Committee hearings for January 6th Capitol riots commence
Washington D.C. -- Over the last 24 hours, the world watched as the chaos at our nation’s capital was re-played and official charges were announced.
We learned more about former president Trump’s alleged involvement in the insurrection and how his advisors, including family members, felt about his decision-making during the riots.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson says Donald Trump was at the center of a quote “attempted coup.”
In video from interviews, that were private until now, we got to hear from former Attorney General Bill Barr.
He said that he told Trump there was no evidence of voter fraud that would change the results of the 2020 election.
Later we’re expected to learn about former Vice President and Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s role.
Thursday night, the committee said no one on Trump’s team agreed with his decision to claim the election was fraudulent.
Pence has said in the past year and a half that he never had the authority to not certify the results.
The committee also says with the team’s unwillingness to back the former President comes an angry reaction from Trump against advisers who were not “doing something more.”
Instead they say it was rioters who backed Trump.
In never before seen video shownThursday, you can hear rioters chanting to hang Vice President Pence for not following orders, spreading lies about the election, even chanting about freedom.
We also learned from the committee Thursday that the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys are the two groups mainly being blamed for the violence seen in those videos.
The hearing for the January sixth attack on the US Capitol started Thursday night.
We got to see first-hand some of the details on what the proud boys were doing, even communication among its members.
There are twelve riot suspects from Indiana who face several charges related to the riot.
According to an FBI database, all twelve have been arrested and charged for their participation.
55-year-old Jeffrey Munger is a Goshen man that was arrested in connection with the January sixth riots.
Now we have new videos giving the world a closer look at the proud boys and their involvement in the deadly Capitol riots.
Munger originally faced four charges, all misdemeanors, including entering and remaining in a restricted building.
Disorderly conduct in a capitol building as well as parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.
He pleaded guilty to the last charge just weeks ago and other counts were dropped.
His sentencing is set for this September and he faces up to six months in prison.
Experts have told ABC57 that prosecutors are now focusing more on protestors who weren’t engaged in violent demonstrations that day.
In fact, in a lot of the video we saw for the first time Thursday night, there are hundreds of people in that crowd who keep a distance from the front lines.
They all could still be charged for being involved at all.
Five more hearings are scheduled this month with one scheduled June 15.
Set to contain arguments from the committee that Trump tried to replace Barr, so that the justice department could act on those claims.
Abc57 will keep you updated on the latest developments out of our nation’s capital as lawmakers witness and work to understand what happened on January 6th.