The First Jan. 6 Hearing Was Riveting

Select House Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MI) opened last night’s first primetime hearing on the investigation into Jan. 6 by calling the attack a "culmination of an attempted coup." Thompson described the Jan. 6 insurrection as a "sprawling multistep conspiracy aimed at overturning the election, aimed at overturning the votes of millions of Americans."

“Democracy remains in danger,” said Thompson. He continued, "Donald Trump was at the center of that conspiracy and ultimately, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the Constitution to march down to the Capitol and subvert American democracy."

Chairman Thompson also introduced the first piece of evidence in the hearing, which was a video testimony clip of former Attorney General Bill Barr saying the idea that the 2020 election was stolen, was "bullshit.” Barr also confirmed that he had informed then-President Trump of that fact and that he resigned his post as Attorney General shortly thereafter for this very reason. (see the video embedded in the tweet below)

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule

Here is former AG Bill Barr giving his testimony that confirms he believed that Trump lost the 2020 election and that there is no doubt that the American people voted Trump out of office with no evidence of election fraud."

The Select Committee additionally presented a never-before-seen 12-minute video (see video below) of the deadly violence, that featured the actions of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers paramilitary groups descending on the Capitol complex before Trump’s speech was even concluded. "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."