United States: Key takeaways from Capitol riot hearing by House Select Committee

After close to 18 months since the siege of the Capitol building by the pro-Trump MAGA supporters, who attempted to disrupt the presidential election process, the congressional hearing into the riots and storming of the premises on January 6, 2021 made headlines on Thursday evening. The House Select Committee tasked with investigating the Capitol riots presented its findings as it probed the circumstances that led to the compromise of the law and order, and jeopardised the safety of the political and administrative officials.

Both Democrats - and the two Republicans on the committee insisted that it was more than important to unravel the events that led to the fateful day of the breach of American democracy. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Republican Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming will present evidence over the next few weeks. The hearings schedule has been officially announced which is:

• Thursday, June 9, at 8 p.m. ET
• Monday, June 13, at 10 a.m. ET
• Wednesday, June 15, at 10 a.m. ET
• Thursday, June 16, at 1 p.m. ET

Some of the key takeaways from the event

A case against ex-Republican leader Donald Trump

A case was made against the former Republican President Donald Trump for ‘summoning rioters’ as he made provocative speeches that eventually led to the siege of the Capitol. Trump was accused by Thompson of being “at the center” of a coordinated effort as he sought to flip Democrat President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. The committee said the ex-president hurled the "election fraud" narrative for weeks that provoked the violence at the Capitol from largely his supporters. 

“President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” Republican Vice-Chair Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said. The nine-member committee then played new footage as evidence from the day of the attack. The government building had turned to a “warzone,” Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards said. “It was carnage. It was chaos,” she said. “It was just hours of hand-to-hand combat, hours of dealing with things that were way beyond any law enforcement officer has ever trained for.”

Vice-Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., previewed all seven hearings which the committee will hold. She said more evidence will be presented of a “sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election” by former President Donald Trump. Trump criticised the committee on Twitter for only bringing "negative footage" and hiding “the many positive witnesses and statements." 

Subversion of transfer of power to Joe Biden

Donald Trump "intentionally subverted" the peaceful transfer of power to the Democratic presidential winner Joe Biden as the then-president was indulged in spreading false information and unsubstantiated "election steal" narratives, the committee seeks to prove. Committee vice-chair Liz Cheney played a video of an election official as evidence, testifying that the results of the election were valid. Trump's political action committee Save America PAC spent $500,000 on Capitol ads slamming the House select committee and accusing Biden of “failing badly” on numerous hot-button political issues and therefore launching another "partisan witch hunt.”

Video clips & documentary evidence

Unlike the congressional event where the members give testimonies on the microphone, the committee focused on the visual evidence and eyewitness account by playing the video clips gathered from the scenes during the Capitol riots on Jan 6, 2021. "We will show you" expository statements, Rep Cheney said. Footages presented as the evidence included security and police body camera recordings, and these were interspersed with Trump's speech excerpts and tweets before his account was placed on suspension indefinitely. The committee observed silence for families of police officers who died that day defending the Capitol. Pointing at the videos, Republican vice-chair of the panel said that Trump “lit the flame of this attack”.

Focus on Ivanka and Jared Kushner's role 

For the first time, the role of Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, and son Donald Trump Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner - has been highlighted in the Jan 6 Capitol riots as footage were played in front of the committee. Their stance on Trump's unfounded election fraud claims were made public. Ivanka was heard saying that she had "no reason to doubt" then-Attorney General Bill Barr who constantly claimed that her father had lost the election. Kushner rejected the threats of Trump's legal team that said will quit in protest for all his illegal and unfounded election "whining". Eldest Trump son remained absent. 

Eyewitnesses' account 

The committee presented just two in-person testimonies as the credible "eyewitness" account. Documentary filmmaker Nick Quested and Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards who was on duty when the riots broke out, explained how mostly Trump supporters--the far-right Proud Boys and other alt-right groups stormed into the Capitol. Officer Edwards narrated his personal account in the second half of the proceeding. She told the committee how the Proud Boys had breached the security with assault rifles and had knocked her over. She had hit her head on a concrete step and lost consciousness. 

"What I saw was a war scene, like something I had seen out of the movies," she said. "I couldn't believe my eyes. Officers on the ground bleeding and throwing up... It was carnage. It was chaos."