On Wednesday, writing for The Washington Post, reporter Aaron Blake detailed the five biggest issues, the House Select Committee on January 6 is likely to examine when it holds its final public hearing.
"Given that [this is the last hearing], and the fact that it’s been nearly three months since the last one — time the committee had to chase down a series of leads crucial to the central questions of the probe — it could be a significant one," wrote Blake.
The first key question is the extent to which former President Donald Trump was aware of the violence. Trump is already alleged by former administration aide Cassidy Hutchinson to have demanded the rioters be let into the complex because "they're not here to hurt me" — but as Blake noted, "A crucial question when it comes to assessing new evidence: How much does it reinforce that Trump personally was warned about violence in advance, and was urged to do something about it early on?"
The second question is who, if any, will testify against Hutchinson's claims that Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent who wouldn't take him to join the rioters — something Trump-allied Secret Service leader Tony Ornato denied, and said the agency would produce testimony against. And the third question is who else could be called as a witness: "Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) has promised 'significant witness testimony' we haven’t seen before, but the committee has been tight-lipped about what that might be. The hearing is not expected to include in-person, live witnesses."
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The fourth issue, wrote Blake, is what the documentary footage obtained by the committee will reveal about Trump ally Roger Stone: "The footage is expected to show Stone predicting violent clashes and alluding very early on to the idea that Trump would try to remain in power using armed guards and loyal judges. The committee will reportedly argue that this shows the plot to overturn the election on false pretenses was launched very early — even before the election was held." And finally, there is the issue of how Trump's associated political committees funded all this: "in late August, fellow committee member Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) suggested this could be a focal point moving forward, saying the committee’s work would focus on 'the cash and the potential cover-up.'"
All of this comes as the committee seeks to wrap up its work ahead of the midterm elections, where if Republicans take control of the House, they are considering either scrapping the committee or repurposing it to try to find reasons to blame current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for the attack.
