Posts tagged with "Attack on the U.S. Capitol"

Above, the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo source: Teen Vogue)

How to watch the January 6 Committee hearings (and what to watch for)

June 8, 2022

After 11 months and more than 1,000 interviews, the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob is ready to share what it knows, reports The Washington Post.

It will do that in public hearings, some in prime time, throughout this month. The first will be held this week. Here’s what to know about the hearings.

  • When are the hearings’ dates and times? The first hearing is scheduled for Thursday, June 9, at 8 p.m. (EDT). The committee hasn’t announced a formal schedule for the remainder of the hearings, but there could be as many as eight through June, with a final hearing in September—right before the November midterm elections. 
  • How to watch the hearings: The committee  usually live-streams its hearings, and most major TV news stations will be airing at least Thursday’s inquiry in full: TheWrap reports that ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CNN plan to air the proceedings. Fox News is the only major news network to decide to continue with its regular, primetime coverage and talk about the hearings “as warranted.” The Washington Post will have anchored coverage and analysis beginning Thursday night on www.washingtonpost.com.
  • What to watch for: The committee plans to detail itsr findings of what members say was a months-long Republican conspiracy to overthrow Joe Biden’s legitimate election victory, led by President Donald Trump. Indeed, the committee even could accuse Trump of committing a crime by intentionally trying to stop Congress’s certification of Biden’s win on January 6, 2021. But Congress’s power is limited; ultimately, the Justice Department would have to decide whether to prosecute.

Investigators have not gotten many close Trump allies or top Republican members of Congress to testify. Instead, members plan to call in staffers to some of the top players, such as aides to former vice president Mike Pence, or former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. And they plan to play videos of their previous interviews with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, report The Post’s Jacqueline Alemany, Josh Dawsey and Amy Gardner.

Each hearing will have a theme. On Thursday, lawmakers are planning to introduce the public to what they’ve been up to for the past 11 months since

Democrats in Congress voted to set up the investigatory committee. Only two Republicans, Representatives Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) sit on it, and there are no Trump allies on the committee. They will make an opening statement that offers an overview of the January 6 events.

The New York Times reports that on Thursday, a documentarian who interviewed the Proud Boys and a Capitol police officer who was injured in the attack will provide testimony as some of the panel’s first public witnesses. This comes after the current and former leaders of the Proud Boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy, for allegedly planning the attack on the Capitol.

Other hearings could focus on what Trump did (or didn’t do) on January 6; how he and his allies tried to dismantle the electoral process in the weeks after Election Day in order to keep him in power; how disinformation spreads; and policy recommendations to prevent such an attack from happening again.

Research contact: @washingtonpost

Above, Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), who heads the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. (Photo source: House.gov)

January 6 committee’s Thompson: ‘No choice’ but to seek contempt charges against Meadows

December 9, 2021

The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol plans to move forward with contempt proceedings against former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for his  decision not to cooperate with the panel’s requests, reports NBC News.

Representative Bennie Thompson ( D-Mississippi), the chairman of the committee, wrote in a letter to Meadows’ attorney, George Terwilliger III, on Tuesday night, December 7, that the committee “is left with no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution.”

The committee was scheduled to hold a deposition with Meadows on Wednesday, December 8, but he was not expected to show up. Before serving in the Trump White House, Meadows served in the House from 2013 until March 2020.

Thompson said there is “no legitimate basis” for Meadows’ refusal to cooperate with the committee and answer questions about the documents he had already provided to lawmakers. The chairman said those include “a text message exchange with a member of Congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the member acknowledged would be ‘highly controversial’ and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, ‘I love it.’”

“They also feature a text exchange in January 2021 between Meadows and an organizer of the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally on the White House Ellips; as well as text messages about the need for former President Donald Trump to issue a public statement that could have stopped the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” Thompson wrote.

Thompson said his committee has repeatedly tried to identify the areas of inquiry that Meadows believes are protected by executive privilege, but neither Terwilliger nor Meadows have “meaningfully provided that information.”Hi

He added that he had given Meadows opportunities to comply with the committee and questioned how the former White House chief of staff could produce documents–but then decide not to appear for a deposition to answer questions about them.

Thompson also questioned how Meadows released a new book in which he wrote about January 6, but is “denying a congressional committee the opportunity to ask him about the attack on our Capitol.” That “marks an historic and aggressive defiance of Congress,” Thompson wrote.

The letter came after Meadows said earlier Tuesday that he would no longer cooperate with the committee, which prompted the panel to threaten contempt proceedings.

Research contact: @NBCNews