US House of Representatives holds primetime TV hearings on the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Here’s what you need to know

US House of Representatives holds primetime TV hearings on the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Here’s what you need to know
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump react to tear gas during a clash with police officers in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Most of us have probably seen those harrowing videos of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol building after the 2020 election. But since then, a select committee of the House of Representatives has been studying what exactly happened and how to stop incidents like that moving forward.

Now, in a series of primetime TV hearings, the committee is laying out the evidence collected during those hearings, including testimony from members of the Trump family and administration, leaders and members of far-right organizations that led the assault on January 6, the police officers who were there that day and experts and researchers from all of the related topics they’re dealing with.

The first day of the hearings mostly set up what to expect to see and hear in the coming weeks, but it did include testimony from Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter, who said that she “accepted” it when then-Attorney General William Barr said that the 2020 election had been fairly lost, despite her having claimed publicly it was a fraudulent election previously. It also included testimony from a filmmaker documenting the Proud Boys, a far-right group that was part of the assault.

There are expected to be up to seven more hearings before the end of June that will cover everything from how Trump tried to influence other leaders to how he lied to the public about the election.

Key comments:

“Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power,” said Representative Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the House investigation committee into January 6. “In our hearings, you will see evidence of each element of this plan.”

“When a president fails to take the steps necessary to preserve our union, or worse, causes a constitutional crisis, we’re at a moment of maximum danger for our republic,” said Cheney.