An image of former US President Donald Trump speaking with his chief of staff Mark Meadows is seen as Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Mr Meadows, testifies as the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol , held a hearing on June 28. SEAN TEW/Associated Press
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot returns to prime time with a hearing Thursday night that will examine the three-hour period when Donald Trump failed to act as a crowd of supporters stormed the Capitol.
The commission is racing to gather emerging evidence, and the session could be the latest in a series of public hearings that began in early June. A lawyer for former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who faces criminal charges after resisting a congressional subpoena for months, told the committee over the weekend that Mr. Bannon may now be ready to testify, according to members of the commission.
“I expect we’ll hear from him and there are a lot of questions we have for him,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren. She and other members of the committee said they intended to have Mr. Bannon sit for a private interview, which is usually done when testifying under oath.
Thursday’s hearing will be the first in prime time since the June 9 debut, which was watched by 20 million people. Tuesday’s hearing will focus on the plotting and planning of the January 6, 2021 riot by white nationalist groups such as the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters, and will also highlight testimony taken Friday by former White House adviser Pat Cipollone .
Investigators are digging deeper into the reams of evidence gathered so far about the role of extremist groups in the deadly insurgency and what the former president was doing when violence ensued down the street from the White House.
Representative Adam Kinzinger, who will chair Thursday’s hearing with Representative Elaine Luria, described the upcoming testimony as key to providing a comprehensive timeline of what Mr. Trump did and did not do in those critical hours on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021. It included a tweet from Mr Trump criticizing Vice President Mike Pence for a lack of “courage” as angry protesters outside the Capitol were heard chanting “Fuck Mike Pence” for not challenging Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory Mr.
“We want to show the American people what the president is doing during this time,” Mr. Kinzinger said on Sunday. “The rest of the country knew there was an uprising. The president obviously had to know there was a rebellion. So where was he? What was he doing? This is a very important hearing. Pay attention. Because I think that’s at the heart of the leader’s oath.
News of the hearing comes as Congress returns to Washington after a two-week recess. Lawmakers on the committee had indicated in mid-June that there would be no more hearings until July, but in late June they held a surprise hearing on the testimony of former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.
Her explosive testimony provided the most compelling evidence yet that Mr. Trump may be connected to a federal crime. Since then, the committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans has seen an influx of new information and confidential tips.
Tuesday’s hearing will examine efforts to rally the crowd on the National Mall and then organize the march down Pennsylvania Avenue, where some rioters — armed with pipes, clubs and bear spray — rushed into the Capitol, quickly running over overwhelmed police forces. More than 100 police officers were injured, many beaten, bloodied and bruised that day.
It will also highlight a December 18, 2020 meeting at the White House in which former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and others raised the idea of confiscating voting machines and citing national security emergency powers, over heated objections from several White House lawyers who argued that Mr. Trump should accept defeat, according to Representative Jamie Raskin, who will chair Tuesday’s hearing.
“We will be using much of Mr. Cipollone’s testimony,” he said. “I think he was aware of every major move that Donald Trump was making to try to throw off the 2020 election and basically take over the presidency.”
Lawmakers also plan to look into funding the various rallies and gatherings around Washington that were planned that day.
Mr. Bannon’s apparent turn in testimony comes as he faces a criminal trial this month on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a committee subpoena. He argued that his testimony was protected by Mr. Trump’s claim of executive privilege, a claim the committee dismissed as dubious because Mr. Trump fired Mr. Bannon from the White House in 2017 and therefore, Mr. Bannon was a private citizen when he consulted with Mr. Trump in the run-up to the rebellion.
Mr. Bannon expressed a preference for a public hearing, but committee members on Sunday objected.
“The way we’ve treated every single witness is the same, they come, they talk to the committee there,” Mr. Raskin said. “If they’re going to testify, they’re under oath. It was recorded on video. It gets recorded and then we take it from there.”
The committee says it wants to hear from Mr. Bannon because he “had specific knowledge of the events planned for January 6 before they occurred.” He cited as an example comments he made on his podcast the day before the riot.
“It’s not going to happen the way you think it’s going to happen. Okay, it’s going to be pretty wildly different. All I can say is buckle up,” Mr. Bannon said on that podcast. “All hell will break loose tomorrow. … So many people said, “Man, if I was in a revolution, I’d be in Washington.” Well, this is your time in history.
Mr. Kinzinger spoke on ABC This weekMs. Lofgren was on CNN State of the Unionand Mr. Raskin appeared on CBS’ Face the nation.
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