Placeholder while loading article actions
Nearly a year after the formation of the select committee of the House investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, lawmakers are ready to make their case public.
On Thursday night, President Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) And Vice President Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) Will launch a series of televised hearings with a combination of live testimonies, pre-recorded interviews with figures that include members. of the Trump family and unreleased video footage.
The hearings mark the culmination of an investigation that has involved more than 1,000 interviews and reviews of more than 125,000 records. Taken together, the play represents the most complete record of the deadly assault to date, and panel members have come to believe that it stands out only as the most visible evidence of a broader plot to undermine northern democracy. American, one that emanated from the White House.
To tell this story, the committee will rely on the testimony of privileged people from the administration, including a formerly dark aide who has given the committee a detailed reconstruction of meetings and movements in the west wing. The committee also has video recordings of interviews with Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, which some in the process believe will make for captivating television.
But the end result of the committee’s efforts remains an open question. Public opinion on January 6 and on former President Donald Trump has long been tightened on competing blocs, making it difficult to get through, even with prime-time scheduling. The committee has also been affected by the lack of cooperation from some Republicans, including some of those closest to Trump, leaving possible gaps in evidence and an apparent shortage of high-profile figures willing to take the witness stand.
Legally, meanwhile, the investigation may have limited direct consequences: while the committee may refer cases for prosecution, it is ultimately up to the Department of Justice to decide whether to file any charges.
Still, a criminal referral by Congress of a former U.S. president would be an extraordinary step. And whether they are taken or not, the hearings will represent a historic moment in which the committee presents evidence of what it has described in court documents as “a criminal conspiracy to swindle the United States.”
“Either way, these hearings are very important in getting this information out,” said Norm Eisen, a senior member of the Brookings Institution who served as a House Democrat lawyer for Trump’s first trial.
The first hearing is likely to provide the American public with an initial argument and an overview of the events on the day the rioters stormed the Capitol, as well as the weeks before it.
Lawmakers are also expected to focus the ways in which Trump’s false allegations of fraud continue to proliferate and threaten the integrity of the upcoming U.S. election, according to people involved in the investigation who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about private conversations. They warned that much of the plan remains under discussion and subject to change.
Witnesses to appear at first sight have not yet been announced. But the committee will try to place the story of the violence in the Capitol in the context of a larger plot with multiple tentacles to nullify the results of Joe Biden’s election victory, with Trump’s involvement as a direct line.
Audiences which follow this month, it is expected that there will be at least six in total, will delve into specific aspects of this plot. Another hearing, for example, is likely to focus at least in part on alternative lists of Trump voters that could have been used to try to undermine Biden’s legitimacy, according to those involved in the investigation.
The final hearing is likely to be led by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) And Elaine Luria (D-Va.) And focused primarily on Trump: what he did, what happened around him, and what he said. before January. 6 and that day. A person familiar with the planning said that the few remaining “bombs” will reach the final hearing, although the person warned that the most notable evidence against the former president, who allegedly expressed his support for hanging the vice president Mike Pence, has been reported.
The committee, which includes two Republican members and seven Democrats, is still finalizing testimony. But the hearings will likely feature senior officials to Trump’s Justice Department and advisers in Pence’s inner circle. Researchers have also enlisted the cooperation of a relatively younger administration staff who witnessed crucial moments.
The attack: The siege of the United States Capitol on January 6 was neither a spontaneous act nor an isolated event
People familiar with the dynamics of the committee said Cheney is taking an aggressive role in organizing the hearings. Members have been debating what witnesses to present, and several people involved said there was frustration among lawmakers because key final decisions had not yet been made.
Cassidy Hutchinson, one of the main assistants to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, has been involved in several statements with investigators (more than 20 hours) and is expected to play a leading role in the hearings. according to people familiar with the matter. Hutchinson said people familiar with the committee have provided extensive information about Meadows’ activities to try to cancel the election.
Meadows, through his lawyer, declined to comment.
The Washington Post reported late last month that Hutchinson had told the committee that Meadows had told others that Trump had indicated his support for hanging his vice president after the rioters who stormed the Capitol that day began chanting. ” Mike Pence is up! ”
“Cassidy Hutchinson could turn out to be the next John Dean,” Eisen added, referring to the former presidential adviser who accused President Richard M. Nixon of being directly involved in the Watergate scandal to Senate investigators and federal prosecutors.
Hutchinson is likely to testify live before the committee, complemented by video footage of previous interviews with investigators, according to someone familiar with the investigation.
Hutchinson recalled to the committee several episodes of the chaotic struggle to sustain the falsity of Trump’s election fraud. A former mid-level assistant kept detailed schedules of movements in the west wing and held extensive talks with Meadows.
Court documents show details of Hutchinson a January 6 meeting between Meadows and Republican lawmakers in the House in which they talked about delaying the Joint Session of Congress — or completely avoiding the counting of electoral votes — so that state legislatures could select different voters.
Researchers have come to see Meadows as a key player in efforts to overturn election results. He was in close contact with Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his external legal team, which operated from the Willard Hotel in Washington, according to people familiar with his interactions.
“Meadows would tell Trump we wanted to talk to him,” said one person involved in the operation.
Meadows was also warned before Jan. 6 of the possibility of violence that day, according to Hutchinson’s testimony. He told congressional investigators that Anthony Ornato, a senior Secret Service official who also served as a political adviser to the White House, told Meadows that “we had intellectual reports that there could be violence in the United States. day 6 “.
Meadows initially cooperated with the investigation, providing his text messages among other records. But like many close to Trump, he eventually refused to testify.
The committee referred criminal charges against Meadows and Trump’s top advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino to the Justice Department for challenging the committee’s subpoenas. The department announced Friday that it had charged Navarro, but would not bring charges against Meadows and Scavino. Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon was charged with two counts of contempt last year and will be tried in July.
Unlike other bold names cited by the committee, Hutchinson is no longer a figure in the orbit of Trump or Republican politics.
Other medium and low level administration, campaign and Capitol Hill staff have described his involvement in the investigation as an opportunity to tell his work to the American public after a traumatic experience. The committee has agreed to anonymize the accounts of those who have expressed fear or displeasure at appearing publicly, according to the people involved in the investigation.
“You’re going to hear people you haven’t heard of before or who haven’t had a chance to do any media,” said one person who provided a recorded account for the committee.
January 6 images show the U.S. Capitol under attack
Although the committee has not made a final decision, people familiar with the investigation believe the panel will project images of the testimony of Ivanka Trump and Kushner, including Trump’s account of his father’s actions on the west wing on 6 January.
“Everyone will pay attention when Jared and Ivanka talk on video. It doesn’t matter how damn the presentations are,” said a person close to the investigation.
Panelist accounts and testimonies published in court documents show a daughter who was in and out of her father’s presence while the Capitol was under siege, repeatedly trying to get her to respond to the violence.
Former Trump national security adviser Keith Kellogg told investigators during his December appearance before the committee that, the day after the riots, he had told Ivanka that “he appreciated what he did that day …