The US House of Representatives panel investigating the 2021 assault on the US Capitol began outlining its findings in a prime-time televised hearing on Thursday, releasing new information that handed responsibility for the insurrection to former president Donald Trump and his supporters in what amounted to a "coup" attempt.
The first of six live hearings began with committee chairman Bennie Thompson outlining the basic duties of the committee over the past year and their goals: To defend and uphold the constitution of the United States, "from all enemies, foreign and domestic".
"Donald Trump lost the presidential election in 2020," Mr Thompson said. "The American people voted him out of office. It was not because of the rigged system. It was not because of voter fraud."
The committee will show that the violence was part of a broader conspiracy by Mr Trump and his inner circle to illegitimately hold on to power, the panel chair said.
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US Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards told a US House of Representatives panel investigating the 2021 assault on the Capitol that she saw fellow officers and 'friends' bleeding, and that the scene resembled a war zone. Reuters -
Former attorney general William Barr speaks during a video deposition, in which he described stolen election claims as false. AP -
Former White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump said she trusted Mr Barr's assessment regarding the election. AP -
Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said he thought staffers threatening to resign after January 6 were 'whining'. Reuters -
Filmmaker Nick Quested listens as Ms Edwards speaks during the hearing. Bloomberg -
Mr Quested has footage that has never been seen before of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers before and during the riot. Bloomberg -
Ms Edwards was knocked to the ground, hit with pepper-spray and suffered numerous injuries, including a concussion. AP -
Sandra Garza, the long-time partner of Capitol Hill police officer Brian Sicknick who died shortly after the attack, sits with Capitol police Sgt Harry Dunn. AP -
Serena Liebengood, the widow of Capitol police officer Howie Liebengood, reacts to the hearing. Reuters -
A tweet of former US president Donald Trump claiming voter fraud is displayed during the hearing. Reuters -
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon appears on screen. AFP -
US Congressman Bennie Thompson is the chairman of the select committee. AFP -
An image of Greg Jacob, who served as chief counsel to former US vice president Mike Pence, appears on a screen as Republican party representative Liz Cheney delivers her opening remarks. EPA -
Ms Cheney is serving as Mr Thompson's deputy on the committee. AP
"January 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup -- a brazen attempt, as one rioter put it shortly after January 6 -- to overthrow the government," Mr Thompson said.
The panel's carefully produced presentation made use of testimony given behind closed doors by some of Mr Trump's most senior and trusted advisers, including former attorney general William Barr and Mr Trump's son-in-law and senior aide, Jared Kushner.
"I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen," Mr Barr said.
Mr Thompson said January 6 and the "lies" that led to the insurrection put two-and-a-half centuries of American constitutional democracy at risk.
"The world is watching what we do here. America has long been expected to be a shining city on a hill. A beacon of hope and freedom. A model for others — when we’re at our best," he said.
“How can we play that role when our own house is in such disorder? We must confront the truth with candour, resolve and determination."
He was accompanied by the full House select committee comprising Democrats Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin, Zoe Lofgren, Elena Luria, Pete Aguilar and Stephanie Murphy, and Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
As she laid out what the hearings would show, Ms Cheney recounted how Mr Barr told Mr Trump that his allegations about faulty voting machines were groundless.
Mr Barr said he saw "absolutely zero basis for the allegations", but that they were made in such an incendiary way that people started believing it.
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Members of the Proud Boys storming the US Capitol on January 6. AFP -
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington on January 6. AFP -
Proud Boys march with demonstrators during a protest against the Covid-19 vaccine in New York. AFP -
Members of the far-right Proud Boys, including leader Henry 'Enrique' Tarrio, rally in support of former president Donald Trump. Reuters -
A leader of the Proud Boys and four other members of the far-right group were indicted on sedition charges on June 6, 2022, in connection with the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. AFP -
Tarrio faces charges related to the failed attempt by Trump supporters to block Democrat Joe Biden's election victory. AFP -
A British filmmaker followed Tarrio as part of a documentary film. AFP -
Tarrio holds an American flag during a protest. AFP -
Proud Boys gather on the National Mall in Washington. Reuters -
Tarrio speaks to the media following his release from the DC Central Detention Facility where he had been held since September 2021. Reuters -
Proud Boys gather outside the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting at the George R Brown Convention Centre in Houston, Texas. AFP -
Proud Boys gather outside the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting in Houston after the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting. AFP -
The National Rifle Association convention took place right after the massacre of 19 children at a Texas primary school. The Proud Boys showed up to support the organisation. AFP
"They obviously were influencing a lot of people, members of the public, that there was just systemic corruption in the system and that their votes didn't count and that these machines controlled by somebody else were actually determining it, which was complete nonsense," Mr Barr said.
In a recorded deposition, Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka said Mr Barr's assessment directly affected her views of the voter fraud claims.
"I respect Attorney General Barr," said Ms Trump. "So I accepted what he was saying."
However, her husband and former adviser to her father, Mr Kushner, told the committee he was more concerned with granting last-minute pardons and was not concerned that White House counsel Pat Cipollone was threatening to resign.
"The team are always saying. 'Oh, we're going to resign. We're not going to be here if this happens, if that happens,' so I kind of took it up to just be whining to be honest with you," Mr Kushner said in his taped interview.
