On the first of six days of public hearings before a selected House of Representatives committee, a 12-minute graphic video was shown that he had never seen before the uprising. In it, rioters appear to have stormed the Capitol building in Washington’s National Mall, following a scathing speech by then-President Trump in which he reiterated allegations that he had been denied a second term for voter fraud. At a time when the Capitol was in session, overseeing the certification of Joe Biden’s victory by Congress. Five people were killed and more than 100 police officers were injured in the chaos. Image: An image of Ivanka Trump is displayed on a screen during the audition The hearing included public statements by key members of the Trump administration, including Ivanka Trump’s daughter and Jared Kouchner’s husband, Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General William Barr and Str. At one point, a breath of fresh air was heard when the committee was told that when Trump heard the Capitol mob shouting the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, he replied that they might be right, that “it’s worth it.” Mr. Trump was angry Pence, who chairs the House of Representatives, had refused his order to reject the certification of Biden’s victory. While the facts of the attack of January 6, 2021 are known, the committee is trying to write the story of how it happened, to prevent a recurrence. Image: Serena Liebengood, widow of Capitol Officer Howie Liebengood, collapses while attending a hearing Read more: Former right-wing Proud Boys boss faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of plotting to overthrow the US government The televised auditions – which aired on US network channels at the time of the broadcast – included videos of police officers and right-wing extremists being beaten to lead crowds into the iconic building. “Constitutional crisis” Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee that chaired much of the hearing, said Trump “called a violent mob.” “When a president fails to take the necessary steps to maintain our union – or worse, it provokes a constitutional crisis – we are at a time of greatest danger to our democracy.” The commission’s inquiry comes as some have tried to downplay the violence. “We can not wipe out what happened under the rug,” said Benny Thompson, the committee’s chairman. “The American people deserve answers.” Mr Thompson described the attack as a “coup attempt” that put “two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy in jeopardy”. In a video testimony, former U.S. Attorney General Barr called the allegations of electoral fraud “bulls **”, an argument that also seemed to convince Trump’s daughter. “I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying,” Ivanka Trump said in a recorded statement. One of the officers of the US Capitol, Caroline Edwards, who suffered a brain injury while fighting with the mob, testified in person. She described insults being hurled at her by rioters during the clash, but said she was proud to have fought them, even after being injured. “I was gliding in people’s blood,” he said. “It was a massacre, it was chaos. “What I saw was just a war scene.”
