U.S. committee probing Jan. 6 Capitol riot delays hearing

The House of Representatives committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on U.S. Capitol said on Tuesday it has postponed a hearing scheduled for Wednesday but will go ahead with one set for Thursday.

A statement by the Democrat-led select committee did not provide a reason for the postponement. Committee spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, a committee member, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program that the delay was intended to give the panel’s technical staff more time to prepare the multimedia presentation.

“Putting together the video and exhibits is an exhausting exercise for our very small video staff,” Lofgren said, noting the original schedule had been to hold three public hearings in one week.

“So we’re trying to give them a little room to do their technical work,” Lofgren said.

The committee had scheduled six public hearings this month to discuss results of its nearly year-long investigation into the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol by thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump as lawmakers met to formally certify his 2020 election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.

Wednesday’s hearing was to have focused on Trump’s efforts to replace the U.S. attorney general in order to assemble a team at the Justice Department to promote his false claims that his loss was due to widespread voting fraud.

Jeffrey Rosen, then the acting attorney general, was among those scheduled to testify.

At Monday’s hearing – the second of the expected six – the committee showed video testimony by top Trump advisers saying they told him his fraud claims were unfounded and would not change the result, but he disregarded them.

3:54 Former AG Bill Barr tells Jan. 6 committee that Trump’s proof of election fraud was ‘crazy stuff’

Trump, who has denied wrongdoing, issued a 12-page statement after the hearing criticizing the committee and reiterating his fraud claims. Trump also sent out several fund-raising emails making many of the same claims. During the hearing, the committee said Trump has raised some US$250 million while making those claims.