Jan. 6 hearing makes case Trump at 'center of this conspiracy' to overturn election
Thursday marked the House select committee's first prime-time hearing.
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held its first prime-time hearing on Thursday.
The hearing featured never-before-seen video footage and witness testimony as lawmakers aim to explain what they call a "coordinated, multi-step effort" by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Here is how the hearing unfolded:
- 'He called me there': Teasing next hearing, committee shows video of rioters voicing intent
- Historic hearing gavels out
- 'It was carnage': Capitol Police officer recounts 'slipping in people's blood'
- Video shows Capitol Police officer getting knocked unconscious
- Documentarian notes Proud Boys went to Capitol before Trump spoke
Biden calls Jan. 6 ‘flagrant violation of the Constitution’
President Joe Biden said a lot of Americans will learn new details about the Jan. 6 attack as lawmakers begin to reveal the findings of their 11-month investigation.
"One of the things that’s gonna occupy my country tonight, I suspect, is the first open hearings on January the 6th," Biden said as he sat down with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Summit of the Americas on Thursday afternoon.
"And as I said when it was occurring and subsequent, I think it was a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution," Biden continued. "I think these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election. And there's a lot of questions: who's responsible, who's involved?"
Hearing kicks off at 8 p.m.
Thursday's hearing, the first of six scheduled in June, is the culmination of an 11-month-long investigation by the House select committee.
The nine-member panel has collected more than 140,000 documents and 1,000 witness interviews throughout the course of the investigation, and members have promised to introduce never-before-seen videos and exhibits they say will shock the public.
ABC News Television Network will air special coverage of the hearing at 8 p.m. and ABC News Live will carry gavel-to-gavel coverage.
Cheney says Trump ‘lit the flame of this attack’
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney said Americans will learn new details about what Trump was doing before, during and after the attack at the Capitol in his effort to remain in power despite his 2020 election loss.
"Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power," she said.
The Wyoming Republican asserted Trump told his staff during the riot that it's what people "should be doing" and that he agreed with protesters urging violence against then-Vice President Mike Pence.
After the dust settled, Cheney said, Trump continued to ignore the statements from the Department of Justice, election officials and his own staff telling him the election result was legitimate.
"President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack," she said in her opening statement.