By: Yeeyao Wong

21 million people tuned in to watch the live hearing on the Capitol riots, roughly the amount for an important sports event. The US House of Representatives held a hearing on Thursday night in order to share information they had found on the violent attack on the US Capitol.

After the study of over 1,000 interviews, more than 100,000 documents, and hours spent scrutinizing videos, the committee found that the attacks had been planned in advance, and that President Trump had done nothing to prevent these attacks. In fact, he had encouraged these attacks, telling his supporters to fight for their country and that the election had been stolen. The mob of angry people, many of them carrying weapons, forced their way into the Capitol, resulting in the death of 7 people and the injuring of dozens of people.

The investigation into the attack on the US Capitol was led by Democrat Bennie Thompson, with Republican representative Liz Cheney, who holds the second most important position in this investigation. Representative Cheney received plenty of criticism regarding her participation in the investigation, but she ignored these comments, instead warning Republicans supporting former President Trump, “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

With the information they collected, the committee held a hearing to share what they had found and provoke more interest in the results. One of their main points included the fact that though former President Trump knew he lost the election, he refused to accept the truth and instead attempted to overturn the results and spread false ideas that he had won.

Another important point was that the attacks were planned in advance. It was not developed naturally out of protests. The committee found at least two groups who supported former President Trump that had planned the attack in advance.

Ms. Cheney announced that future hearings would go over former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results, convince former Vice President Pence to challenge the results, and that the attacks were organized ahead of time.