Jan. 6 hearing makes case Trump at 'center' of 'conspiracy' to overturn election

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the select committee, was the first member to arrive on Capitol Hill through the member entrance, according to an NBC pool reporter.

Asked how she was feeling, Cheney said, "Good, thank you," as she walked inside.

Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., the only other House Republican to accept a seat on the panel, have faced relentless attacks from within their caucus for their participation. Cheney was removed from her No. 3 House GOP leadership post last year, and both were formally censured by the Republican National Committee for choosing to investigate what it controversially called "legitimate political discourse."

Demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday ahead of the House select committee's first prime-time hearing of its Jan. 6 investigation.

Participants held signs reading, "Not above the law."

The panel is looking to explain what it calls a "coordinated, multi-step effort" by Trump and his supporters to overturn his 2020 election loss.

From legal action to name-calling, Trump continues to try to discredit the House select committee as the panel prepares to go public with its findings in prime time.

"January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again," Trump said in a string of posts hours ahead of the hearing on Truth Social, the social media platform his team launched after Twitter permanently suspended him in the wake of the Capitol siege "due to the risk of further incitement of violence."

Click here for more on how Trump has deployed an arsenal of rhetoric to recast what happened and undermine the investigation.

Three rioters convicted on federal charges for participating in the Capitol attack appeared in court just hours ahead of the prime-time event and asked for mercy before federal judges deciding their punishments.

"I made one mistake in my life and I have immediately took responsibility for it," said Michael Daughtry, a gun store owner and former police officer who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge this past March. "I apologize to the court for my indiscretion. But does a person not get to make at least one mistake in their entire life?"

The sentencing hearings just blocks away from the Capitol offer a noteworthy split-screen as lawmakers and their staff are in the midst of final preparations to put their investigation's findings on full display for the American people. Click here for more.

-ABC News' Alexander Mallin