House Jan. 6 committee announces next hearing date; expected to focus on who was in Capitol mob

(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 on Tuesday announced its next hearing: July 12 beginning at 1 p.m. ET.

The panel has been holding a series of public hearings since last month related to its year-long inquiry into the events before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.

It has not yet been announced who will be testifying on July 12. The past hearings have stretched for several hours. The committee initially said the hearing would start at 10 a.m. ET but on Sunday announced the updated start time.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the panel, indicated earlier this month that the next hearing would focus on the formation of the mob that ultimately descended on the Capitol last year, including the participation of several far-right groups.

“Who was participating, who was financing it, how it was organized, including the participation of these white nationalist groups like the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, and others,” Schiff said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who served as the lead impeachment manager for the House proceedings against then-President Donald Trump after the insurrection, is anticipated to play a large role.

The last hearing featured lengthy testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump’s last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.

Hutchinson’s appearance sparked days of criticism of Trump — including from other conservatives — after she testified that the former president was aware that attendees of his speech at the Ellipse earlier on Jan. 6 were armed before he asked for security measures to be reduced and ultimately urged them to march to the Capitol. Hutchinson also testified that when the Secret Service would not take Trump to the Capitol after his speech, he lunged for the steering wheel of his SUV and then at the neck of a Secret Service agent.

Trump adamantly denied her account. The Secret Service said it would cooperate fully with the panel, “including by responding on the record,” if investigators had any follow up questions over the alleged incident.

Other hearings the committee has held have focused on the Capitol insurrection itself; on Trump allies’ awareness that his voter fraud claims were false; and on the pressure campaign by Trump and those in his orbit to push states to not certify now-President Joe Biden’s win.

In her testimony last week, Hutchinson said she had heard chatter about the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — two prominent far-right groups — in the days leading up to Trump’s speech at the Ellipse. She said that Rudy Giuliani, who was then Trump’s personal lawyer, was frequently seen around the White House at the same time.

Leaders of both the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy over the groups’ roles in last year’s riot.

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