panel reveal new evidence that aides say would help “connect the dots” between Trump’s campaign lies and his attempts to oust Joe Biden in the 2020 election. win and the violence that unfolded on January 6, 2021, when rioters stormed the US Capitol. in attempt to stop counting of selective votes.
Assistants spoke about first public hearing that will take place in prime time like the committee’s opening salvo – a preview of what’s to come in months worth of scheduled hearings.
Committee assistants said they also to plan show video to remind public what’s happened on January 6, when the Capitol was overrun by a violent mob. “We’ll bring an American people back to reality of that violence and remind them of just how it was terrible” one the assistant said.
The committee stated that “the vast majority” of video what is it plans to show had not previously appeared in public.
This video will be updated live testimony of two witnesses who It was up-Close view of rioters: US Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was among first wounded by rioters on January 6, and documentarian Nick Quested, who It was unique access members of militia groups who took part in in attack.
The Committee will strive use this evidence to draw a straight line between Trump and the groups who committed violence on January 6. Committee Chairman Benny Thompson and Vice Chairman Liz Cheney will make opening statements and they will question witnesses on Thursday, aides said.
Until the hearing won’t be a committee final word — report planned for after in in year — this is panelx highest-profile ability to convince public whose views hardened on why it’s should take care of what happened on January 6. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress prepares its own counterprogram for attack Committee work as a political attack on Trump.
Trump pressure campaign and inaction on January 6
Hearing on Thursday first in a series planned this month to illustrate what panel’s multi-month investigation on January 6 uncovered. The aides said that the opening hearing would serve to establish out Summary of the conclusions of the commission, which all points back Trump himself.
two witnesses who will testify on Thursday will be play a key role in this is an introductory statement.
“We expect them to talk about their experiences, especially what they saw and heard from the rioters. who tried to occupy the Capitol, of rioters who tried to stop transmission of power”, the committee’s assistants told reporters.
Future hearings are expected build on what happens Thursday night. CNN previously reported that former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his then deputy Richard Donoghue were invited by the committee to testify during one of this is public hearing.
Rosen and Donoghue previously spoke with Committee behind closed doors on trump pressure campaign against senior Justice Department officials investigate unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.
panel is also concentration expected on what Trump did and didn’t do as violence on Capitol Hill unfolded, linking former the inaction of the President to his role in the center of wider conspiracy.
The Committee has in this is possession video recordings of testimonies with former Trump officials and members of Trump family including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. who we with the president on January 6 and I can talk about what he did that day. A little of these frames will be shown during first hearing, but also appear during subsequent presentations.
Video from Trump’s inner circle
The committee held more more than 1,000 testimony behind closed doors as part of of his investigation, including with several members of Trump’s inner circle: daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-Law Jared Kushner and senior White House aides Hope Hicks and Stephen Miller.
Now these indications are likely play a key role in Committee public hearings — even if Trump’s allies don’t plan to testify publicly, according to committee aides.
The assistants said they didn’t. currently plans publish transcripts of testimonies, that is, the hearings will include only fragments of what was said behind closed doors. However, the video can provide new idea of ​​which members of Trump family thoght about former The President’s push to cancel the 2020 election.
committee assistants also announced that Thursday’s hearing would include new video of cruel attack on the Capitol itself. video of rebellion created some of the most dramatic moments of Senate impeachment trial in 2021, and aides say the majority of video committee plans to show had not been seen at the hearing before.
What will not happen: opposition
While the committee hearings on Thursday, January 6, will have all the trappings of typical congressional hearing – chairman, opening statements, witnesses – will be absent key component: any opposition.
Aides said that Thompson, a Democrat, and Cheney, a Republican, would do the most. of conversation during Thursday’s opening hearing demonstrating how committee is a product of bipartisan effort.
But for now, the Committee on January 6 made up of five Democrats and two Republicans, they are all working on the same goal of showing how Trump was at the center of in attack on Capitol.
What will happen give Committee more control over what happens on Thursday. There won’t be any interruptions, flashes or show off from the side opponents of Committee, like were during the impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives in 2019. But installation also means committee runs in risk that Thursday ends up feeling more like a longer presentation than a congressional hearing.
For Trump and his allies – who repeatedly attacked the committee as its hearings approached – criticism of hearings must come from outside. That doesn’t mean they won’t be platforms: Fox has no plans air hearing on Thursday, so the channel conservative hosts can offer counter programming in real time.
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