U.S. Capitol probe's 'season finale' to focus on Trump supporters' three-hour rage

[July 21, 2022]  By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. congressional probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters wraps up its summer hearings on Thursday with a prime-time presentation focused on the three hours of rage following the former president's raucous speech that day.

The hearing will detail both the scenes of violence that played out as Trump supporters fought their way into the Capitol and Trump's actions in the 187 minutes between his speech urging his supporters to "fight like hell" and the final release of a video urging rioters to go home.

Scheduled at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT Friday) to reach a broad television audience, the public hearing is to be the finale of eight hearings the House of Representatives Select Committee has held since mid-June.

"The focus of this hearing is what was going on here on Capitol Hill as that mob breached barriers and stormed the Capitol and caused a delay in certification of the Electoral College vote," a committee aide told journalists, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview the hearing.

The panel of seven Democratic and two Republican House members has been investigating the attack on the Capitol for the past year, interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses and amassing tens of thousands of documents.

It has used the hearings to build a case that Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 presidential election constitute illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics.

Questioning of witnesses will be led by Democratic Representative Elaine Luria and Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger.

Committee aides declined to name witnesses, citing security concerns, but they will include Matthew Pottinger, a deputy national security adviser under Trump, and Sarah Matthews, a deputy press secretary in his White House, according to U.S. media reports.

Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the Select Committee's chairperson, will lead the hearing remotely, after testing positive for COVID-19.

Stephen Ayres and and Jason Van Tatenhove are sworn in during a public hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 12, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/Pool/File Photo

PENCE, MILITIAS AND FRAUD ALLEGATIONS

Previous hearings have focused on the run-up to the riot, Trump's pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to deny Biden the victory, militant groups whose members participated in the Capitol attack and Trump's interactions with close advisers questioning his false allegations of massive voter fraud.

Committee members said Trump incited the riot by refusing to admit he lost the election and through comments including a December Twitter post calling on supporters to flock to Washington for a "big protest" on Jan. 6, saying, "Be there, will be wild."

The Republican one-time reality television star who has hinted he will seek the White House again in 2024, denies wrongdoing. He continues to claim falsely that he lost because of widespread fraud.

Trump and his supporters - including many Republicans in Congress - dismiss the Jan. 6 panel as a political witch hunt, but the panel's backers say it is a necessary probe into a violent threat against democracy.

The attack on the Capitol injured more than 140 police officers and led to several deaths. More than 850 people have been charged with taking part in the riot, with more than 325 guilty pleas so far.

While Thursday's hearing is expected to be the last of the current series, the panel left the door open for more in the coming months. The panel has said it had collected far more information than it could present in one series of hearings.

"There is no reason to think that this is going to be the Select Committee's final hearing," the aide said. The committee is also expected to have some sort of event to mark the release later this year of a report on its findings.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone and AListair Bell)

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