Jan 6 committee planning more public hearings later this month

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The January 6 committee is planning to resume public, televised hearings on Capitol Hill later this month as the lawmakers’ investigation continues to acquire witness testimony and relevant documents.

Lawmakers on the panel spent much of July laying out in public for the first time the extent of Donald Trump and his team’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election even when it became clear that a massive, armed crowd was present or gathering in Washington and the potential for violence was high.

The testimony of witnesses and records obtained by the panel illustrated the far-reaching Republican effort to subvert the lawful 2020 election results and stir up anger on the right against Democrats and members of their own party who refused to go along.

Now, the lawmakers are set to return — presumably with new information aboutthe attack on the Capitol itself, the effort by Mr Trump’s team to overturn the election as well as the response of those around Mr Trump to the attack. Millions of Americans watched the previous set of hearings, including their first meeting, held in prime-time, that saw nearly 19m viewers tune in.

The latest hearings will come at the worst possible time for the GOP. Already struggling with the politically embarrassing coverage stemming from July’s panel hearings, the Republican Party is now also facing the shocking, unprecedented situation of an FBI investigation into the alleged illegal retention of highly classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the resort and residence owned by Mr Trump. The midterm elections are just a few months away, and more efforts by the committee to expose the actions of Republicans including Mr Trump could prove an obstacle for the party as it fights for control of the House and Senate.

Some of the committee’s most important revelations so far have worked to portray a glaring disparity between what Trump supporters were saying in public and what they were saying in private, both before and after the attack on Capitol Hill.

Numerous lawmakers are now known, or at least accused, of seeking pardons for their roles in disputing the election results. Rudy Giuliani, the former president’s lead attorney, was described by one witness as admitting that the Trump campaign did not have hard evidence of the widespread fraud that it was alleging had taken place. And Fox News host Sean Hannity was even instructing White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany to convince Mr Trump that he could be impeached or removed from office via the 25th Amendment in a newly-disclosed text exchange.

Polls have shown that coverage of the panel’s findings has had a negative effect on Mr Trump’s popularity with independents and Democratic voters, while even Republican voters are beginning to show signs of holding Mr Trump to blame for the riot.

The ex-president continues to flaunt the possibility of a 2024 run for president even as he faces multiple investigations regarding several matters including January 6 and the classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

A poll released last week found that two thirds of independent voters would prefer that Donald Trump does not run for president in 2024.