By Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press LISA MASCARO (AP Congressional Correspondent)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are launching a vast reinvestigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, seeking to push the blame away from Donald Trump, who has been indicted over his actions or his supporters in the mob siege trying to overturn the 2020 election.
As Trump campaigns to return to the White House, the House Administration subcommittee on oversight held the first of what is expected to be regular public hearings revisiting the official account, which had aired in great detail in 2022 by the House’s Select Committee on Jan. 6.
Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., called Jan. 6 a “dark day” in U.S. history as he opened Tuesday’s hearing to delve into the investigation of pipe bombs that were left outside Republican and Democratic party headquarters that day. But, he said, “we still have many unanswered questions.”
The panel’s work comes as Trump and President Joe Biden are galloping toward a 2020 rematch this fall, and Republicans, some once skeptical of Trump’s return to the White House, have quickly been falling in line to support the former president. The House GOP’s high-profile impeachment inquiry into Biden has stalled without a clear path forward.
Speaker Mike Johnson said House Republicans intend to release a final report on Jan. 6 “to correct the incomplete narrative” advanced by the previous work of the Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack.
With newly released testimony and an 80-plus page report of initial findings, the House Administration subcommittee has outlined a roadmap ahead for its probe — including revisiting key testimony from White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who delivered a bombshell account of Trump’s actions that day.
The panel’s report draws on many of the conspiracy theories circulating about Jan. 6 — from the formation of the Select Committee by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to newer questions about the unidentified people who erected the hangman’s scaffolding outside the Capitol.
“Democrats wasted no time before pointing fingers at President Trump for the events of January 6, 2021,” the initial findings of the report said.
At the first hearing, Republicans grilled the U.S. Capitol Police about why a bomb-sniffing K9 unit did not initially detect the pipe bombs found outside party headquarters and why police didn’t respond faster to seal off the area.
U.S. Capitol Police Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher told the panel it was “chaotic” that day as the mob of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol.
“I want to be upfront and honest, U.S. Capitol Police haven’t shied away from the failures of that day,” Gallagher said about the well-documented leadership problems spelled out in their own report.
He described the fighting on the West and East fronts of the Capitol as police tried to hold back the mob — “our officers were suffering injuries” — and calls coming in, including a pick-up truck loaded with Molotov cocktails, machetes, rifles, handguns and ammunition parked nearby.
Five individuals died in the disturbance and its immediate consequences, including a police officer, and other officers later died by suicide. Over 1,200 individuals have been accused in the disturbance, with hundreds found guilty.
“To provide perspective, I would willingly give up a perimeter that isn't flawless to enable officers to respond to assist their colleagues who were asking for help at the U.S. Capitol,” Gallagher stated in court.
Rep. Norma Torres of California, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee and a former 911 dispatcher, questioned the purpose of the hearing, especially with ongoing federal investigations: “What exactly are we accomplishing here?”
“Perhaps it is to promote unfounded right-wing conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 pipe bombs spreading on the obscure parts of the Internet?” she asked.
“Or perhaps we are here so this subcommittee can once again attempt to confuse our history, demonize law enforcement and reverse the efforts of the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee,” she said, “all to divert attention from the simple fact that the former president and Republican nominee for president orchestrated a corrupt plan to overturn the results of a free and fair election.”
Trump, who urged his supporters to “fight vigorously” before they stormed the Capitol, has been charged with federal offenses of conspiracy to deceive Americans and obstruction of an official process related to Jan. 6. The Supreme Court is reviewing his argument of immunity.
House Republicans criticize the Select Committee and they claim it didn’t disclose all aspects of its work.
On Tuesday, a previously undisclosed record of the Select Committee’s discussion with an unnamed Secret Service officer who drove the presidential SUV on Jan. 6 offered new details about Trump’s actions that day. It was obtained by The Associated Press.
That record of the presidential limo driver contradicted some of Hutchinson’s testimony but supported other parts of her account, including Trump’s attempt to join the mob scene at the Capitol.
Trump had informed his supporters during the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse near the White House to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, and said he would be right there with them, as Congress was confirming the 2020 election and Biden’s win.
But his security detail refused to take him there and instead took him back to the White House.
Hutchinson, who at the time was an aide to Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, had testified in June 2022 that she was told by another official that Trump fought for control of the presidential SUV and insisted on being taken to the Capitol as the insurrection began.
Hutchinson testified that she was told that Bobby Engel, the head of security in the car with him, had grabbed Trump’s arm to prevent him from gaining control of the armored vehicle, and Trump then used his free hand to lunge at Engel. She worked inside the White House, and said that when she was told of the altercation immediately afterward, Engel was in the room and didn’t contest the account at the time.
In the newly obtained transcript, the driver confirms: “The President was insistent on going to the Capitol.”
The driver said that after the rally, Trump and Engel got into the car and Trump started asking Engel about going to the Capitol. When Engel said they couldn't do that, Trump kept insisting.
The driver testified that Trump's voice was raised, but he didn't seem very angry or agitated like before.
The driver mentioned that the thing that stuck out the most was Trump's persistent questioning of why they couldn't go.
However, the driver stated that he didn't witness the altercation described by Hutchinson.
The driver testified, "He never grabbed the steering wheel. I didn't see him try to get into the front seat at all."
The driver said, "What I noticed was the irritation in his voice more than his physical presence, which would have been obvious if he was trying to get between the two front seats."
The driver stated that he informed other colleagues at the White House about what had happened while waiting outside with the vehicles.
Lisa Mascaro works as the Associated Press' congressional correspondent.
