With a never-before-seen video, new audio, and testimony, the U.S. Congressional Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack begins televised audiences starting tonight that will attempt to show how it exploded. the violence that day and how President Donald Trump was defeated. tried to nullify Joe Biden’s election victory.
The panel’s one-year investigation into the Capitol attack aims to show how the American tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power was about to fade and what it could mean for future elections.
It will rebuild how Trump refused to run in the 2020 election, spread false allegations of election fraud, and orchestrated an unprecedented public and private campaign to stay in power until the day President Vice President Mike Pence exercised his power. ceremonial role in certifying election.
What will come out
On Thursday night, the panel is expected to present heartbreaking accounts of police involved in a melee with the mob, including the testimony of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards. seriously injured in the attack. Also appearing on Thursday will be documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who filmed Proud Boys extremists storming the Capitol.
There will be recorded accounts of Trump’s top aides in the White House, the administration and the campaign, as well as members of Trump’s family, a committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press.
Former United States President Donald Trump meets with his fourth and final White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on October 21, 2020. The actions and statements of both men are another line of action. House Committee investigation. (Al Drapo / Reuters)
The committee divided the research into different thematic teams that are expected to structure the hearings.
Of more interest is the investigation into Trump and those who tried to help him cancel the election, as well as the actions of the Trump administration’s Justice Department in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6.
A team has studied the government’s response, including the slow deployment of the National Guard and the Capitol police fighting that day.
Other topics in the investigation include those who organized and funded the rally on January 6, as well as misinformation on social media and the current state of internal extremism in the United States.
Who spoke to the committee?
The committee has conducted more than 1,000 depositions and interviews, with most of the topics unknown. Among those in attendance are Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, both former White House advisers, and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who after the election pushed charges of fraud.
Trump Attorney General William Barr also recently met with the committee, according to reports.
Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, both former White House advisers, have reportedly appeared in court. (Patrick Semansky / The Associated Press)
The committee has issued at least 99 known summonses to compel to testify.
Jeffrey Clark, a senior Justice Department official in the Trump administration, finally accepted a deposition following the threat of criminal prosecution. According to published reports and the Senate Judiciary Committee, Clark was more sensitive than other Justice officials about plans to install pro-Republican alternative voter lists in some Biden-won states.
Who hasn’t spoken to the commission?
Trump has urged former aides to ignore the committee’s citations. The panel has not listened to its last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, its last attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, or current Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
The House has voted to recommend to the Justice Department allegations of contempt in Congress for four Trump partners for refusing to cooperate: Meadows and former Trump administration top officials Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino.
Bannon will be tried in July and Navarro was recently charged. Convictions could lead to up to one year in prison and a fine of up to US $ 100,000.
Peter Navarro, a former business adviser to President Donald Trump, bitterly complained to reporters on June 3 after he was briefly jailed that day after a charge of two felony counts was handed down in Congress. (Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)
On the panel
While there are two Republicans on the nine-member panel, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, there is generally no bipartisan spirit seen in the Sept. 11 and Watergate Commission hearings.
The House panel was approved in June 2021 after Republicans in the Senate blocked the formation of an independent, bipartisan commission. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has rejected some Republican members nominated by McCarthy, including some who still cast doubt on the outcome of 2020. Among those rejected was Republican Rep. attended a January 6 planning session at the White House on December 21, 2020.
This combination of photos shows the members of the select committee of the House. Top row from left: Jamie Raskin, Zoe Lofgren, Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, Elaine Luria and Pete Aguilar. Bottom row from left: Adam Kinzinger, Stephanie Murphy, Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff. (Associated Press)
Congress does not have the power to file charges, but it could make criminal references based on what they develop in the Justice Department, perhaps even for Trump. That referral would put Attorney General Merrick Garland and his prosecutors in place.
The bets
The panel is expected to issue a report by the end of the year. If the November legislature sees the House come under Republican control, it is very likely that investigations into the Trump administration and January 6 will end.
The attempt to subvert democracy is not over, Democrats argue, as several polls indicate that many Americans still mistakenly believe Trump won, while some states across the country have moved to replace him. election officials and politicians who refuted election fraud claims. Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania in November, Doug Mastriano, believes the 2020 election was stolen and also attended the January 6 strategic session mentioned in the White House.
Doug Mastriano, a senator from the state of Pennsylvania, is the Republican candidate for governor of that state. Mastriano, seen May 17, has volunteered for a volunteer interview with the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Carolyn Kaster / The Associated Press)
Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, a member of the group, said Tuesday that the measure of success would be “if we are able to preserve American democracy and our institutions.”
No credible allegations of widespread electoral fraud were made in dozens of cases that went to court and were later dismissed. The Trump administration’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency described the election in a statement as “the safest in U.S. history.” In the days leading up to his resignation in December 2020, Bill Barr told the Associated Press that nothing had been discovered “on a scale that could have produced a different election result.”
Are the actions of Trump and his associates being investigated elsewhere?
Yes. Georgia officials are currently organizing a special grand jury to investigate attempts by Trump and his White House to pressure state officials to overturn Biden’s victory there.
Former aide Navarro also said recently that he received a subpoena from the Justice Department.
The Garland department has been silent on whether it is examining the Trump administration in relation to January 6.
Areas of concern also include the fact that White House documents were found on the Trump estate in Florida and that there was an hourly gap in White House call logs on January 6th.
Who has been charged?
Outside the committee, nearly 850 people have been arrested in connection with the attack on the Capitol, including more than 250 accused of assaulting or obstructing law enforcement.
“Our democracy is at stake … the points we will recommend when they are adopted will ensure that these rebels will never do it again, never again.”
-President https://t.co/Kzd602yjUf
– @ January6thCmte
More than 300 people have pleaded guilty to various charges. Six people have been convicted in the trials.
Several members and associates of extremists Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy, which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.