Laying bare Trump’s coup attempt, Jan. 6 hearings demanded we not look away

Viewers who tuned in Thursday to the first night of public hearings by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection were not given Washington political theater as usual. Cheney said that Trump had a seven-part plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election and promised the American public watching at home that “you will see evidence of each element of this plan.” Politics Full coverage of Jan. 6 committee hearings A series of congressional hearings about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have been televised. “And aware of the rioters’ chants to hang Mike Pence, the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Maybe our supporters have the right idea.’ Mike Pence, quote, ‘deserves it.’” With a large screen hanging over the room that read, “Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” Thompson made the committee’s goal clear within the first 15 minutes of the hearing: “Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy,” he said, seated at a long wooden dais with eight other members. Politics Key moments from Jan. 6 House hearing During the two-hour televised event, the committee shared unseen footage of Trump allies contesting the former president’s unfounded assertion that the 2020 election was stolen. In the final two public hearings, Cheney promised Americans that they’d hear how Trump “summoned a violent mob and directed them illegally to march on the U.S. Capitol.” She stressed that the investigation is still ongoing and the committee was still working with witnesses.