Many top Republican lawmakers — even Pence, whose life was threatened by the attackers — have spent the year and a half since the attack de-emphasizing what happened.


The committee also shared new information: Several Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), asked the White House for pardons in the weeks after the attack, for their apparent involvement in attempting to overthrow the election. Last month, the committee had subpoenaed Perry, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and several other House Republicans, who denied cooperating with their investigation.

What leads to this incident? The committee alleges that right-wing extremist groups were motivated by Trump. The committee spent a considerable amount of time introducing these two groups — the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers — and making the case for how Trump’s statements and tweets impacted their actions, and ultimately, their violent acts.


Even the members of the proud boys tried when Trump praised them in a debate towards the end of the election campaign. The hearing also featured footage of rebels reading aloud, over a bullhorn, a tweet Trump sent attacking Pence for his absence of “courage. And when Trump tweeted ahead of Jan. 6, “be there and be wild,” the committee said that these extremist groups took it as “a call to arms.”

The hearing also featured interviews with several men accused in the riot who said they came because Trump told them to. “


Source: Washington Post.