By: Yi Qi

June 18 2022 found a group of the US House of Representatives Holding a special hearing for the attack on the US Capitol that took place on January 6,2021. The hearing was the result of a nearly year-and-a-half long investigation, and was aired live on television.

On January 6, 2021 Congress met to count the votes of the Electoral College, after the presidential election on the previous November. Donald Trump refused to accept that he had lost the election, and urged Republican lawmakers to protest the results. He also put pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to give results in Trump’s favor – something Mr. Pence didn’t have the power to do. Mr. Pence made it clear he wouldn’t argue against the results.

As the Congress was meeting, Mr. Trump spoke to his supporters. He said once again his opinion was that the election was stolen, and encouraged them to march on the Capitol, telling them that they would need to “fight” for their country. The mob of rioters, many carrying weapons, stole into the Us Capitol building causing lawmakers at the hearing to run for safety. As a result of the violence, seven people were killed and many were injured.

Republican Representative Liz Cheney has been powerfully criticized by Republicans for taking part in the investigation, but she has ignored the critics. On June 18, 2022 she warned republicans who were on Mr. Trump’s side, “[t]here will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

“One of the important statement the committee made was that Ex-President Donald Trump knew that he had lost the 2020 election. But instead of going with the truth, he worked for months to change the election results and spread the false info that he had won.” NFK editor stated (who is this?).

Thursday night’s hearing was made live on TV stations across the US instead of the normal nightly programs. Over 21 million people watched the hearings. The large size of that audience is about the same as it would be for an important sports event.