonized with Lee: “I’m not endorsing anybody. I just think it’s always good to see who’s out there,” Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) said, adding that he participated because of his home state’s first-in-the-nation GOP primary slot. “I support any person who wants to throw their hat in the ring.”

“I'm not co-hosting — I'm a special guest,” quipped Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) when asked Tuesday about his involvement. He has also not endorsed in the 2024 primary.

The DeSantis-Hill GOP meeting marks the start of a charged battle for the attention of congressional Republicans between the party’s two presumed presidential frontrunners. The favor of GOP lawmakers won't determine the nominee, but it remains critical to campaign-trail buzz and earned media: The open distaste Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) drew from most of his Senate colleagues, for example, hurt him in the 2016 primary fight with Trump.

And institutional support still acts as a crucial validator, particularly for a nascent candidate like DeSantis, who has faced nagging questions about his viability after recent stumbles. Just three House Republicans — and no senators — have endorsed DeSantis, compared to dozens for Trump, although Tuesday’s event is the first signal that the Florida governor is looking to change that.

“Trump’s a known quantity. He’s not. I think he would probably benefit from sitting down and talking to people,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) of DeSantis. “Trump’s in a good spot. I think DeSantis brings a lot to the table and it would be a serious challenge for President Trump.”

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said in an interview on Tuesday afternoon she would attend the event as well, making her the second senator to meet with DeSantis. Asked if her appearance equaled an endorsement, she replied: "Not yet."

"Tim Scott is forming an exploratory committee. And ... Ron DeSantis and I were very good friends in the House," Lummis said. "We're still in the kind of stay-tuned phase."

Despite the desire for new blood at the top of the ticket, Hill Republicans still prioritize avoiding Trump's anger. And the general hesitancy to back DeSantis, who still has not officially declared his intent to run, underscores a persistent reality in GOP politics that he will have to confront: Crossing the former president remains a risky endeavor. Trump and his team are paying close attention to which members have — or have not — backed his campaign, and have been strategically rolling out endorsements from inside the Capitol in recent weeks.

There was at least one exception, though: First-term Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.), who served as DeSantis' secretary of state until she was elected last November, endorsed DeSantis just hours before the event was set to begin Tuesday.

"His leadership and his vision made Florida a shining beacon of freedom,” Lee said in a statement, becoming the first in the Florida delegation to back him.

Trump's team, though, had an answer for that. His campaign had already rolled out his endorsement from Rep. John Rutherford of Florida hours earlier, the second from the state's delegation within 24 hours. (Rep. Greg Steube endorsed Trump on Monday night).

Across the Capitol, Trump has nearly doubled his Senate endorsements over the past month, with nine senators now endorsing him — roughly 20 percent of the conference. That support includes Graham, Tennessee Sens. Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, as well as Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, J.D. Vance of Ohio and Eric Schmitt of Missouri.

And there may be more on the way.

“I think Trump will clean them up. I think the polls are pretty indicative of where most would be. Despite Trump's challenges, he was the original,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), who hasn't endorsed a presidential candidate.

And Trump started wooing members months ago. He recently held a 3.5-hour dinner with GOP lawmakers over the weekend while he was in Nashville for the RNC retreat, where he ate with Hagerty, Blackburn and Tennessee GOP Reps. Chuck Fleischmann, John Rose and Diana Harshbarger, according to Fleischmann.

“I don’t know many people going to the DeSantis event,” Fleischmann said on Tuesday afternoon, a day after he formally endorsed the former president. “I think he and the other candidates who might seek to challenge President Trump for the nomination are going to realize very, very quickly that it's Trump's nomination.”

Several House Republicans, when asked on Tuesday if they planned to attend the DeSantis meet-and-greet, cited vague scheduling conflicts.

Another early Trump endorser, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), called the gathering “a meeting for supporters of the governor's 2024 presidential aspirations” but declined to comment further beyond saying: “I wish the governor well."

It’s not yet clear exactly how many members will attend the DeSantis event: People familiar with the planning offered a variety of numbers when asked about attendance. Some GOP lawmakers on Tuesday said they hadn’t yet decided whether to go, given the busy week in D.C.

The "special guests" listed on the invitation include Feenstra, LaHood, Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Bob Good (R-Va.) as well as Sens. Lee and Lummis — in addition to Reps. Lee, Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), all of whom have formally endorsed the Florida governor.

