Capitol Police officers faced brutality 18 months ago and the committee will dive into details about one of the gangs that led the violence on that dark day.
The hearings are unlikely to meet the high expectations of those who thought the committee would expose open-and-shut wrongdoing from some of the nation's top officials.
It's not possible for the committee to hold people accountable. Edward G. Caspar is an attorney who is representing injured and traumatized Capitol Police officers who are suing Trump.
There was a real tragedy on January 6.
The fact that committee leaders have used in discussing how Trump advanced a corrupt scheme to obstruct the counting of electoral college may make it seem surprising.
That doesn't mean there won't be consequences from the House's work in January. The committee has done the biggest data effort in the history of congressional investigations.
One of the biggest challenges for the panel's investigation is that it doesn't have the power to punish those responsible for the attack on the Capitol.
Legal scholars and activists have been calling for action on the Department of Justice. The real action could come from lawsuits like the one Conrad Smith and seven fellow Capitol Police officers filed in August against Trump, his campaign, Stop the Steal election denial movement organizers, and enforcer gangs like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
The committee is making a difference for America. They are like a three-legged stool when it comes to seeking accountability for those who were involved in the attack. It is possible for the committee to shine a light on the evidence and give it to the public. The others cannot do that.
There is a lot of that.
More than 1,000 witnesses have been interviewed and at least 140,000 documents have been collected, according to the panel. Attorneys working on cases against Trump are looking at ways to get evidence into a form that can be used in court. The witnesses who spoke to the committee were already sworn in.
McCarthy and Scalise say they won't be watching the first day.
In December, the D.C. Attorney General sued the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, as well as individual members of each militant group, and he will be watching the hearings to see what evidence comes out that will be helpful to his case.
The committee's first hearing will start at 8 pm. The Proud Boys were involved in the attack on the Capitol. A documentarian who was embedded with the Proud Boys and a Capitol Police officer who suffered a brain injury will testify.
At least as compelling as congressional hearings can be, the first public hearing should make for some compelling television. The Cannon Caucus room, which has Corinthian columns and ornate chandeliers, was chosen by the committee to accommodate more press but also to add an official feel to the proceedings.
The evidence revealed by the committee is likely to be a lot less detailed. There won't be any bombshells Thursday night. Prosecutors and attorneys may not need bombshells. They just need enough legal fodder to drag certain people in the former president's circle back into court.
The insurrection lawsuit that was brought by Eric Swalwell was dismissed by the U.S. District Judge.
Phil Andonian, one of the attorneys on Swalwell's legal team, thinks that new evidence might convince the judge that Swalwell bore some responsibility for the damage at the Capitol.
5 GOP Congressmen refused to give up their seats.
It was already known that the man who peddled all kinds of voter fraud claims was wearing a bulletproof vest.
The protesters were asked if they would do the same thing. Do you want to fight for America?
The committee obtained thousands of text messages from Trump's chief of staff and others that could implicate the congressman.
Whenever we get to that, this will be a good road map to discover. I'm interested in a lot of the players we've identified. The public information we had at the time we filed the lawsuit seems to show that Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump were more involved than we thought.
There were people in the campaign that were talking at the rally. As this information leaves, that's going to get stronger.
He expects his team to have to refile the lawsuit. Accountability would still be what they wanted.
The committee's supporters are aware of potential pitfalls.
Norm Eisen, an attorney and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who recently authored a report on the committee's role in saving the nation's Republic, said this week that the committee has already done the hard work of showing that Trump and his associates knowingly committed crimes. He admitted that some Americans might not like hearings.
John Eastman was ordered to give over a number of emails and documents to the committee.
It is a risk if it is not bipartisan. Liz Cheney is one of the most conservative members of the GOP caucus. They have hedged the risk of bipartisanship. The second risk is not having any new information.
Doug Jones, the former senator and federal prosecutor from Alabama, said that the committee needs to be cautious in its messaging right out of the gate so as to not taint its findings with the perception that it is driven solely by politics.
Jones said that the committee needs to be careful if they forget that they are fact finders. The American public should not think that this is an attack on Donald Trump. They are discovering things. Facts are going to speak for themselves. The dots are going to be connected.
The facts are still arriving.
John Eastman was ordered to turn over potentially damning documents by a district judge. The disgraced attorney who advised Trump on the ploy to remain in power was ordered to deliver his emails to the committee by 5 p The day is Wednesday.
The lawsuits against Trump's inner circle will only get worse if those emails are made public. Even if they are not, attorneys will still try to get them and expose them.
We will be able to hold these people accountable in a way that will inform the American public.
At The Daily Beast, you can read more.
Receive the Daily Beast's biggest scoops right to your inbox. Do you want to sign up now?
Gain unrestricted access to the Daily Beast's reporting. Do you want to subscribe now?
All Rights Reserved © 2024
