The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob will have what’s likely to be its final televised hearing on Wednesday.
Here’s what to know, and what we’ve learned so far.
When is the next hearing, and how to to watch it?
It will be Wednesday at 1 p.m. Eastern. We’re not sure what the hearing will focus on; nor has the committee said whether there will be live witnesses. The committee does plan to play footage showing how Trump’s allies, like operative Roger Stone, schemed to have Trump declare he won, regardless of what the results said, report The Post’s Dalton Bennett, Jon Swaine and Jacqueline Alemany.
The committee live-streams its hearings, and most major TV news stations have been airing all of the hearings in full, except for Fox News. (“In the past, Fox News does play our hearings if the hearing is in the daytime,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) told CNN on Sunday.)
The Washington Post will have anchored coverage and analysis before the hearings on YouTube and washingtonpost.com. C-SPAN will air the hearing in full.
Despite more than a year of investigation and interviews with thousands of witnesses, there are still some major unanswered questions about the attack, and how to prevent a similar one in the future. Like:
Will the committee conclude that Trump committed a crime by intentionally trying to stop Congress’s confirmation of Joe Biden’s win on Jan. 6, 2021? Congress’s power is limited here: Ultimately, the Justice Department would have to decide whether to prosecute. But Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said he thinks the committee should formally accuse Trump of crimes in the attack, noting that a federal judge said it’s likely the former president broke several laws as he tried to overturn his election loss. But Schiff also told CNN on Sunday that the committee should come to such a decision unanimously, and it’s not clear there’s consensus on this — a referral could further inflame political tensions ahead of the midterm elections. Plus, the Justice Department is already investigating aspects of Trump’s involvement in at least the lead-up to the attack.
What we know — and don’t know — about what Trump did on Jan. 6.
Will the committee talk to Vice President Pence or Trump? Pence’s top aide has testified, as have many of Trump’s White House aides. Pence also recently said he would be open to talking to the committee. But as time goes on, that seems less and less likely. If Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, they are unlikely to continue the investigation.
But the committee plans at least one, maybe two, more prominent interviews: One will be with Virginia Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who pushed top White House aides to overturn Biden’s victory with baseless claims. She will testify privately, at least at first. The committee is also trying to talk to a top Republican in Wisconsin, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R), who was on the receiving end of Trump’s efforts to set up fake electors and overturn the state’s popular vote for Biden. (Vos sued the committee to try to avoid talking to it.)
How can we keep an attack like this from happening again? For all its looking back, the committee knows it needs to look forward to legislation or practices that could stop another attack or attempt by those in power to overturn a legitimate election — something election and democracy experts are worried about. The House, led by Jan. 6 committee members Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Lofgren, recently passed changes to make it harder for members of Congress and the vice president to call into question the final results of an election, known as the Electoral Count Act. There could be support in the Senate to make these changes as well.
Can the committee make the public care about an attack that’s more than a year old? Cheney has repeatedly said that Trump’s actions posed a threat to the republic; so has President Biden, talking on the campaign trail. “When a president fails to take the steps necessary to preserve our union or worse causes a constitutional crisis,” Cheney said, “we’re at a moment of maximum danger for our republic.” She recently said she wouldn’t be a Republican if Trump won his party’s nomination in 2024.
“Threats to democracy” is now a top voter concern, above even “cost of living” and “jobs and the economy,” according to an August NBC poll. Yet as Republican leaders defend Trump and downplay the attack — several House Republicans have ignored subpoenas from the committee, requesting that they talk about their conversations with the White House around Jan. 6 — many Republican voters now think what happened on Jan. 6 was a legitimate protest.
Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards testified on June 9 that Officer Brian Sicknick fought the pro-Trump mob alongside her before being injured. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
What has the committee uncovered so far?
It made the case that Trump was responsible for the attack: He knew protesters came to his “Stop the Steal” rally armed — with “knives, guns in the form of pistols and rifles, bear spray, body armor, spears and flagpoles,” said former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson — and he urged them to go to the Capitol anyway. He even tried to wrangle Secret Service agents to allow him to march with them, she testified. (The committee is still trying to sort out the Secret Service’s involvement in all this.)
It laid out Trump’s pressure campaign on government officials to overturn legitimate results: Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) described conversations with Trump and Giuliani in which they asked him to convene the state legislature and somehow determine that Trump won Arizona. “I said, ‘Look, you are asking me to do something that is counter to my oath,’” Bowers pushed back. Top Justice Department officials under Trump also testified about how the president and his aides tried to replace the attorney general with election deniers.
It held up Pence as a hero for withstanding the pressure and certifying the results: During the attack, the committee revealed that Pence came within 40 feet of the rioters, who, egged on by a Trump tweet accusing the vice president of lacking courage, streamed into the Capitol shouting, “Hang Mike Pence.” Pence’s resolve hardened as he hid from the mob in a parking garage, along with his family and top aides. Earlier that day, he privately said that confirming Biden’s win “may be the most important thing I ever say,” his aide testified.
It shared evidence of the Republican Party’s big role in lifting up Trump’s fraud claims: Just one example uncovered by the committee: On the morning of Jan. 6, the top aide for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) inquired about giving Pence’s staff a list of fake electors declaring Trump won Wisconsin and Michigan. ( “Do not give that to him,” a Pence aide warned.) And the committee also alleged that a number of Republican lawmakers and aides requested pardons for themselves and others after the attack.
A guide to the biggest moments of the Jan. 6 hearing
This is likely the committee’s last hearing — unless ut uncovers something else it wants to quickly bring to the public’s attention.
The committee is also working on a report about what happened on Jan.6 and how to prevent it from happening again. It could also release thousands of pages of transcripts of their interviews, which would let the public sort through its findings.
Also, after this year, the committee’s only two Republicans, Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), won’t have jobs in Congress anymore. Cheney lost a primary to a Trump-backed election denier, and Kinzinger is retiring.
This has been updated with the latest news.
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