A House of Representatives committee turned to a prominent former online news executive on Jan. 6 to refine a mountain of explosives in a captivating multimedia presentation for prime-time hearings on Thursday.
- James Goldston – former president of ABC News and chief storyteller who directed “Good Morning America” and “Night Line” – has joined the committee as an unannounced adviser, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: I’ve been told that Goldston is heavily producing Thursday’s 20:00 ET hearing as if it were a special investigation into a hit movie.
- He plans to make it raw enough for skeptical journalists to find the material fresh and swallow the revelations in future coverage.
- And he wants this to attract the eyeballs of Americans who have not followed the intricacies of investigating the Capitol riots.
Goldston makes a huge fortune:
- The hearing will be a mix of live witnesses and a pre-produced video.
- I was told that the committee had access to official photos of the White House on January 6, 2021, which had never been seen in public.
- Only some of the surveillance footage from inside the Capitol is shown – all sorts of angles are taken.
- Many of the commission’s testimony was videotaped. We will see videos.
An aide says the elected committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol …
- He has conducted more than 1,000 testimonies and interviews, and more are planned.
- I received 140,000+ documents.
- And it tracks 472 tips received through the commission’s online advice line.
The hearing – the first in a series of committees (most of which will be during the day) – has the potential to be a national event:
- At least two of the broadcast networks will interrupt the evening live programs hosted by David Muir of ABC and Nora O’Donnell of CBS. NBC will announce its plans soon.
On the other hand, Republicans will argue that the 1/6 commission – which consists of seven Democrats plus Republicans Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinsinger of Illinois – simply wants to take former President Trump.
- As part of the Republican Counterprogramming Blitz, key members of Congress have already reserved reservations for cable interviews after the hearing.
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