Washington – MP Adam Kinzinger, a member of the select committee of the House investigating the Jan. 6 aggression at the U.S. Capitol, said Sunday that the panel’s upcoming hearing “will open people’s eyes to a great extent.” when lawmakers detail what former President Donald Trump was doing while the crowd of his supporters violently broke the Capitol.
In an interview with “Face the Nation,” Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, said the committee has “filled in the gaps” of what Trump was doing in the White House in the 187 minutes since his supporters came down to the Capitol building until he issued his first public response to the attack.
“I can’t necessarily say that the reasons behind every piece of information we know we can explain, but that will open people’s eyes in a big way,” Kinzinger said. “The reality is I’ll make you that advance. The president didn’t do much, but he happily watched television during that time period.”
Kinzinger urged the American people, and their fellow Republicans in particular, to “look at it with an open mind” and ask, “Is this the kind of strong leader you really think you deserve?”
“I knew how I felt as an American congressman,” he said. “If I were a president who had sworn to defend the Constitution, that includes the legislature, watching this on television, I know I would have been doing ballistics to try to save the Capitol. He did the opposite. The president did not. do anything “.
The next select committee hearing will take place Thursday at prime time, and Kinzinger and Virginia Democrat Elaine Luria will take the lead. The hearing will be the panel’s eighth, and Kinzinger said the committee could hold more when it issues its final report.
He noted, however, that the select committee could schedule more hearings if its members get information they believe should be shared with the public.
House investigators have also continued to meet behind closed doors with witnesses, including former White House attorney Pat Cipollone earlier this month and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne on Friday. Byrne, a Trump ally, was among those attending a Dec. 18 meeting at the White House that he described as “baffled.”
Kinzinger said the committee is still debating whether to summon former Vice President Mike Pence to testify, said he would like it personally, as well as whether there is a benefit to asking Trump himself to appear before investigators.
“I’m not sure we need them physically there because we’re getting a lot of information,” he said. “Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t mind not telling the truth, let’s put it mildly. He lies all the time. I wouldn’t pass him off as lying under oath, so I’m not sure what the value is.”
As part of its ongoing investigation, the committee on Thursday issued a subpoena to the U.S. Secret Service for text messages related to the Jan. 6 incident after the Department of Homeland Security inspector general told lawmakers that the agency deleted messages from January 5 and January. 6. Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told Congressional committees that his office received a notification that the messages had been deleted as part of a “device replacement program,” although the deletions went away. produce after the watchdog asked for the messages as part of an investigation into the Secret Service’s response to the Capitol assault.
Kinzinger said the agency has indicated it will meet the deadline Tuesday to meet the citation, but said it is unclear if the messages still exist.
“It’s crazy that the Secret Service really ends up erasing anything related to one of the most infamous days in American history, especially when it comes to the role of the Secret Service,” he said.
Assault on the United States Capitol
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