What to expect in the likely final public Jan. 6 House committee hearing

WASHINGTON — After months of meetings and deliberations, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot will hold its likely final hearing Thursday.

It’s been more than a month since the last televised event, and it’s still unclear exactly what the committee will do as it wraps up its probe. The final public hearing is slated to cover discoveries from the committee’s ongoing investigation, and aims to refocus voters ahead of the midterms on former President Donald Trump’s involvement in attempts to discredit the 2020 election.

The committee was originally slated to hold the hearing in September but postponed due to devastation from Hurricane Ian in Florida and elsewhere.

“It will be the usual mix of information in the public domain and new information woven together to tell the story about one key thematic element of Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the election,” committee member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on CNN.

This is likely to include select video footage of longtime political consultant and Trump confidant Roger Stone predicting violent clashes and plans for the former president to remain in the White House regardless of the election results. The clips come from Danish filmmakers who followed Stone from 2019 through 2021 for a documentary slated for release later this year.

“F— the voting, let’s get right to the violence. Shoot to kill, see an antifa, shoot to kill. F— ’em,” Stone said in a clip taken the day before the election obtained by CNN. He followed the statement with “I am of course only kidding. We renounce violence completely.”

Stone has attempted to discredit the clips as doctored and manipulated.

The filmmakers were with Stone when he came to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the violence at the U.S. Capitol.

Since the last hearing in July, the committee met with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas. She is allegedly associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but in her closed door testimony to the committee last month she reportedly said she did not discuss these efforts with her husband.

Texas involvement

Several Texans emerged as key players or mentioned for their roles in spreading false claims of voter fraud throughout the hearings.

Since the last prime time Jan. 6 committee hearing, former Trump lawyer and Dallas lawyer Sidney Powell has continued to be involved in legal turmoil.

On Aug. 25 she and Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows were summoned by a Georgia grand jury for testimony for an investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Powell was asked to testify on Sept. 22, but failed to appear.

“[Powell] possesses unique knowledge concerning relevant communications between [herself], former President Donald Trump, the Trump Campaign, and other known and unknown individuals involved in the multi-state, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere,” the Fulton County district attorney wrote in the filing seeking Powell’s testimony.

Former Trump adviser John Eastman, who attended Lewisville High School and is a graduate of the University of Dallas, was also summoned to testify in the Georgia probe. During his appearance on Aug. 31, he invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and cited attorney-client privilege.

Over the course of the hearings, the committee revealed greater details on a December 2020 meeting an aide called “unhinged” where Powell reportedly suggested measures like rerunning the election and having the military seize voting machines.

Trump even discussed appointing Powell as the special counsel overseeing an investigation of voter fraud, a move his advisers, including Rudy Giuliani, opposed.

Powell and Giuliani also face a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems for falsely claiming the company rigged the 2020 election. The billion-dollar suit is ongoing.

In her defense, Powell has argued no one should have taken what she said seriously.

Trump was asked about Powell by Maggie Haberman for her book Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.

“I was very disappointed in her statement,” Trump said in the excerpt in response to her defamation defense. “That is so demeaning for her to say about herself.”

The State Bar of Texas is also seeking sanctions against Powell for filing “frivolous” lawsuits in several states over the election. The sanctions could range from a reprimand to the loss of her license to practice law.

A state judge refused a motion by Powell to dismiss the disciplinary action in June.

Oath Keepers leader on trial

Jury selection in the criminal trial of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of far-right militia group Oath Keepers, began Sept. 27. Rhodes and four associates are charged with seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Rhodes, who is from Granbury, and his associates are the first defendants in the Capitol riot to stand trial for the rare Civil War-era charge. The last guilty trial verdict for seditious conspiracy was nearly 30 years ago.

Rhodes’ attorneys have said his defense will focus on his belief that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act and call a militia to support his claim to stay in power, and the actions leading up to Jan. 6 were in preparation for what he believed would be lawful orders from Trump that never came.

In February Rhodes spent hours talking to the committee, and offered to testify under oath but insisted it be on live national television.

Granbury attorney Kellye SoRelle, who assumed the leadership role of Oath Keepers shortly after Rhodes’ arrest, was indicted on four counts related to Jan. 6 early September. She was charged with tampering with documents, being inside the Capitol during the attack, conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of Congress’ certification of Biden’s win.

SoRelle briefly appeared in a pre-recorded testimony in one of the committee’s hearings where she discussed the “Stop the Steal” movement.

During the eight hearings in June and July, the committee heard a number of revelations, including the testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who once interned for Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Through pre-recorded and live accounts, she said six members of Congress including Tyler GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert sought a pardon from Trump after Jan. 6.

Hutchinson recently agreed to cooperate in the Georgia investigation into attempts by Trump allies to overturn the election.

Other lawmakers including Woodville Rep. Brian Babin were tied to a White House meeting on Dec. 21 focused on efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election. Babin, Gohmert and other members of Congress were listed in a White House log as attending the meeting.

What’s next

Members of the committee are likely to continue gathering information before the next session of Congress begins in January. The only two Republicans on the committee will be leaving congress in 2023. Rep. Liz Cheney lost her Wyoming GOP primary in August, and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger will be retiring.

Cheney and other members of the committee have indicated it would likely make criminal referrals over Trump’s actions.

There is the possibility for further hearings, but many officials expect Thursday’s will be the last.