Republicans chose to censure Ms Cheney and Mr Kinzinger in February for their participation and earlier on Thursday, Congressman Kevin McCarthy called the panel "the most political and least legitimate committee in American history".
Former US Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards and British filmmaker Nick Quested also appeared before the committee.
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Donald Trump, the president at the time, speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as president in Washington on January 6, 2021. AP -
A mob loyal to Mr Trump tries to break through a police barrier at the Capitol. AP -
The mob waves pro-Trump flags in front of the Capitol building. AP -
Riot police push back a crowd of rioters at the Capitol building. AFP -
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol building. AFP -
Insurrectionists loyal to Mr Trump try to open a door of the US Capitol building as they riot in Washington. AP -
US Capitol Police push back rioters trying to enter the US Capitol. AP -
Police and rioters confront each other in the Rotunda of the Capitol. US Capitol Police via AP -
Smoke fills the hallway outside the Senate chamber of the Capitol. AP -
Insurrectionists loyal to Mr Trump breach the Capitol in Washington. AP -
Trump supporters, including Doug Jensen, centre, confront US Capitol Police in the hallway outside the Senate chamber at the Capitol. AP -
Newly installed razor wire tops the fence surrounding the US Capitol following the January 6 riot. Reuters -
Security agents and members of Congress barricade the door to the House chamber as the violent mob breaches the Capitol. AP -
Rioter Jacob Chansley holds a sign referencing QAnon as supporters of Mr Trump gather to protest the early results of the 2020 presidential election. Reuters
Ms Edwards was the first officer to be injured as rioters took over the Capitol building, according to the committee. She suffered a concussion and other injuries and has yet to return to service.
After thanking her for her service, Ms Cheney showed a clip of rioters knocking her to the ground and then pepper-spraying her in the face.
"I felt the bike rack come down on the top of my head ... and the back of my head caught the concrete stairs," Ms Edwards.
She described the melee as "a war scene".
“I couldn't believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground. I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood,” Ms Edwards said. “I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage. It was chaos.”
Quested had been following the extremist Trump-supporting group the Proud Boys in the months leading up to January 6, 2021, and was with leader Henry Tarrio the night before.
Never-before-seen footage shot by the filmmaker showed Tarrio meeting with the leaders of the Oath Keepers was shown and Quested testified that he thought he would be filming just another rally.
"We arrived at the mall and observed a large contingent of Proud Boys marching towards the Capitol," Quested said. "I documented the crowd turn from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists."
He said that he was surprised at the size of the group, their anger and the profanity.
"For anyone who didn't understand how violent that event was, I saw it. I documented it and I experienced it. I heard incredibly aggressive chanting and I subsequently shared that footage with the authorities," he said.
Ms Cheney reminded the gallery that after many hours of violence, Mr Trump told the rioters, "Go home ... we love you, you're very special."
The committee then played a “teaser” clip of former vice president Mike Pence speaking at the Federalist Society in February, signalling evidence yet to come.
“President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” Mr Pence told the group. “The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion than any one person could choose the American president.”
The case the committee plans to make is that Mr Trump laid the groundwork for the insurrection through two months of debunked claims of fraud in an election described by his own administration as the most secure in history.
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Oath Keepers militia founder Stewart Rhodes in Eureka, Montana. Reuters -
The founder of the far-right group Oath Keepers and 10 others were indicted for seditious conspiracy in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol. AFP -
Henry Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers' founder Rhodes met in a car park on the evening before their groups attacked the US Capitol. Saboteur Media / Reuters -
Members of the Oath Keepers militia group occupy the steps of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Reuters -
Members of the Oath Keepers at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. AP -
Rhodes uses a radio as he departs with volunteers from a rally held by former president Donald Trump in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Reuters -
Rhodes speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington in June 2017. AP -
Rhodes appears in a detention hearing by a federal court to face seditious conspiracy charges relating to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Reuters -
The interim president of the Oath Keepers, Kelly SoRelle, speaks after Rhodes was taken to a federal court to face seditious conspiracy charges. Reuters -
Rhodes and other members cheer as they listen to Donald Trump Jr address a rally in El Paso, Texas, in February 2019. AFP -
A man in an Oath Keepers shirt stands outside the Kenosha County Courthouse in Wisconsin, the day Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges after pleading self-defence in the Kenosha shootings. AP -
The criminal complaint with the arrest warrant for Oath Keeper member James Beeks. AP -
Alaska state representative David Eastman admitted to being a member of the Oath Keepers militia. AP
His White House is accused of involvement in potentially illegal schemes to aid the effort, including a plot to seize voting machines and another to appoint fake “alternative electors” from swing states, who would ignore the will of their voters and hand victory to Mr Trump.
“We will be revealing new details showing that the violence of January 6 was the result of a co-ordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and stop the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden,” a select committee aide said.
“And, indeed, that former president Donald Trump was at the centre of that effort.”
Thursday’s opening also focused on the far-right Proud Boys group as they breached the building.
Some of the group’s leaders have been charged with seditious conspiracy.
Committee officials said the excerpts from their recorded depositions were among previously unseen material the panel has gathered and they provide new details on the lead-up to the attack and the riot itself.
