I
t’s been 17 months since a pro–donald trump
mob attacked the U.S. Capitol to block Congress
from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. Since
then, scores of prominent Republicans, including
Trump, have downplayed the deadly event, referring to it
as merely “a debate about election integrity” or an “insur-
rection hoax.”
Over six televised hearings in June, the House Se-
lect Committee investigating the attack intends to re-
fute those dismissals in dramatic fashion. By providing
the most comprehensive accounting of that day and the
weeks leading up to it, committee members aim to make
an unassailable case that there was an orchestrated con-
spiracy behind the worst attack on the Capitol since the
War of 1812. And by organizing the events with an eye to
audience—complete with prime-time slots for two of the
hearings—they hope to engage
even those who feel the country
should move on.
“To my mind, it is absolutely
riveting,” Jamie Raskin, a Demo-
cratic Representative for Mary-
land, tells TIME of the plans
for the hearings, which will in-
clude both live and taped testi-
mony from members of Trump’s
inner circle, including at least
one of his children. “Because it
is a story of the greatest politi-
cal crime ever attempted by an
American President against his
own government.”
The assault on Jan. 6, 2021,
left several people dead, includ-
ing four police officers who
took their own lives after the
attack. Dozens of additional
law- enforcement officers were
injured. Members of Congress
from both parties have said they
feared for their lives. The event
led the House to impeach Trump for a second time during
his last days in office. The Senate later acquitted him.
Since then, more than 800 people have been charged
for storming the Capitol, and nearly 300 have entered
guilty pleas. Hours of footage from the riot have become
public, fueling multiple documentaries.
Nonetheless, the hearings remain highly anticipated,
as the committee members have signaled they’ve saved
the most eye-opening and jaw-dropping information.
The proceedings are the culmination of 10 months of
work, including the collection of more than 130,
documents and testimony from more than 1,
witnesses, all of which gives the panel a chance to
advance the public’s understanding of Jan. 6 far
beyond what was unveiled during the impeachment
trial. “We’ve got a lot more material,” Pete Aguilar, a
Democratic Representative for California, tells TIME.
“They had days to collect information. We’ve had
months to gather evidence.”
Yet questions abound about what the tangible impact
might be: Will the Department of Justice follow up with
prosecutions of the former President and his confidants?
Will the hearings, and the committee’s subsequent report,
be regarded as the definitive historical record of what
happened?in many ways, the proceedings will test whether the
public still cares about that fateful day, or whether they are
too fatigued by the ongoing saga to unpack it. They will
also test whether anything can move most Republicans in
Congress beyond their current position that the assault on
the Capitol was simply a protest that got out of hand.
The nine-member committee includes just two
Republicans: Representatives
Liz Cheney of Wyoming and
Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
Both were among just 10 House
Republicans who voted for
Trump’s impeachment. They
have both paid a political price.
Cheney lost her leadership
position in the House GOP and
is in the midst of a bruising
primary fight. Kinzinger chose
to retire.
“People must pay attention,”
Cheney recently told CBS News.
“People must watch, and they
must understand how easily our
democratic system can unravel if
we don’t defend it.”
Stephanie Murphy, a Demo-
cratic Representative for Florida,
echoed other committee mem-
bers in insisting that the hear-
ings have the potential to change
hearts and minds.
“Think about it like a Net flix
or a documentary miniseries of sorts where, in one com-
pressed period of time, we’re telling a fulsome story, pull-
ing together all of those threads that have been coming
out drip, drip, drip, over the last year,” she says.
While the committee hasn’t released a full witness list,
people close to former Vice President Mike Pence are ex-
pected to testify, including advisers Greg Jacob, J. Michael
Luttig, and Marc Short. The committee is acutely aware
that conservative groups and personalities will try to dis-
credit findings that may implicate Trump or his allies. “I
expect them to counter program,” says Murphy, “but all of
the members also have a platform outside of the hearing
itself, to reinforce what was presented in the hearings and
to tell the American people the truth.”
That is part of why, Aguilar says, committee members
are keeping so much of the strategy around the hearings
close to the vest. “You’ll have to tune in to see.” THE BRIEF OPENER
‘It is a story of
the greatest
political
crime ever
attempted by
an American
President.’
—JAMIE RASKIN, DEMOCRATIC
REPRESENTATIVE FOR MARYLANDThe Brief is reported by Eloise Barry, Tara Law, Sanya Mansoor, Ciara Nugent, Billy Perrigo, Nik Popli, Olivia B. Waxman, and Julia Zorthian