This is CNBC’s live blog tracking Thursday’s hearing of the House Jan. 6 select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is holding its fifth hearing Thursday where it plans to show how President Donald Trump clashed with top Department of Justice leaders who pushed back on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The hearing will also show how Trump planned to install a new acting attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, to help spread his false claim that President Joe Biden‘s electoral victory was rigged through widespread fraud, the committee said.
Senior officials in Trump’s Justice Department threatened to resign over the scheme, the committee plans to show. Three ex-DOJ officials — former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and former assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel Steven Engel — are set to testify in person at the hearing.
The event marks the committee’s fifth presentation of evidence from its nearly yearlong investigation of Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. The rioters, spurred by Trump’s false claims of rampant electoral fraud, temporarily prevented Congress from confirming Biden’s victory.
The committee argues that its initial findings show Trump was at the center of a multi-pronged conspiracy to overthrow the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election. The panel notes that its investigation is ongoing.
[The livestream is slated to begin at 3 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see the video at that time.]
GOP Rep. Kinzinger details death threats against him and his family
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the select committee, said that threats and harassment targeted at him, his family and other members of the panel are “constant” and have been increasing.
Kinzinger on Sunday posted a screenshot on Twitter showing a handwritten death threat, which the congressman said was “Addressed to my wife, sent to my home, threatening the life of my family.”
“The Darkness is spreading courtesy of cowardly leaders fearful of truth,” Kinzinger tweeted.
Kinzinger told CNN on Wednesday that he received another message “last night, threatening execution,” saying that it now seems to be “the normal thing.”
The congressman’s participation in the Jan. 6 investigation and regular criticism of Trump have made him a pariah among many Republicans. He said he shared the death threat to point out the “depravity” swirling around the politically charged probe, decrying “that there are people that literally would come up with this idea of killing a five-month-old because you disagree with me being on the January 6 committee.”
“We have security, we’ve amped up our security posture,” Kinzinger said. “We’re going to move on, and it’s not going to hinder us and it’s not going to intimidate us.”
— Kevin Breuninger
Committee has pushed back several hearings
This afternoon’s hearing on the DOJ was originally scheduled for last week, but it was postponed without a clear explanation.
On Wednesday, the committee announced that it was also pushing back its final two public hearings from June to July.
Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., suggested Wednesday that new evidence received by the committee prompted the scheduling changes. A select committee aide told CNBC that the panel “continues to receive additional evidence relevant to our investigation” into the Capitol riot, and that it will announce dates and times for the final hearings “soon.”
That new evidence reportedly includes never-before-seen documentary footage from a filmmaker who had access to Trump and his family before and after the riot. The investigators also continue to seek cooperation from key witnesses, including former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
— Kevin Breuninger
