WASHINGTON (AP) — A House committee on Jan. 6 will hold its final hearing of the summer the way it began the series — starkly proving that Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen election fueled the sinister attack on the U.S. Capitol that he did nothing to stop but instead “joyfully” watched on television at the White House.
Thursday’s prime-time hearing will delve into the 187 minutes Trump was unable to act on Jan. 6, 2021, despite pleas for help from aides, allies and even his family. The panel sets out to show how the defeated president’s attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory has left the United States with lasting questions about the sustainability of its democracy.
“A profound moment of reckoning for America,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Med., a committee member.
Featuring live testimony from two former White House aides and excerpts from more than 1,000 interviews, the nearly two-hour session will add a closing chapter to the past six weeks of hearings that have captivated the nation at times.
Returning to prime time for the first time since the series of hearings began, the panel aims to show how close the United States is to what a retired federal judge testifying this summer called a constitutional crisis.
The events of Jan. 6 will be outlined “minute by minute,” said the panel’s vice chairwoman, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
“You’re going to hear that Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help,” Cheney said.
“He didn’t call the military. His defense minister did not receive an order. He did not call the attorney general. He has not spoken to the Department of Homeland Security,” Cheney said. “Mike Pence did all these things; Donald Trump did not.
On Thursday, former associates of the White House who had close proximity to power will testify.
Matt Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, then a press aide, resigned on January 6, 2021, after what they saw that day. Trump dismissed the hearings on social media and called much of the testimony bogus.
Rep. Benny Thompson, Md., the committee chair, is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 and will attend via video. Rep. Elaine Luria, a former naval officer who will co-chair the session with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who served in combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said she expects testimony from White House aides to “Just be really compelling .”
“These are people who believed in the work they were doing, but they didn’t believe in the stolen election,” Luria said.
White House aides weren’t alone in opting out that day. The panel is expected to provide data on Trump administration aides and even cabinet members who resigned after Trump failed to cancel the attack.
As the group continues to collect evidence and prepares to issue a preliminary report on its findings, it has amassed the most significant public data yet on what led Americans to attack the seat of democracy.
Although the commission cannot bring criminal charges, the Department of Justice oversees its work.
So far, more than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 330 of them pleaded guilty, mostly to felonies. Of the more than 200 defendants to be sentenced, approximately 100 received prison terms.
What remains uncertain is whether Trump or the former president’s top allies will face serious charges. No former president has ever been prosecuted federally by the Justice Department.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that Jan. 6 was “the largest and most significant investigation the Department of Justice has ever embarked on.”
“We have to get this right,” Garland said. “For people who are concerned, as I think every American should be, we need to do two things: We need to hold accountable any person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we need to in a manner filled with integrity and professionalism.”
Delving into the timeline, the panel aims to show what happened between the time Trump left the stage at his “Stop Theft” rally shortly after 1:10 p.m. after telling supporters to march on the Capitol, and about three hours later, when he issued a video address from the Rose Garden in which he told the rebels to “go home” but also praised them as “very special”.
He also expects to present further evidence about Trump’s confrontation with Secret Service agents who refused to give him a ride to the Capitol — a witness account that security officials disputed.
Five people died that day as Trump supporters battled police in a bloody hand-to-hand battle to storm the Capitol. One police officer testified about how she “slipped in other people’s blood” as they tried to hold back the crowd. One Trump supporter was shot and killed by police.
“The president didn’t do much but gleefully watch television during that period of time,” Kinzinger said.
Trump not only refused to tell the crowd to leave the Capitol, he did not call in other parts of the government for support and did not order the deployment of the National Guard, Cheney said.
That’s despite countless pleas from Trump aides and allies, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to previous testimony and text messages obtained by the committee.
“You’re going to hear that leaders on Capitol Hill have been asking the president for help,” Cheney said, including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who she said indicated he was “‘scared'” and called many members of the President Trump’s family after failing to convince the President himself.”
The panel said the investigation was ongoing and further hearings were possible. She expects to produce a preliminary report this fall and a final report by the end of this session of Congress.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the Jan. 6 committee hearings at
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