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The eighth session of the US Congressional Oversight Committee investigating the assault on Capitol Hill will be broadcast on prime-time television this Thursday night. The Committee will try to show that Donald Trump did nothing to stop the protest on January 6, 2021. This would be the last in a series of public hearings that began a month ago.
187 minutes lasted the “inaction” of former President Donald Trump during the assault on the Capitol. The events will be described minute by minute.
This Thursday, July 21, the Congressional Oversight Committee investigating what happened on January 6, 2021 at the United States Capitol will focus on showing that then-President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about a stolen presidential election fueled the attack on the Capitol and that he did nothing to stop the protest, but “happily” everything was seen on television from the White House.
What happened in the Capitol left five dead and about 140 wounded agents. This is the eighth session of the Committee, made up of nine members – two of whom are Republicans – and it will be the second broadcast on television in prime time. In addition, in principle, it would be the last in a series of public hearings, which began six weeks ago.
The Committee will dive into the three hours and seven minutes that Trump failed to act, despite pleas from his aides, allies and even his family. And he argues that Trump’s attempts to reverse Joe Biden’s electoral victory have left the United States facing questions about the resilience of its democracy.
It is “a profound moment of reckoning for America,” said Committee member Jamie Raskin, D-Md.
Trump “was the only person who had the power to stop the protest and he chose not to,” a committee member said in a telephone news conference on Wednesday.
The Congressional Oversight Committee seeks to explain how close the United States came to a “constitutional crisis,” named for a retired federal judge who testified at earlier hearings.
Last week two new pieces of evidence were presented: the first, that Trump planned days before to incite his followers to go to the headquarters of Congress; and the second, that members of his close circle met with members of the ultra groups that participated in the protests.
In Opinion
When Jan. 6 rioters tried to foil the peaceful transfer of power, Donald Trump “abdicated his duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” seven retired four-star generals and admirals in the US armed forces write in a guest essay. https://t.co/j4XNQcY7QM
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 21, 2022
What is expected of this televised session
It is expected to have as main testimonies that of two former White House advisers, and extracts from more than 1,000 interviews that the Committee has conducted. The witnesses are Matt Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser; and Sarah Matthews, then press assistant. Both submitted their resignations on January 6, 2021, after what they saw that day.
The panel is expected to provide a tally of Trump administration aides and even Cabinet members who resigned after Trump failed to call off the attack. Some were so alarmed that they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
Before the hearing, the Committee released a video of four former White House aides. They are Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Assistant Security Gen; Keith Kellogg; White House Counsel Pat Cipollone; and Executive Assistant to the President Molly Michael. All four testified that Trump was in the private dining room with the television on as the violence unfolded. “Everybody was watching TV,” Kellogg said.
The events of Jan. 6 will be described “minute by minute,” Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said. “You will hear that Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to ask his administration for help,” Cheney said.
“He didn’t call the Army. His defense secretary didn’t get any orders. He didn’t call his attorney general. He didn’t talk to the Department of Homeland Security,” Cheney said. “Mike Pence did all those things; Donald Trump didn’t.”
So far, more than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol takeover. More than 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mainly to misdemeanors. Of the more than 200 defendants due to be sentenced, approximately 100 have received prison sentences. And, although the Committee cannot bring criminal charges, the Justice Department is monitoring its work.
Former President Donald Trump has dismissed the hearings on social networks and considers that much of the testimony is false.
With AP and EFE
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