- The House committee investigating the
January 6 insurrection held its ninth and likely final hearing Thursday. - Some of Trump's closest aides shared witness testimony about what led up to the
Capitol siege .
The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has held nine public hearings that included shocking new details about the Capitol riot, the events that led to that day, and President
Here are the most notable moments from each hearing so far:
Hearing 1: 'An absolute war zone'
During the first public hearing on June 9, the public heard testimony from Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards and Nick Quested, a British filmmaker who documented members of the Proud Boys during the Capitol attack. The hearing also featured video testimony from former Attorney General Bill Barr, Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Edwards detailed her experience being attacked by rioters and testified that the Capitol grounds resembled "an absolute war zone."
"I couldn't believe my eyes," Edwards told the committee. "There were officers on the ground. You know, they were bleeding, they were throwing up…I mean I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood. You know, I was catching people as they fell."
Barr said that he repeatedly told Trump his claims of election fraud were "bullshit." In video testimony shown by the committee, Ivanka Trump said that she believed Barr.
"I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he said," she said.
Kushner, who served as one of Trump's most senior advisors, testified that he thought the White House counsel's threats to resign over Trump's efforts to overturn the election amounted to "whining."
In his testimony, Quested described the extensive time he spent with the Proud Boys before and on the day of January 6 and encountering tear gas while filming.
Hearing 2: A game of 'Whac-A-Mole'
At the second public hearing on June 13, former Attorney General Bill Barr, who emerged as a star witness, testified in a recorded deposition that dealing with Trump's claims of election fraud were like "playing Whac-a-Mole" and that the allegations were "bogus."
Trump's 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien, whose testimony had been previously recorded, told the committee that the Trump team was effectively split in two: "Team Normal," which included Stepien, and "Team Giuliani." Stepien revealed that he quit because he thought the events that unfolded after the election were not "honest or professional."
This hearing also featured testimony from Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox
Some of the Trump aides also testified that Rudy Giuliani pushed Trump to declare an early victory on election night and was "apparently inebriated" while advising the former president.
Hearing 3: 'Are you out of your effing mind?'
The third public hearing on June 16 consisted of in-person testimony from Michael Luttig, a conservative attorney and former judge, and Greg Jacob who served as general counsel for Mike Pence, who was the primary focus of this hearing.
Luttig, who served as an unofficial adviser to Pence, said that if the former vice president had thrown out electoral votes like he was encouraged to by Trump, there would have been a "constitutional crisis in America."
In a recorded interview Eric Herschmann, an ex-Trump attorney, told the committee that in a conversation with lawyer John Eastman he said, "Are you out of your effing mind?"
Eastman was a strong advocate close to Trump encouraging Pence to use his vice presidential power to overturn the election, however this is not a power the vice president possesses.
During this hearing, the committee played a montage of footage from video dispositions including one in which Ivanka Trump's chief of staff says Ivanka told her she heard her father call Mike Pence a "pussy."
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 16, 2022
Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, a member of the January 6 panel, said that rioters came within 40 feet of Pence, putting his life in danger.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley told the panel that Pence asked leaders at the Pentagon to help stop the mobs, but Milley testified that all Mark Meadows wanted to do was "kill the narrative that the vice president is making all the decisions."
"Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element of the United States government to instruct that the Capitol be defended," Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said at the hearing.
Witnesses testified that both Trump and Meadows disposed of sensitive documents with Trump attempting to flush them down the toilet and Meadows burning them in his fireplace.
Hearing 4: 'Be glad it's 2020 and not 1920'
The main focus of the fourth hearing on June 21 was the role of Georgia and its electors. Joe Biden won the state by just under 12,000 votes, leading Trump and his allies to aggressively push to overturn the results.
Former election worker Wandrea ArShaye "Shaye" Moss delivered heartbreaking testimony stating that the push to overturn the election and choose new electors in Georgia made her regret her choice to work in elections. She faced threats after Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani falsely accused Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman of engaging in "surreptitious illegal activity" and "passing around USB ports as if they're vials of heroin or cocaine."
"They included threats, a lot of threats wishing death upon me," she said. "Telling me that, you know, I'll be in jail with my mother, and saying things like, 'Be glad it's 2020 and not 1920.'"
—The Recount (@therecount) June 21, 2022
Committee members also heard witness testimony from Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia state election official, Russell Bowers, GOP Speaker of Arizona's House of Representatives, and Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state.
