The Jan. 6 committee is poised to host two public hearings next week, first on Tuesday, July 12 at 10 AM and then again on July 14, according to reports first out by Punchbowl News. The exact time of the July 14 hearing was not formally announced Thursday, but it is expected to air in prime time. This schedule, it is important to note, could change.
The hearing on July 14 is expected to be the committee’s final hearing until it releases its report this fall.
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The hearing on July 12 will reportedly be led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, and Stephanie Murphy, a Florida Democrat. This session will focus on the extremist elements underpinning the Capitol assault and more specifically, the roles that groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys played in the attempted overturn of the 2020 election results.
Former President Donald Trump’s alleged ties to these groups will be examined for what will be the committee’s seventh hearing. During its most recent hearing, testimony from witness Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, proved revelatory.
Hutchinson testified under oath that on the eve of the attack, the 45th president asked Meadows to contact GOP operative and ally Roger Stone and former national security adviser retired Army Lt. General Michael Flynn. Meadows complied, though Hutchinson told investigators she ultimately did not hear what unfolded on that call.
Stone has not been charged with any crimes connected to Jan. 6, but he has been unable to escape the flood of videos and pictures posted online that document his interactions with members of the extremist groups. Federal prosecutors that charged Oath Keeper leader Elmert “Stewart” Rhodes with seditious conspiracy allege Stone used members of the group as security. One Oath Keeper division leader who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, Joshua James, said he personally served on Stone’s security detail.
Members of the Proud Boys Florida chapter also joined Stone in Washington on Jan. 5 and on Jan. 6, and his relationship with Proud Boy leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio is also well documented. When Stone was prosecuted for witness tampering in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, for example, it was the Proud Boys who helped him create an image he later posted to Instagram depicting the judge handling his case, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, with crosshairs above her head.
Stone apologized in court after the fact and said in court that the whole debacle was coordinated with the help of members of the Proud Boys in Florida, including Tarrio.
Flynn has had contact with members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys too, as well as other far-right militia networks like the 1st Amendment Praetorian. Text messages unveiled in the Rhodes seditious conspiracy case have depicted how Rhodes and other Oath Keepers frequently discussed plans to provide security to Stone, Flynn, and others, including Trump ally and Infowars blowhard Alex Jones, plus the “Stop the Steal” movement founder Ali Alexander.
Flynn was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee last December and investigators wanted him to answer questions about discussions involving the seizure of voting machines and suggestions to Trump that he declare a national emergency or invoke national security emergency powers to advance the widely debunked lie that fraud was widespread in the 2020 election.
Both Stone and Flynn received pardons from Trump; Stone was pardoned for no fewer than seven charges, including witness tampering, making false statements, and obstruction of the Russia investigation. Flynn was pardoned for twice lying to the FBI.
Both of the men, according to the Jan. 6 committee, were present for meetings at Trump’s so-called “war room” at the Willard Hotel mere blocks from the White House. The “war room,” as court records and witness testimony has suggested, was often a flurry of activity and planning to overturn the election, install Trump’s so-called “alternate” electors, and pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to go along with a scheme to disrupt or delay the joint session.
For its final hearing in prime time on July 14, the proceedings will be led by committee members Reps. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, and Elaine Luria, a Virginia Democrat. Kinzinger and Luria are expected to dive into what was and was not happening inside the White House during the attack. For more than three hours during the assault, the president was largely silent as pleas for help flooded the Oval Office.
Vice Chair Liz Cheney has referred to these 187 minutes of silence from the White House as proof positive of Trump’s dereliction of duty.
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