January 6 Capitol attack updates | Caroline Edwards, insurrection, Committee schedule, arrests
January 6th Congressional hearings: 10 June
January 6th Congressional hearings: live stream
- First primetime hearing for the Select House Committee on January 6th was held on Thursday. What did the public learn?
- Who is Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards & what did she say during her testimony.
- The Select House Committee outline their goals for the public hearings.
- Members of the Trump family, including Ivanka, were interviewed by the House Committee members.
- Commanders coach Jack Del Riospeaks out about the Capitol riot
- Members have said that new information never before reveiledwill be presented.
Key Questions
- How are these hearings different from the Trump impeachment trial?
- Over a thousand witnesses have already testified behind closed doors. Who will testify at public hearings?
Watch below how the first hearings played out.
(WARNING: Video contains harsh language and violence)
The never before seen footage from the events on January 6th and the subsequent interviews conducted by the Select House Committee on January 6th were shocking to many. The next primetime hearing will take place on Monday 13 June at 9 PM ET.
The nation heard from officers who were injured as rioters stormed the Capitol buildings as well as members of former President Trumps inner circle who described in grim detail what was happening in the White House on January 6th 2021.
The House Select Committee on Investigating the January 6th insurrection has two audiences they are trying to reach. One is the wider American public and the other the US Justice Department.
Former President Trump had the disgrace of being the first person to hold the highest office in the United States to be impeached twice. Although both times he was acquitted by his Republican party in the Senate, the second time around saw a record number of his colleagues turn against him.
The House of Representatives impeached him for a second time for his part in whipping up a mob that attacked the US Capitol. The insurrectionists that day were trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history by preventing Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral win.
Eighteen months later, and after over ten months of evidence gathering, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th is presenting its findings to the American people. Although the proceedings will have no direct recourse on the former President, they plan to lay out the key facts so that the Justice Department can hold Trump and those that plotted with him to account.
It's important the American people understand what truly happened and to understand that the same forces that led January 6th remain at work today.
Caroline Edwards was one of the police on site that showed incredible bravery defending the Capitol during the January 6th 2020 riots. During the assault, she was injured when knocked down a flight of stairs. She was knocked unconcious and has yet to rejoin the unit she was with during the assault.
According to the committee, the 31-year old was the first officer injured during the riot.
You may have expected the Trump family to close ranks in the face of the pressure put onto former president Trump by the January 6 committee, but it has taken just a day for the alliance to be shattered. Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald, took part in the first day of its congressional investigations and argued in her deposition against the claims of election fraud posed by many in the Republican party.
Around two dozen members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been indicted on charges including seditious conspiracy after the US Capitol riot.
The FBI raided the Allendale, Michigan home of Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley and arrested him on misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021. Kelley was arraigned in federal court in Grand Rapids on Thursday hours before Congress is set to begin public hearings on those horrific events.
January 6 hearing: selected quotes
Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, from excerpts of his opening statement:
"We can't sweep what happened under the rug. The American people deserve answers. So I come before you this evening not as a Democrat, but as an American who swore an oath to defend the Constitution. The Constitution doesn't protect just Democrats or just Republicans. It protects all of us."
"So tonight, and over the next few weeks, we're going to remind you of the reality of what happened that day. But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger. The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over."
"January 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here."
Former Attorney General William Barr, by video:
"I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I call the bullshit. And, you know, I didn't want to be a part of it."
"We can't live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence that the election that there was fraud in the election."
U.S. Representative Liz Cheney:
"President Trump believed his supporters at the Capitol, and I quote, were doing what they should be doing. This is what he told his staff as they pleaded with him to call off the mob."
"On this point, there is no room for debate. Those who invaded our capital and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president. President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack."
"All Americans should keep ... in mind this fact, on the morning of January 6, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain President of the United States."
Ivanka Trump, former President Trump's daughter, in video testimony:
"I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying."
Whining
Unlike in 1814, it was domestic enemies of the Constitution who stormed the Capitol and occupied the Capitol, who sought to thwart the will of the people, to stop the transfer of power. And, so, they did at the encouragement of the President of the United States, the President of the United States trying to stop the transfer of power, a precedent that had stood for 220 years, even as our democracy had faced its most difficult test.
