What to Know in Washington: Jan. 6 Hearing to Focus on Trump

The House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol will use what will likely be its last public hearing to reinforce its case that Donald Trump played a central role in instigating the assault, and provide a deeper look into the president’s state of mind that day, a panel aide said.

After eight televised sessions that produced startling revelations about Trump’s last months in the White House, the hearing on Thursday will primarily offer a broader look at his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and how they led to the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, added the aide, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

The hearing, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., will include a great deal of new evidence buttressing the case, though no witnesses will testify live during the proceedings, according to the aide.

Al Drago/Bloomberg

A video of former President Donald Trump played on a screen during a hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. in July 2022.

The committee has obtained thousands of internal Secret Service communications since its last hearing on July 21. The documents could allow the panel to corroborate some of the most sensational accounts of Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6, including staff members’ testimony that he was warned in advance of the potential for violence and was infuriated when agents refused to take him to the Capitol to join demonstrators there.

The panel also may present material from an interview conducted Sept. 29 with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The committee’s interest in Thomas came after emails surfaced from John Eastman, a lawyer advising Trump, showed her advocacy for the campaign to prevent Joe Biden from taking office. She also pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to pursue such efforts, and state officials to overturn Biden’s victory in Wisconsin, as well as in Arizona.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, has said the hearing may be the panel’s last, though it intend to release a final report before this session of Congress ends in January. Read more from Mike Dorning and Billy House.

Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of the committee’s members, plans to stump for Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) challenger Evan McMullin (I) in Salt Lake City on Oct. 20, McMullin’s campaign announced yesterday, Zach C. Cohen reports. McMullin, who sought the presidency in 2016, is one of the dozen candidates for federal and state office that Kinzinger recently endorsed for their commitment to “defending democracy.”

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Join Our Oct. 19 Election Webinar : Bloomberg Government’s election guru, Greg Giroux, will be providing a high-level update on the midterm elections and will take your questions on our Oct. 19 webinar. Register here .

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Around the Administration

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With assistance from Zach C. Cohen

To contact the reporter on this story: Michaela Ross in Washington at mross@bgov.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Small at asmall@bgov.com