House committee to examine Trump’s actions during Capitol attack

WASHINGTON: The House committee investigating the storming of the US Capitol by Donald Trump supporters wraps up its gripping public hearings on Thursday with a televised primetime finale dissecting the former president’s actions on the day.

"It’s pretty simple," said Congresswoman Elaine Luria, a member of the panel made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection.

"He was doing nothing to actually stop the riot," the Democratic lawmaker from Virginia said, despite "his advisers urging him continuously to take action." Luria told CNN the committee will examine Trump’s actions "minute by minute," starting with a fiery speech to his supporters near the White House claiming the November 2020 election was stolen to when he finally told the rioters they were "very special" but it was time to go home.

Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of the committee, released excerpts on Twitter of testimony from several White House aides who said Trump spent nearly three hours watching the attack unfold on television in a private dining room.

"Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help," said Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair. "For multiple hours, Donald Trump refused to intervene to stop it."

The Washington Post said the committee will present outtakes from a video Trump taped the next day in which the president refused to concede the election, resisted calls to condemn the violence and wanted to refer to the rioters as "patriots."

The panel has subpoenaed numerous advisors and aides to Trump as it seeks to determine whether he or his associates had a role in planning or encouraging the bid by his supporters to prevent certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

Thursday’s two-hour hearing in Washington, the committee’s eighth, will start at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT). It is expected to be the last one this summer, although the committee has not ruled out further sessions. The committee’s opening hearing was also held in primetime, when television audiences are largest.