Next Jan. 6 hearing will reveal details of contact between Trump allies and extremist groups ahead of insurrection, report says

• The Jan. 6 committee at its next public hearing will investigate extremist groups, The NYT reported.
• It will explore conversations between Trump aides and extremists who led the Capitol attack.

The next hearing from the House January 6 committee is going to focus on contacts between the Trump White House and leaders of extremist groups who helped storm the US Capitol, The New York Times reported.

At the hearing scheduled for Tuesday July 12, , committee members plan to describe the rise of far-right extremist groups, and detail conversations and interactions between leaders of the groups and political actors close to Trump, The Times reported.

Members of the Proud Boys, a far-right gang, were at the forefront of the violence on January 6, and were among the first rioters to breach the Capitol complex.

The Oath Keepers, a far-right militia-style group who were decked out in body army and carried firearms on January 6, also played a leading role in the attack.

The Justice Department charged leaders of both groups with seditious conspiracy, and alleges they deliberately plotted to access the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop Joe Biden's certification as president.

Members of the groups have extensive ties with Roger Stone, a former Trump strategist, and Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor.

In her testimony last week, witness Cassidy Hutchinson said that Trump instructed his chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, to call Stone and Flynn the day before the riot.

The hearing will likely focus on the question of whether there was deliberate collaboration between extremists and people close to Trump, an issue which so far has remained unclear.

Trump has maintained that he he did not seek to provoke violence on January 6, and did not approve of the attack, even though he has also repeatedly praised the rioters.

In the second presidential debate in September 2020, he attracted criticism by refusing a challenge from President Joe Biden to condemn the Proud Boys, instead sending the group into a state of euphoria by asking them to "stand back and stand by."

Meadows has refused to comply with a subpoena to testify to the committee, while Flynn and Stone extensively exercised their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in their testimony, declining to say anything.