Jan 6 Committee: Thursday primetime hearing to focus on Trump's actions as riot unfolded
Thursday’s hearing is expected to take an in-depth look at what former President Trump was doing in the White House as violence was erupting at the Capitol building on January 6. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who is one of two members leading the hearing, said he expects it will “open people’s eyes in a big way.”
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Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews testified that she decided to resign after seeing Trump's video message to supporters.
"I was struck by the fact that he chose to begin the video by pushing the lie that there was a stolen election," Matthews said. "And as the video went on, I felt a small sense of relief because he finally told these people to go home, but that was immediately followed up by him saying, 'We love you. You're very special.' And that was disturbing to me because he didn't distinguish between those that peacefully attended his speech earlier that day and those that we watched cause violence at the Capitol."
Matthews added, "I knew that I would be resigning that evening, and so I finished out the work day, went home and called my loved ones to tell them of my decision, and resigned that evening."
Former Trump Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger said he resigned over a tweet slamming Vice President Pence during the Capitol Hill riot.
"Mr. Pottinger, you made the decision to resign after seeing this tweet. Can you please tell us why?" Rep. Luria asked Pottinger on Thursday.
"Yes," Pottinger said. "One of my aides handed me a sheet of paper that contained the tweet that you just read. I read it and was quite disturbed by it. I was disturbed and worried to see that the president was attacking Vice President Pence for doing his constitutional duty. So the tweet looked to me like the opposite of what what we really needed at that moment, which was a de-escalation. And that's why I said earlier that it looked like fuel being poured on the fire. So that was the moment that I decided that I was going to resign, that that would be my last day at the White House."
Trump's tweet called out Pence for a lack of "courage."
"Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!" Trump tweeted.
"They truly latch on to every word in every tweet that he says," former deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews testified. "And so I think that in that moment, for him to tweet out the message about Mike Pence, it was him pouring gasoline on the fire and making it much worse."
"Members of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives," an unidentified security professional who worked at the White House complex testified. "There was a lot of yelling. There were a lot of very personal calls over the radio. It was disturbing I don't like talking about it."
The man added that calls were made by the VP detail to "say goodbye to family" because things were "getting ugly."
"I think I was pretty clear," former Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone testified. "You need an immediate and forceful response statement. public statement that people need to lead the capitol"
When asked if he was "pushing" for a strong public response from Trump as the Capitol was being stormed, Cipollone said, "I was and others were as well."
"So your advice was tell people to leave the Capitol, and that took over two hours when there were subsequent statements made, tweets put forth, that in your view were insufficient. Did you continue up until 4:17 continue, you and others, to push for a stronger statement?"
"Yes," Cipollone said.
"Were you joined in that effort by Ivanka Trump?"
"Yes," Cipollone repeated.
The committee played testimony from Sergeant Mark Robinson of the D.C. Police Department who claimed he was told by another officer in the motorcade that there was a "heated argument" between Trump and his detail about going to the Capitol.
The testimony comes after former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony claiming that the argument turned into a physical altercation. Robinson's account did not mention any violence between Trump and his detail..
Hutchinson's account has been vehemently denied by Trump and his surrogates.
"Her Fake story that I tried to grab the steering wheel of the White House Limousine in order to steer it to the Capitol Building is 'sick' and fraudulent, very much like the Unselect Committee itself - Wouldn’t even have been possible to do such a ridiculous thing. Her story of me throwing food is also false…and why would SHE have to clean it up, I hardly knew who she was?" Trump posted on Truth Social.
Last month, it was reported that two Secret Service agents are prepared to testify before Congress that Trump did not lunge at a steering wheel or assault them in an attempt to go to the Capitol.
"Here's what will be clear by the end of this hearing," Rep. Kinzinger said. "President Trump did not fail to act during the one hundred and eighty seven minutes between leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home. He chose not to act."
Kinzinger claimed that Trump's "plan for January 6th was to halt or delay Congress's official proceeding to count the votes."
"Attacking the Capitol quickly caused the evacuation of both the House and the Senate," Kinzinger said. "The count ground to an absolute halt and was ultimately delayed for hours. The mob was accomplishing President Trump's purpose. So, of course, he didn't intervene."
Rep. Thompson said during Thursday's hearing that the committee will reconvene in September leading up to the midterms in November.
"As we made clear throughout these hearings, our investigation goes forward," Rep. Thompson said. "We continue to receive new information every day. We continue to hear from witnesses. We will reconvene in September to continue laying out our findings to the American people."
Thursday's hearing was the last scheduled hearing for the committee.
Rep. Cheney said the committee will continue to work through August to gather evidence and says the panel has "considerably more to do."
"He tried to destroy our democratic institutions," Rep Thompson said in his opening statement, before previewing what was to come in Thursday's hearing.
"This evening, my colleagues, Mr. Kinzinger of Illinois and Ms. Luria of Virginia, will take you inside what the White House was doing those one hundred and eighty seven minutes," Thompson continued. "We will also remind you of what was happening at the Capitol minute by minute. as the final, violent, tragic part of Donald Trump's scheme to cling to power unravel while he ignored his advisers, stood by and watched it unfold on television that offer a final thought about the select committee's work so far."
Thursday's primetime hearing will begin at 8 P.M. ET and is expected to focus on former President Donald Trump's minute-by-minute movements during the Capitol Hill riot.
The panel has already revealed some of the Trump evidence in previous hearings, showing clips of multiple White House aides who tried to pressure the president to act, or to publicly call on the rioters to leave, as he watched television in a West Wing dining room.
But there are still questions about what the president was doing, especially because official White House records of Trump’s phone calls included an eight-hour gap, from a little after 11 that morning to about 7 that evening.
Two former White House aides who resigned immediately after the insurrection will testify at the hearing. Former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews and former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger will talk about what they saw and heard in the White House as the riot unfolded.
Associated Press contributed to this post
Fox News Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram covers the anticipated Thursday January 6th committee hearing, including lost secret service text messages and unplanned off-script remarks by former President Trump on 'Special Report.'
The U.S. Secret Service is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security related to the deletion of text messages related to the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot, a source confirmed to Fox News.
Fox News learned Thursday evening through a source aware of the probe that the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General is criminally investigating the Secret Service over the deleted texts.
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