Next Jan. 6 hearing will see testimony from former White House aides to Trump: reports – National
Two former White House aides are expected to testify at the House January 6 committee rush hour hearing on Thursday as the committee examines what Donald Trump did when his supporters broke into the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the plan.
Matthew Pottinger, a former deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, a former press assistant, are expected to testify, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and requested anonymity. Both Pottinger and Matthews resigned shortly after the January 6, 2021 attacks, which disrupted congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
CNN and New York Times also confirmed the appearance of Pottinger and Matthews, citing multiple sources.
Two witnesses will add to the committee’s narrative during the eighth, and possibly final, hearing this summer. The primetime hearing will detail what Trump did – or didn’t do – during the few hours that day when his supporters beat up police officers and broke into the Capitol.
Previous hearings detailed the chaos in the White House and aides and outsiders begged the president to tell the rioters to leave. But he waited more than three hours to do so, and there are still many unanswered questions about what exactly he was doing and saying when the violence unfolded.
A spokesman for the committee declined to comment. CNN was the first to report the identities of the witnesses on Thursday.
Lawmakers on the nine-member panel said the hearing would provide the most convincing evidence yet of Trump’s “disarming duty” that day, with witnesses detailing his inability to prevent angry mobs.
“We filled in the blanks,” Representative Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the House committee investigating the riots who will help lead Thursday’s session, said Sunday. Japan. “This will open people’s eyes.”
“The president doesn’t do much but happily watch television during this time frame,” he added.
During its year-long investigation, the jury uncovered several details regarding what the former president did when a rioting mob broke into the Capitol complex. Testimony and documents reveal that those closest to Trump, including his allies in Congress, Fox News and even his children, tried to persuade him to call the crowd. or issue a statement calling for the rioters to go home.
At one point, according to testimony, Ivanka Trump personally went to her father to beg him when the people around could not get through. All those efforts were unsuccessful.
Thursday’s hearing will be the first in prime time since the June 9 premiere, which is estimated to be watched by 20 million people.
The hearing comes nearly a week after committee members received a closed-door briefing from the Department of Homeland Security watchdog after discovering that Secret Service deleted text messages was sent and received around January 6. Soon after, the commission subpoenaed the agency, seeking all relevant electronic communications from agents around the time of the attack. The deadline for the Secret Service to respond is Tuesday.
Committee member Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., told The Associated Press on Monday that the Secret Service had informed them that it would turn over the records as required by the subpoena.
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