The Jan. 6 committee’s first prime-time hearing on findings from its investigation into the deadly riot at the Capitol is slated to take place on Thursday evening, with sources familiar with the efforts asserting it will provide new information pertaining to the siege.
The hearing is expected to feature testimony from Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was injured during the attack, and documentarian Nick Quested, who is expected to speak on his experience being embedded with members of the Proud Boys in the days leading up to the attack. One select committee aide told reporters that the hearing will “serve as a sort of an opening statement” aimed at previewing what to expect in the hearings, bring “the American people back to the reality of that violence,” and depict the gravity of the situation.
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“I will say that the vast majority of witnesses that select based on information from have cooperated with us voluntarily, the vast majority who have been stated have complied with the law. So the select committee has mountains of new information. We’re going to be able to share intel in this initial set of hearings, but we will tell what we think are really key parts of the story,” the source said.
In addition to the panel’s plans to question witnesses in real time, previously unseen content from interviews the panel conducted with witnesses close to former President Donald Trump and his allies will also be shown.
“The American people will hear from a small portion of the interviews in the course of our investigation, and those will include senior Trump White House officials, senior Trump administration officials, Trump campaign officials, and Trump family,” the source continued.
“And again, the vast majority of material you’ll see tomorrow evening is previously unseen, whether it is that documentary evidence, whether it is recording video or audio recording the witnesses we’ve interviewed, whether it is records obtained in the course of our investigation. And I expect that tomorrow you’re gonna hear from the chair and the vice chair, and they’re gonna be the ones presenting this information, by and large, and, of course, asking questions of our witnesses,” the source added.
The select committee, which is made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans and whose chairman is Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and vice chairwoman is Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), has come under fire from Trump-allied Republicans who have launched messaging efforts to counter the hearing, attempting to paint the panel as illegitimate and partisan.
Critics of the panel have taken aim at its decision to bring on former ABC News executive James Goldston to produce the hearings, alleging it shows that it is politically motivated.
Members of the panel have dismissed accusations of partisanship, asserting they are searching for the truth behind the origins of the riot and looking to reveal “mountains of new information” pertaining to the former president’s level of involvement.
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The select committee began its 10-month investigation last July, having conducted roughly 1,000 interviews during closed-door depositions.
Thursday evening’s event marks the first of a series of public hearings which are expected to touch on a number of topics related to the riot, with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was asked by the former president to “find” thousands of votes, expected to testify later this month.
