WASHINGTON (AP) – With never-before-seen video, new audio and a wealth of evidence, a House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol will try to uncover the “horrific story” of the deadly violence that erupted that day. also a chilling backstory as defeated President Donald Trump sought to undo Joe Biden’s election victory.
Thursday’s prime-time hearing will begin with eyewitness accounts of the first police officer smashed in a mafia riot and a documentary filmmaker following the Proud Boys extremists, who prepared to fight for Trump immediately after the election and led the Capitol raid.
It will also include stories from the committee of Trump aides and family members interviewed behind closed doors about the deadly siege, which Democrats and others say is putting 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.
“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.
A one-year 1/6 panel investigation 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.
Without apology, Trump dismissed the investigation as illegitimate – and even announced on social media on Thursday that January 6 “represents the largest movement in the history of our country.”
The riot left more than 100 police officers wounded, many beaten and bloodied, while a mob of rebels supporting Trump, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, stormed the Capitol. At least nine people who were there died during and after the riots, including a woman who was shot and killed by police.
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 speak to a divided America ahead of 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 when Trump sent his congressional supporters to “fight like hell” for his presidency as lawmakers took on the typically routine work of verifying the results of the previous November. .
“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 commission member Jamie Ruskin, MD. in an interview.
“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.
Also appearing on Thursday will be documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who filmed the Proud Boys storming the Capitol – and a major leadership meeting with another extremist group, the Guardians of the Oath, the night before in a nearby parking lot.
Leaders of both groups, along with some members, have since been charged with rare charges of rioting over the military-style attack.
Along with eyewitness testimony, the panel will unveil multimedia presentations, including previously unreleased video and audio, and a “mountain of evidence,” said a commission aide who insisted on 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.
Information from Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who called on her father to lift the rebels, is likely to be shared by her personal presence before the commission.
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 faced obstacles from the very beginning. 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, eventually naming seven Democrats and two Republicans.
Republican Republican Party leader Kevin McCarthy, who was caught in the investigation and opposed the commission’s summons for an interview, Trump reiterated on Thursday. He called the group a “scam” and described the investigation as a political “smokescreen” for Democrats’ priorities.
In many ways, 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 hearings are expected to introduce Americans to a set of characters, 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 the 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 proposals.
Various GOP lawmakers and even candidates now running for office, including the Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, were also involved in the investigation.
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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