The U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection on the Capitol will open its hearings tonight. The hearings will be broadcast in prime time, with primetime production values.
The committee has brought onboard a former president of ABC News, James Goldston, who is a veteran of mass-market TV programs, in order to produce the six public hearings into episodes ranging from 90 minutes to two and a half hours.
Goldston’s task is to fulfill the prediction that one committee member, Jamie Raskin (D), made, that the hearings “will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House”.
There is a high level of public interest in the hearings. The televised hearings will include witness testimony and video footage surrounding the attack. Tonight’s hearing will be the first in the series, which is expected to last through July.
The committee will hear testimony from two witnesses today. One is U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was injured during the insurrection. Her injuries have prevented her from being able to return to duty as a member of a first responder unit.
The other witness is British documentary filmmaker Nick Quested. Quested followed the extreme far-right group the Proud Boys in the days surrounding the attack. Some footage includes a meeting in a parking garage between leaders of two far-right militia groups, the Proud Boys’ leader Enrique Tarrio, and the Oath Keepers’ leader Steward Rhodes, a day before the riot, just blocks from the Capitol.
Previously unseen material surrounding the riot is expected to be shown in the episodes, including potentially official White House photographs from the day that have never been seen publicly, and surveillance footage from inside the Capitol. Many of the committee’s depositions were videotaped as well, so clips of these will also be included.
More than 1,000 depositions and interviews have been conducted, with more scheduled. More than 140,000 documents have been received, and there have been about 500 tips received through the committee’s online tip line.
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