The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol firmly lays blame on Donald Trump. In a prime-time hearing, lawmakers say the siege was no accident but an "attempted coup" and a direct result of the defeated president's effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_12588 The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (Jabin Botsford//The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
Jabin Botsford//The Washington Post via AP, Pool
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_11790 An activist holds a sign next to a line of people waiting to enter the Cannon Building, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. The House select committee will have its first public hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing is expected to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_21353 Former Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone walks outside of the Cannon building, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. The House select committee will have its first public hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing is expected to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation. Fanone was injured in the attack on the Capitol. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_61355 This image from video from a police worn body camera from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, was played as a committee exhibit as the House select committee investigating the the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, held a hearing Thursday, June 9, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)
House Select Committee via AP
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_35259 This image from video from a police worn body camera from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, was played as a committee exhibit as the House select committee investigating the the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, held a hearing Thursday, June 9, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)
House Select Committee via AP
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_69900 This image from video from a Tweet by then-President Donald Trump, was played as a committee exhibit as the House select committee investigating the the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, held a hearing Thursday, June 9, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)
House Select Committee via AP
APTOPIX_Capitol_Riot_Investigation_96139 From left to right, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., are seated as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_24086 U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn tears up as a video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is played during a public hearing of the House select committee investigating the attack is held on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_80404 A video of former Vice President Mike Pence speaking is shown as committee members from left to right, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., look on, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
APTOPIX_Capitol_Riot_Investigation_80492 Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_49236 Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., gives her opening remarks as Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., left, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., look on, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_45949 Serena Liebengood, widow of Capitol Police officer Howie Liebengood, cries as a video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is played during a public hearing of the House select committee investigating the attack is held on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_80103 A video showing former White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner speaking during an interview with the Jan. 6 Committee is shown at the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, hearing Thursday, June 9, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_38129 An image of Ivanka Trump is displayed on a screen as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)
Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_80738 In this image from video released by the House Select Committee, former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner is interviewed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, displayed at the hearing Thursday, June 9, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)
House Select Committee via AP
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_98549 In this image from video released by the House Select Committee, an exhibit shows Ivanka Trump during a video deposition to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, at the hearing Thursday, June 9, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)
House Select Committee via AP
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_57078 Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gives opening remarks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_07218 U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn, right, and Sandra Garza, the long-time partner of Capitol Hill Police Officer Brian Sicknick who died shortly after the Jan. 6 attack, left, react as a video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is played during a public hearing of the House select committee investigating the attack is held on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_26376 U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn, right, Sandra Garza, the longtime partner of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, center, and Serena Liebengood, widow of Capitol Police officer Howie Liebengood, left, react as a video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is played during a public hearing of the House select committee investigating the attack is held on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_Republicans_56459 House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of Calif., left, speaks during a news conference on the House Jan. 6 Committee, Thursday, June 9, 2022, with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_54808 Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gives opening remarks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_13135 Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., left, listens as Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gives an opening statement as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool
APTOPIX_Capitol_Riot_Investigation_76309 U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, left, and British filmmaker Nick Quested, are sworn in as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP
APTOPIX_Capitol_Riot_Investigation_47240 Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., stand together during a break as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_02181 British filmmaker Nick Quested testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
APTOPIX_Capitol_Riot_Investigation_58407 Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., gives her opening remarks as Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., left, looks on, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_84353 Sandra Garza, the long-time partner of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, right, hugs U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards as they leave after the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_60580 U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_49392 U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger talks to a U.S. Capitol Police officer as he walks on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. The House select committee will have its first public hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing is expected to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_87697 A heavily armed police officer stands guard outside the U.S. Capitol building, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. The House select committee will have its first public hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing is expected to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_55201 A video showing former White House Advisor Ivanka Trump speaking during an interview with the Jan. 6th Committee is shown as committee members from left to right, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., look on, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Capitol_Riot_Investigation_65242 Sun shines on the U.S Capitol dome on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol will hold the first in a series of hearings laying out its findings on Thursday night. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has laid the blame firmly on Donald Trump, saying the assault was not spontaneous but an “attempted coup” and a direct result of the defeated president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
With a never-before-seen 12-minute video of extremist groups leading the deadly siege and startling testimony from Trump’s most inner circle, the 1/6 committee provided gripping detail Thursday night in contending that Trump’s repeated lies about election fraud and his public effort to stop Joe Biden’s victory led to the attack and imperiled American democracy
“Democracy remains in danger,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the panel, during the hearing, timed for prime time to reach as many Americans as possible.
“Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt, as one rioter put it shortly after Jan. 6, to overthrow the government,” Thompson said. “The violence was no accident.”
The hearings may not change Americans’ views on the Capitol attack, but the panel’s investigation is intended to stand as its public record. Before this fall’s midterm elections, and with Trump considering another White House run, the committee’s final report aims to account for the most violent attack on the Capitol since 1814, and to ensure such an attack never happens again.
Testimony on Thursday showed how Trump desperately clung to his own false claims of election fraud, beckoning supporters to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress would certify the results, despite those around him insisting Biden had won the election.
In a previously unseen video clip, the panel played a remark from former Attorney General Bill Barr, who testified that he told Trump the claims of a rigged election were “bull——.”
In another clip, the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, testified to the committee that she respected Barr’s view that there was no election fraud. “I accepted what he said.”
Others showed leaders of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys preparing to storm the Capitol to stand up for Trump. One rioter after another told the committee they came to the Capitol because Trump asked them to.
“President Trump summoned a violent mob,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the panel’s vice chair who took the lead for much of the hearing. “When a president fails to take the steps necessary to preserve our union — or worse, causes a constitutional crisis — we’re in a moment of maximum danger for our republic.”
There was a gasp in the hearing room when Cheney read an account that said when Trump was told the Capitol mob was chanting for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged for refusing to block the election results. Trump responded that maybe they were right, that he “deserves it.”
At another point it was disclosed that Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a leader of efforts to object to the election results, had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution.
When asked about the White House lawyers threatening to resign over what was happening in the administration, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner scoffed they were “whining.”
Police officers who had fought off the mob consoled one another as they sat in the committee room reliving the violence they faced on Jan. 6. Officer Harry Dunn teared up as bodycam footage showed rioters bludgeoning his colleagues with flagpoles and baseball bats.
In wrenching testimony U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards told the panel that she slipped in other people’s blood as rioters pushed past her into the Capitol. She suffered brain injuries in the melee.
“It was carnage. It was chaos,” she said.
The riot left more than 100 police officers injured, many beaten and bloodied, as the crowd of pro-Trump rioters, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, charged into the Capitol. At least nine people who were there died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police.
Biden, in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, said many viewers were “going to be seeing for the first time a lot of the detail that occurred.”
Trump, unapologetic, dismissed the investigation anew — and even declared on social media that Jan. 6 “represented the greatest movement in the history of our country.”
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee tweeted: “All. Old. News.”
Emotions are still raw at the Capitol, and security was tight. Law enforcement officials are reporting a spike in violent threats against members of Congress.
Against this backdrop, the committee was speaking to a divided America. Most TV networks carried the hearing live, but Fox News Channel did not.
The committee chairman, civil rights leader Thompson, opened the hearing with the sweep of American history. saying he heard in those denying the stark reality of Jan. 6 his own experience growing up in a time and place “where people justified the action of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan and lynching.”
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, outlined what the committee has learned about the events leading up to that brisk January day when Trump sent his supporters to Congress to “fight like hell” for his presidency.
Among those testifying was documentary maker Nick Quested, who filmed the Proud Boys storming the Capitol — along with a pivotal meeting between the group’s then-chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and another extremist group, the Oath Keepers, the night before in nearby parking garage. Quested said the Proud Boys later went to get tacos.
Court documents show that members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were discussing as early as November a need to fight to keep Trump in office. Leaders both groups and some members have since been indicted on rare sedition charges over the military-style attack.
In the weeks ahead, the panel is expected to detail Trump’s public campaign to “Stop the Steal” and the private pressure he put on the Justice Department to reverse his election loss — despite dozens of failed court cases attesting there was no fraud on a scale that could have tipped the results in his favor.
The panel faced obstacles from its start. Republicans blocked the formation of an independent body that could have investigated the Jan. 6 assault the way the 9/11 Commission probed the 2001 terror attack.
Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ushered the creation of the 1/6 panel through Congress and rejected Republican-appointed lawmakers who had voted on Jan. 6 against certifying the election results, eventually naming seven Democrats and two Republicans.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has been caught up in the probe and has defied the committee’s subpoena for an interview, called the panel a “scam.”
In the audience were several lawmakers who were trapped together in the House gallery during the attack.
“We want to remind people, we were there, we saw what happened,” said Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. ”We know how close we came to the first non-peaceful transition of power in this country.”
The Justice Department has arrested and charged more than 800 people for the violence that day, the biggest dragnet in its history.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking and Michael Balsamo and Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
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For full coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege.