Hearing 5: The Preemptive Pardon Party
The fifth, and originally the last, public hearing before a Congressional recess on June 23 identified a number of Republican lawmakers, White House staff, and Trump confidantes who sought preemptive pardons following the January 6 insurrection.
Former Trump aides testified that Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Mo Brooks Alabama, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and lawyer John Eastman all asked the president and his team for pardons.
British filmmaker Alex Holder sat for a private deposition the morning of the hearing to showcase hours of exclusive footage of Trump, his family, and close officials from a documentary he filmed called "Unprecedented." The film's trailer was also released just hours before the hearing. Footage shows Mike Pence reacting to conversations regarding the 25th Amendment.
The existence of the footage shocked Trump's allies and aides who later said they were promised "editorial input" in the film, a claim Holder denied.
—Alex Holder (@alexjholder) June 23, 2022
Hearing 6: Surprise!
Days after the fifth hearing, the committee surprised the public with an unexpected last-minute sixth hearing on June 28.
Just hours before the hearing began, news leaked that
In two hours of explosive testimony, the 26-year-old former White House aide offered damning new details of the president and chief of staff's actions leading up to and during the Capitol attack. Hutchinson had close contact with not only Trump's allies, but also the former president himself, before, during, and after the riot. Trump publicly attacked Hutchinson and claimed in a on Truth social post that he "hardly" knew her.
The witness provided both video and in-person testimony recounting conversations with Meadows, Giuliani and other Trump officials about the riot at the Capitol. She testified that Trump's Secret Service refused to take him to the Capitol to join his supporters after his Ellipse rally. In response, Hutchinson testified that Trump said "I'm the effing president. Take me to the Capitol."
—CSPAN (@cspan) June 28, 2022
This was not the first time Trump acted this way, Hutchinson testified. She said he threw dishes and flipped tablecloths "several times" while she worked in the White House.
Hutchinson told the committee that Trump knew supporters had weapons at his rally, but said he "didn't effing care" because "they're not here to hurt me."
Hutchinson also testified that GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy warned Trump and others to stay away from the Capitol.
Video testimony revealed, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleading the 5th when asked if he believed in a peaceful transfer of power and if he thought the violence on January 6 was justified.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of three Republicans on the committee also revealed evidence of witness tampering by Trump world figures during the hearing.
Congress is currently in recess, so the next scheduled hearings will be held in mid-July. Pat Cipollone, former Trump White House counsel was recently subpoenaed by the committee to provide witness testimony. Cipollone has yet to confirm if he plans to cooperate.
Hearing 7: Witness Tampering
The seventh hearing focused on the role right-wing extremist groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, had in the January 6 insurrection. The committee also showed testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Jason Van Tatenhove, a spokesman for the Oath Keepers, and Stephen Ayers, a journalist who previously plead guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, both testified in person.
—ABC News (@ABC) July 12, 2022
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee's vice chair, emphasized Trump's responsibility for spreading lies about the election and inciting the mob on January 6, saying Trump is "not an impressionable child."
Cheney said that Cipollone's eight-hour deposition met the panel's "expectations." Cipollone's recorded testimony included a clip of him saying former Vice President Mike Pence "did the right thing" by refusing to block the Electoral College Count certification for the 2020 election and suggesting Pence should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A meeting to discuss election theories with Trump, former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Bryne, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, and election lawyer Sidney Powell, was broken up by Cipollone who "set a new land speed record" in his efforts to reach the Oval Office and halt the meeting.
Texts between Hutchinson, the former White House aide who delivered explosive testimony at the sixth public hearing, and Anthony Ornato, another top aide, showed her calling the West Wing "UNHINGED" during an Oval Office meeting on December 18, 2020 that lasted nearly six hours. The meeting reportedly became extremely heated and aides could hear screaming down the halls. Eleven House Republicans attended the meeting, included Reps. Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Scott Perry, all of whom also sought pardons.
A drafted tweet from Trump showed that he planned to call his supporters to the Capitol on January 6. The draft tweet read, "Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!"
Ayers said during his testimony that he regretted his role on January 6.
"It changed my life, and not for the good. Definitely not for the better," Ayres said.
Ayres was seen at the end of the hearing approaching and apologizing to law enforcement officers Harry Dunn, Aquilino Gonell and Michael Fanone, all of whom shared testimony before Congress last summer.
—Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) July 12, 2022
The hearing concluded with a bombshell revelation by Cheney revealing that Trump contacted a witness who testified before the committee within the last week, suggesting possible witness tampering. She said the witness did not answer the call from the former president, but alerted their lawyer who then informed the House panel. Cheney did not reveal the identity of the witness, but said the Department of Justice has been looped in.
Hearing 8: 187 Minutes
In the final public hearing of the summer, the House committee revealed what Trump was doing during the 187 minutes he was out of the public eye on January 6.
The committee presented a timeline of where the former president was, what he did and, who he spoke to throughout those 187 minutes.
The hearing featured in-person witness testimony from Matthew Pottinger, a former Trump national security aide and Sarah Matthews, a former deputy press secretary. Both ex-Trump staffers resigned following the January 6 Capitol riot. Matthews said that Trump was "pouring gasoline on the fire" when he tweeted that Mike Pence didn't have the "courage" to call the 2020 election a fraud.
"It was essentially him giving the green light to these people — telling them that what they were doing at the steps of the Capitol, and entering the Capitol, was okay, that they were justified in their anger," Matthews testified. "And he shouldn't have been doing that. He should have been telling these people to go home and to leave and to condemn the violence that we are seeing."
Audience members in attendance at the hearing burst into laughter when the committee played a video of Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who raised his fist in support of rioters earlier in the day on January 6, fleeing the Senate chamber to get to safety when violence escalated.
The committee also showed never-before-seen footage of Trump filming his speech in the Rose Garden and his address to the people on January 7. Witnesses told the committee Trump's Rose Garden speech was practically improvised and didn't follow the script they his team had written for him. The video showing Trump the day after the Capitol siege features the ex-president going back and forth with his daughter Ivanka and refusing to say that "the election is over."
—Insider News (@InsiderNews) July 25, 2022
An anonymous Secret Service source told the committee that Pence's security team called their loved ones to tell them "goodbye" the day of the Capitol riot because they feared for their lives.
Hearing 9: The subpoena vote
The House committee reconvened Thursday for the ninth public hearing investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
The hearing reviewed evidence previously presented by the committee pertaining to Donald Trump's state of mind and whereabouts on January 6th and the events leading up to to brutal attack on the nation's Capitol.
Trump planned to declare victory in the 2020 election as early as four months before voting had even occurred, suggesting his stolen election accusations were premeditated, according to evidence presented by Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California and member of the panel. Lofgren referred to recordings of Steve Bannon, a one-time White House chief strategist who had "advanced knowledge" of Trump's intent to decry fraud.
"If Trump is losing by 10 or 11 at night, it's going to be even crazier … He's going to sit right there and say, 'They stole it. I'm directing the attorney general to shut down all ballot places in all 50 states,'" Bannon predicted on October 31, 2020."If Biden is winning," he added, "Trump is going to do some crazy shit."
Hutchinson, who became a star witness after her damning testimony earlier in the summer, recalled in video testimony that Trump was "pissed and livid" with the Supreme Court's decision to reject a case he filed to overturn the election. The committee played testimony of the former aide saying Trump told her boss, Meadows: "I don't want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out. We need to figure it out. I don't want people to know that we lost."
Never-before-seen footage of lawmakers like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican Sen. John Thune, and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer huddled together stunned viewers as they scrambled to put an end to the violence by calling Vice President Pence, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Trump officials for help.
—January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) October 13, 2022
One clip, filmed by Pelosi's daughter filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi, showed the Speaker complaining about cleaning the literal and figurative "poo poo" left by insurrectionists invading the Capitol.
The committee also presented a slew of emails sent to the Secret Service warning of the violence planned for January 6th. One email in reference to the Proud Boys said, "They think that they will have a large enough group to march into DC armed and will outnumber the police so they can't be stopped."
The email continued: "Their plan is to literally kill people. Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further."
At the hearing's end, the panel of lawmakers voted unanimously to subpoena Trump for documents and his testimony.
In arguing why the rare subpoena of a former president was necessary, Chairman Thompson said of Trump: "He is required to answer to those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy. He is required to answer for those millions of Americans whose vote he wants to throw out as part of his scheme to remain in power and whatever is underway to ensure this accountability on the law."
To find out how you can watch the hearings, click here.