Jan. 6 hearing: House select committee presents new evidence and dramatic video

The House select committee held its 10th and possibly final public hearing on Thursday, presenting new evidence stemming from its 15-month investigation into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The panel presented chilling, never-before-seen video footage of congressional leaders from both parties — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — sheltering in an undisclosed location as a violent mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed through the halls of Capitol.

Pelosi and Schumer are seen at the height of the violence calling various Trump administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, to ask for help from federal law enforcement.

The committee also presented new evidence and testimony showing that Trump had planned to declare victory regardless of the outcome months before election night, and that he was livid when the Supreme Court later rejected his challenge of the results.

In videotaped testimony, Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, said she witnessed Trump’s fury on the day the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.

According to Hutchinson, Trump “said something to the effect of, ‘I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out. We need to figure it out. I don’t want people to know that we lost.’”

The hearing concluded with the committee voting unanimously to subpoena Trump to testify.

“It is our obligation to seek Donald Trump’s testimony,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the panel's chairman, said. “Donald Trump is the one man at the center of [Jan. 6], so we want to hear from him. The committee needs to do everything in our power to tell the most complete story possible."

The committee has used the public hearings to shine a light on what Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., its co-chair, has called former President Donald Trump’s “sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the election and prevent the transfer of presidential power.”

Thursday’s hearing came less than one month away from the pivotal midterm elections in which many forecasters predict Republicans will retake the House, and that the GOP leadership will have little interest in continuing the Jan. 6 investigations.