In a brief interview, Massie suggested that some members might fear their Trump-supporting voters would turn on them if they endorsed the former president's potential opponent. He also appeared to suggest that some lawmakers might be looking for a quid-pro-quo as they try to get through their own elections.

“I think when somebody comes out for DeSantis, it's meaningful to DeSantis,” said Massie, who once fought for his own Trump endorsement back home. ‘When somebody comes out for Trump, it's meaningful for the person who's endorsing Trump, not necessarily Trump.”

At least one Republican who doesn’t plan to attend, though, said he’s happy the Florida governor is here — and happy he’s apparently looking to enter the race.

“I met him, great guy ... But I’ve already got my candidate,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who has endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. “We got a good stable to pick from ... This will be competitive. We gotta win in 2024. We gotta change course.”

Olivia Beavers contributed.

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Why the Ralph Yarl shooting is reigniting the ’stand your ground’ debate

It took four days. But the octogenarian accused of shooting Ralph Yarl is now facing criminal charges. They include armed criminal action and first-degree assault, a class A felony which carries a penalty of no less than 10 years and up to 30 years or life imprisonment, if convicted.

For Andrew D. Lester, the alleged shooter, that’s essentially a death sentence.

It would also mark a stark turn of events for the white man who, immediately after the shooting on Thursday, was taken into custody but promptly released after about an hour. Lester surrendered Tuesday and is back in custody. He told police he was “scared to death,” citing the teenager’s size. Fearing that he could not defend himself, Lester discharged his weapon, striking Yarl in the head and in the arm.

The incident has triggered another round of all-too-familiar outrage and horror, and ignited fresh scrutiny over our nation's gun laws — in particular, Missouri’s “stand your ground” law, which protects people in some cases who use potentially lethal force if a proportionate threat is encountered.

The perceived threat in this case: Yarl, a Black teenager who was sent to pick up his younger twin siblings, mistakenly arriving at the wrong door.

This case has all the ingredients to revive the national debate over “stand your ground” laws, which over much of the last decade have been central in trials for civilians accused in fatal shootings of Black teens and young men, including Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis in 2012.(Davis’s mother is Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), a prominent gun control advocate.)

Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, argued during court proceedings that he was suspicious of the teen, who was visiting relatives in a gated community in Florida. Zimmerman then pursued Martin, got into a physical altercation with him, shot him and was acquitted. In Davis’ case, Michael David Dunn got into an argument over loud rap music at a gas station, then shot into a vehicle carrying Davis and his friends, killing Davis. Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder.

“It’s been my goal from the very beginning to get justice for the child involved in the case,” Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson told reporters Monday afternoon after charges had been announced.

“I can tell you there was a racial component in this case,” he added, without giving further details.

The split-screen politics here are hard to miss. Politicians and celebrities alike have weighed in, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who tweeted: “Let’s be clear: No child should ever live in fear of being shot for ringing the wrong doorbell. Every child deserves to be safe. That’s the America we are fighting for.”

President Joe Biden spoke to Yarl and shared his hope for a swift recovery, the White House announced Monday evening.

Yet as demonstrators rallied through the weekend in Kansas City calling for justice for Yarl — ensuring national media didn’t turn its focus elsewhere and ramping up pressure on the law enforcement investigation — some 500 miles east in Indianapolis, the National Rifle Association held its annual convention.

It was attended by a handful of potential 2024 GOP hopefuls, including former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, and the Kansas City incident was not mentioned.

However, other recent shootings were evoked — including mass shootings in Nashville last month and another in Louisville just over a week ago — to argue before the reported 70,000 attendees that more guns are needed.

As the criminal case involving Lester works its way through the Missouri legal system, discrepancies between some of the details that led to the shooting will be addressed.

For instance, Lester told police he shot after he saw Yarl pulling on an exterior storm door, thinking he was trying to break in, while Yarl told police he waited outside after he rang the doorbell and did not pull on the door, The Kansas City Star reported.

Those details could be the crux of whether Lester walks free. But the reason we are talking about this at all seems to be clear, according to a joint statement from Democratic state lawmakers in Missouri: Reps. Ashley Aune, Jamie Johnson, Maggie Nurrenbern and Eric Woods.

“While we may want to think that race did not play a factor, it is naive to assume that a white teenager in the same situation would face the same violence,” the group wrote on Monday. “This is a time when we must be willing to have hard conversations about racism in this country and, sadly, in our communities.”

This article first appeared in an edition of The Recast newsletter.

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