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The Jan. 6 committee won't rule out more hearings this summer
New revelations, particularly in the wake of bombshell testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, have likely pushed the panel's conclusion to the fall.
House Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks to reporters after the committee’s hearing Tuesday.
WASHINGTON — House Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said Wednesday he hopes next week’s prime-time hearing will be the last in its series of high-profile televised presentations.
But Thompson, D-Miss., isn’t ruling out holding more this summer, saying new evidence uncovered by the committee could prompt additional surprise hearings like the one last month that featured key witness
Cassidy Hutchinson.
Asked whether he could promise that the July 21 public hearing — the panel’s eighth this year — will be the last, Thompson told reporters: “No, I can’t. I’m hoping it is, but something could come up, just like the Hutchinson situation that warranted what we felt was an immediate hearing.”
Another member, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., also would not rule out additional hearings this summer, saying, “It depends on where the evidence takes us.”
Aguilar and others investigating the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, view Hutchinson’s bombshell public testimony — that President Donald Trump knew the supporters he sent to the Capitol that day were armed, that he refused to act as rioters stormed the Capitol and that he approved of their chanting that they wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence — as a critical turning point in their yearlong inquiry that could lead to further revelations.
Panel members argue her damning, fly-on-the-wall testimony turned up the pressure on other Trump officials, compelling greater cooperation from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and perhaps others.
“The Cassidy Hutchinson piece was newsworthy and important,” Aguilar told NBC News on Wednesday, “and to the extent that that has led or will continue to lead to people coming forward and sharing what they know about Jan. 6, that will guide the decisions that we make” about future hearings.
Aguilar declined to get into details about whether any future hearings might come in August — when lawmakers typically leave Washington for vacations or the campaign trail — or in September. “That’s a lot of hypotheticals,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after Tuesday’s hearing, Thompson said the committee will soon need to shift from “hearing, fact-finding mode to producing a document to return to Congress.”
The final congressional report on Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, which culminated in the deadly attack on the Capitol, will come sometime in the "early fall," he said, in late September or October, before the November midterm elections.
And Thompson confirmed that the committee is likely to hold a public hearing when it releases the sweeping report, which is expected to include many details not covered in the hearings, as well as policy recommendations to try to prevent future disruptions in the peaceful transfer of power.
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The Jan. 6 committee won't rule out more hearings this summer (nbcnews.com)
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