Live: January 6 congressional committee holds first public hearing on the insurrection and Trump and his allies' roles

The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection is holding a much-anticipated public hearing Thursday night.

The nine-member panel, chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, has spent months interviewing witnesses and examining phone and email records to try to get to the bottom of former President Donald Trump and his allies' efforts to overturn the 2020 election and prevent President Joe Biden from taking office.

The committee, which includes Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, is expected to hold a half-dozen public hearings in June.

Here's what you need to know ahead of the broadcast at 8 p.m. ET:

• How to watch the hearings
• The key witnesses who are likely to testify
• What to expect
• Sources say the evidence will put Trump "at the center" of the events
• Meet the lawmakers and staff leading the investigation
• At least 862 people have now been arrested for their actions on January 6
• More than 300 people have already pleaded guilty
• An oral history of the insurrection from 34 people who were there
• How the US Capitol riot led to Trump's second impeachment
• Liz Cheney's break from GOP leadership on the investigation

A Justice Department lawyer revealed Thursday that transcripts of the 1,000 interviews conducted as part of the House January 6 committee's investigation into the Capitol attack will be made public in September. It would be an unprecedented release of documents that could shed new light on the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

The revelation came during a pretrial hearing for former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the far-right group who were charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with their alleged role in planning and participating in the Capitol siege.

"The committee will release the transcripts in early September and a report of the committee's findings will be released around the same time," Assistant US Attorney Jason McCullough told a judge.

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Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas offered up three things he'd rather do Thursday night than sit through any part of the January 6 committee's highly anticipated prime-time hearing.

"I've got to mow my lawn. Or comb my hair. Or maybe just watch the paint dry on the walls," Cruz said of what he considered better ways to invest one's time than validating the existence of "a political campaign ad for the Democrats."

Cruz bashed the ongoing House investigation as political theater meant to distract a recession-wary populace from all the ways he said President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have failed them.

"From the opening gavel to the close of the hearing, one hundred percent of their endeavor is a political Hail Mary pass," Cruz told Insider in the tunnels beneath the Senate chamber. "The American people are deeply unhappy with the disaster of the left-wing policy agenda we've seen for the last two years."

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