OnPolitics: What’s new as House Jan. 6 committee resumes hearings Thursday?

Good afternoon, OnPolitics readers! Tomorrow, Thursday, hearings will resume from the White House committee investigating the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

I'm Bart Jansen, a Justice Department reporter who has covered investigations of former President Donald Trump from special counsel Robert Mueller through two impeachments to the Jan. 6 inquiry. We're catching you up on what's happened so far and what's next.

The committee hasn’t announced who will be testifying or what subjects the group will explore.

But tantalizing subjects left hanging after eight hearings in June and July include discussion among Cabinet members of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove former President Donald Trump from office, fake electors in states President Joe Biden won and Trump’s fundraising between the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot.

The hearing comes amid a flurry of activity related to Jan. 6.

Here's what's happening in addition to the hearing:

• The Senate is considering legislation aiming to remove a key strategy for Trump to overturn the 2020 election by overhauling the 1887 Electoral Count Act. The House passed a bill Sept. 21 that would reinforce the vice president’s role in counting Electoral College votes is strictly ceremonial and raise the threshold for challenging electors. The Senate Rules Committee approved a similar bill Sept. 27 and a floor debate is expected after the midterm election.

• The first trial on charges of seditious conspiracy against five members of the Oath Keepers, including founder Stewart Rhodes, is ongoing.

• Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, met with the committee. The session was held behind closed doors, where she repeated claims the 2020 election was fraudulent, but the committee has released testimony from other witnesses through videos or transcripts.

• The committee found the White House switchboard called one of the rioters on Jan. 6, according to a former staffer, intelligence officer and House member.

• Expect more news: A committee member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sept. 25 the committee hearing would “fill in those details that have come to the attention of the committee over the last five or six weeks.”

• A recent poll found a majority of Americans support a resumption of hearings, but a majority also said the hearings should "wrap up soon."

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ICYMI: Catch up on what you missed

Here’s a reminder of what we learned during the previous eight hearings:

• The hearing June 9 laid out what Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., called "a sophisticated, seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election." Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was among the first officers injured in the attack, painted a harrowing picture of the violence with officers bleeding on the ground and throwing up.

• The hearing June 13 revealed evidence Trump knew he lost the 2020 election but continued a disinformation campaign about the results regardless. Testimony from Trump allies, including former Attorney General Bill Barr, revealed that Trump's advisers told him that his election fraud claims were baseless, and that he ignored them.

• The hearing June 16 described how Trump and his allies pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to assist them in overturning election results in several key states. Greg Jacob, a lawyer and former chief legal counsel for Pence, said "it is unambiguous that the vice president does not have the authority to reject electors."

• At the hearing June 21, state election officials described the threats they received after Trump pressured them to help overturn the 2020 election. Shaye Moss, a registration official in Fulton County, Georgia, received social media attacks and death threats that turned her life upside down. Republican officials from Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania recounted a pressure campaign by Trump and his allies to flip the results from states supporting Biden, including directing thousands of supporters to direct calls toward their offices and homes.

• The hearing June 23 revealed how Trump leaned on Justice Department officials to pursue false claims of election fraud. Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, testified that Trump's message during meetings in December 2020 and January 2021 was the same: "Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen."

• The hearing June 28 featured former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson describing preparations for Jan. 6 and how Trump reacted as the riot unfolded. She testified she was told by a Secret Service official Trump wanted to join the mob at the Capitol, so he allegedly grabbed for the steering wheel of his vehicle before being driven back to the White House.

• The hearing July 12 focused on how Trump assembled the crowd for his "Stop the Steal" rally near the White House and then spurred the mob to the Capitol.

• At the hearing July 21, former White House aides Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger testified about Trump's inaction during riot. The committee played outtakes from a Trump video the next day in which he refused to say "the election's over."

➡️ What's next: The hearing begins at 1 p.m. ET Thursday. Check back with USATODAY.com for live coverage. --Bart

Now, to Amy Nakamura for more top stories out of Washington.

Real quick: stories you'll want to read.

• Shaping the "future of international order": China and Russia pose the biggest challenge to international peace and stability, the Biden administration said while formally laying out the president's national security strategy.

• Treasury investigating DeSantis: The federal Treasury Department is examining whether Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis improperly used COVID-19 aid to fund the transports of 50 migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.

• Putin's nuclear comments: Biden has said the world is now at the highest risk of nuclear "Armageddon" than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis due to Russian President Vladimir Putin's increasingly threatening language. Are Putin's Ukraine war setbacks pushing us closer to nuclear war?

🚨 What's next: Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the most endangered Democratic senator on the ballot on Nov. 8, holds the smallest of leads over Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: OnPolitics: Here's what to know about House Jan. 6 probe before hearing