WASHINGTON (AP) – With never-before-seen video, new audio and a “mountain of evidence”, a House of Representatives committee investigating the Capitol attack on January 6 will try to show not only the deadly violence that erupted that day, but also chilling prehistory when defeated President Donald Trump tried to undo Joe Biden’s election victory.
Thursday’s prime-time hearing will begin with eyewitness testimony from the first police officer struck by the mob riot and a documentary filmmaker who recorded the melee, and will include committee stories from Trump aides and family members of the deadly siege. which put US democracy at risk.
“When you hear and understand the far-reaching conspiracy and the effort to try to corrupt every lever and government agency involved, you know, the hair on your neck needs to stand up,” said Elaine Luria, D. W., Representative, Committee Member. 6, said in an interview with the Associated Press.
“Gathering everything in one place and a consistent story, I think, will help the American people better understand what happened on January 6 – and the threats that this could potentially pose in the future.
The ongoing annual 1/6 panel investigation into the Capitol attack will begin to show how the American tradition of peaceful transfer of presidential power has almost disappeared. He will reconstruct how Trump refused to recognize the 2020 election, spread false allegations of voter fraud and organize an unprecedented public and private campaign to undo Biden’s victory.
The outcome of weeks of public hearings may not change the hearts or minds of a politically polarized America. But the commission’s 1,000-interview investigation aims to remain a public record for history. The final report aims to provide an account of the most violent attack on the Capitol since it was set on fire by the British in 1814, and to ensure that such an attack never happens again.
Emotions are still harsh in the Capitol, and security guards will be stepped up for the hearings. Law enforcement officials report a spike in violent threats against members of Congress.
Against this background, the committee will try to talk to a divided America before the fall midterm elections, when voters decide which party controls Congress. Most TV networks will broadcast the hearings live, but Fox News Channel does not.
The committee’s chairman, civil rights leader, Benny Thompson, D-Miss., And Liz Cheney’s vice-president, R-Wyo, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, will set the tone with introductory remarks.
The two congressional leaders will outline what the committee learned about the events that led to that busy January day in 2021, when Trump sent his congressional supporters to fight “like hell” for his presidency as lawmakers took on the typically routine certification work. of the previous November results.
“People will have to follow two intersecting streams of events – one will be the attempt to cancel the presidential election, this is a painful story in itself,” said Jamie Ruskin, MD, a member of the committee. AP.
“The other will be the sequence of events leading to a violent mob attack on the Capitol to stop the vote count and block the peaceful balance of power,” he said.
In the first place will be the numbing accounts of the police involved in hand-to-hand combat with the crowd, with the testimony of the Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards, who was seriously injured in the attack. Documentary director Nick Questid will also appear on Thursday to film the Proud Boys extremists storming the Capitol. Some members of this group have since been charged, as well as some of the Guardians of the Oath, with rare charges of rebellion over the military-style attack.
Along with live testimony, the panel will unveil multimedia presentations, including unpublished video and audio, and a “mountain of evidence,” said a committee aide who asked for anonymity to review the hearing. There will be recorded accounts of senior Trump aides in the White House, administration and campaign, as well as members of the Trump family, the aide said.
In the coming weeks, the commission is expected to unveil Trump’s public campaign to stop the theft and the private pressure he has placed on the Justice Department to reverse the loss of his election – despite dozens of failed lawsuits and his own attorney general. confirmed that there had been no fraud on a scale that could turn the results in his favor.
The panel, made up of nine lawmakers, has faced obstacles from the start. Republicans have blocked the formation of an independent body that could investigate the Jan. 6 attack in the way the 9/11 commission investigates the 2001 terrorist attack.
Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initiated the creation of a 1/6 panel through Congress over objections from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. She rejected Republican-nominated lawmakers who voted against January 6th to certify election results, choosing her preferred members to serve.
Trump has dismissed the investigation as illegitimate, and many Republicans are ready to defend it.
Representative Elise Stefanick of New York told a GOP press conference that the commission’s “shameless prime-time show” was nothing more than a defamation campaign against the former president, his party and his supporters.
But by many measures, the attack was launched shortly after election day, when Trump falsely said the vote was rigged and refused to back down after Biden was declared the winner.
The procedure is expected to introduce Americans to a set of heroes, some well-known, others elusive, and what they said and did as Trump and his allies tried to reverse the election.
The public will learn about the actions of Mark Meadows, head of the president’s office, whose more than 2,000 text messages provided the commission with a real-time snapshot of the struggle to keep Trump in office. For John Eastman, the conservative law professor who was the architect of a failed scheme to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to suspend certification on Jan. 6. For Justice Department officials who threatened to leave instead of complying with Trump’s shocking proposals.
Lawmakers are also involved in the investigation, including House of Representatives People’s Party leader Kevin McCarthy, who opposed calls for a summons to testify. Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who called on her father to end the insurgency, appeared in private in front of the commission.
The Ministry of Justice has arrested and charged more than 800 people with violence that day, the largest network in its history.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Frecking and Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
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For a full coverage of the January 6 hearings, go to
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