Capitol riot: Hearing to focus on Trump's response on 6 January
- Published
Trump supporters at the US Capitol during the 6 January riot
A congressional panel investigating last year's Capitol riot is expected to argue that Donald Trump did nothing to rein in the mob of his supporters over 187 perilous minutes.
The televised public hearing on Thursday is the eighth in a series aimed at investigating the riot and determining culpability.
Two former Trump White House insiders - deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews and deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger - are expected to testify.
The panel is also expected to show videotaped testimony from other officials in Mr Trump's administration to detail what the ex-president was doing during the riot and make the case that he refused to take decisive action to stop it.
Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing and has characterised the committee's investigation as a political witch hunt.
The BBC website will have live updates from the hearing, which begins at 20:00 local time (00:00 GMT).
What's likely to happen?
The hearing will largely focus on a period of just over three hours between when Mr Trump finished speaking at a "Stop the Steal" rally at around 13:00 local time until he released a videotaped message to his supporters at 16:17 in which he asked them to leave the Capitol.
Members of the committee have publicly accused Mr Trump of doing nothing to stop the riot, potentially putting lawmakers - and his own Vice-President, Mike Pence - in harm's way.
"We have accounts from people who observed him," one of the panel's members, Virginia Democrat Elaine Luria, was quoted as saying in the New York Times. "There was no concern, anger, distress. He wasn't upset by it."
Although the committee has not commented on tonight's witnesses, they are reportedly planning to include both Mr Pottinger and Ms Matthews. Both resigned immediately following the riot.
In addition to hearing from witnesses, the panel also plans to show outtakes from a video Trump recorded on 7 January in which he seemed to have difficulties condemning the riot.
What has the committee revealed so far?
Over the course of seven hearings during the summer, the panel has sought to connect Mr Trump's repeated - and baseless - claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him to the events of 6 January. They have accused him of an attempted coup to remain in power.
To do so, the panel has leaned heavily on members of Mr Trump's own administration and political allies, which have so far ranged from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone to daughter Ivanka Trump, who told the panel she had accepted the conclusion that there was no evidence of fraud.
One witness, former Attorney General Bill Barr, testified that he at one point feared Mr Trump was "detached from reality".
The panel has also sought to portray Mr Trump's tweets to supporters as a "siren call" to rioters ahead of 6 January.
Donald Trump at the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the riot
What has Donald Trump said about the 6 January hearings?
The former president has previously dismissed the work of the 6 January hearings, writing in June that the committee is "illegally-constituted" and "a kangaroo court".
Ahead of the committee's last hearing on 12 July, Mr Trump accused the committee of unfairly targeting him and dismissed past witness testimonies as "fake and made up stories".
He also repeated his claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, saying that "there is massive and incontestable evidence and proof".
When is the next hearing scheduled?
At the moment, no further committee hearings have been scheduled.
The panel's members, however, have said that they plan to continue their investigation. More hearings are likely in the future.
"This investigation is not winding down," committee member Adam Kinzinger told CBS earlier this week. "We may be towards the end of this tranche of hearings, [but] we may have more hearings in the future and the investigation is still ongoing."
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