On the morning of January 6th, President Donald Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States, despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election and in violation of his Constitutional obligation to relinquish power.
I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he was saying.
Jan. 6 panel ready to lay out the key facts
The House select committee has spent the pass ten months investigating the insurrection that culminated in the US Capitol being breached by a mob of Trump supporters. 140 police officers were injured that day and it resulted in the death of five of them.
Democratic Representative Stephanie Murphy sits on the January 6th panel. She told GMA3 that the committee has boiled down the evidence collected so that they can present "a consumable narrative, to lay out the key facts."
A reminder of what January 6 2021 looked like ahead of House hearings
Adam Kinzinger is one of two Republicans on the January 6th House select committee which has been investigating the events that unfolded on that fateful day.
The committee was originally supposed to have eight Democrats and five Republicans but Speaker Nancy Pelosi objected to two of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's choices.
Representatives Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan were rejected by Pelosi on the grounds that the two vociferous supporters of Trump might affect “the integrity of the investigation.” McCarthy then refused to let any of the Republicans participate.
Kinzinger along with Liz Cheney, appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, agreed to join the panel. Both had voted in favor of impeaching former President Trump in his second impeachment trial for the events of 6 January.
Former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman, who previously served on the committee, has confirmed that the hearings will be “very concise” and will be used to communicate their findings with the public. Some of which has never been reveiled before.
The first public hearing of the January 6th House select committee is set to begin this week, starting at 8pm on Thursday 9 June. It will be the first opportunity for members of the panel to present their findings to the public and they have been given a prime-time slot.
Thursday’s hearing will be the first of six, but at this stage we know fairly little about the actual content. Although, there is speculation that some major names will be cited in their findings.
This week, the January 6th Committee starts sharing evidence of the chilling inside plan to overturn the 2020 election and block the constitutional transfer of power. America will see footage and records we have documenting the dangerous extremist assault on our constitutional order.
Jack Del Rio has sparked outrage after playing down the Capitol riot and suggesting the BLM movement should have been investigated
We took a look back at the events leading up to and after rioters invaded the US Capitol, ending in the deaths of five police officers.
As both chambers of Congress were in session to confirm the 2020 presidential election results, then-President Trump made one last desperate attempt to sabotage the transition of power to now, President Biden. Donald Trump tried to pressure Vice-President Mike Pence into tossing out certificates of the electoral votes when Congress met to certify the election results that fateful Wednesday.
Supporters of the President broke into the Houses of Congress as part of the 'Stop the Steal' rally that was the culmination of Trump's months-long attack on American democracy.
A federal judge found that the attempts by former President Donald Trump and his lawyer to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election probably constituted a federal crime.
Why isn't there a hearing in the Senate?
In a Senate vote on 28 May 2021 Republican lawmakers blocked the establishment of an independent commission into the 6 January insurrection. The Senate GOP used their filibuster power to prevent a full inquisition into the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol, which left five people dead.
As police worked to clear a pro-Trump rioters that stormed Capitol Hill as Congress was certifying the results of the 2020 election, President-elect Joe Biden addressed the nation from Wilmington, Delaware.
"At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times," Biden said.
Hello and welcome to AS USA
Eighteen months have passed since the US Capitol was attacked by supporters of former President Trump attempting to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. After ten months of evidence gathering, members of the House select committee investigating the horrific events of that infamous day and what led up to it are ready to present their findings to the American public.
The first of six public hearings will be held on Thursday 9 June, starting at 8 pm ET. Committee members will use the prime-time proceedings to set the stage for the subsequent hearings that will take place over the next couple weeks. It is expected that new revelations will be made that the public has never heard before.
In recent days there have been new revelations about former President Trump’s desire to go with the planned protest to the US Capitol and a last-minute rush by the Secret Service to make preparations. Also, that then-Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short warned the lead Secret Service agent on the Vice President’s detail on 5 January that there could be a threat to Pence.