WASHINGTON (AP) – More witnesses are coming with new details about the January 6 U.S. Capitol riots. after the devastating testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson last week against former President Donald Trump, said a member of the House committee investigating the uprising.
The panel subpoenaed former White House counsel Pat Cipollonewho investigators still hope will appear Wednesday to oust, and said they would also welcome further details from Secret Service members with Trump that day.
Representative Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., cited Hutchinson’s testimony that Trump wanted to join an angry mob of his supporters. who marched on January 6, 2021, to the Capitol, where they rioted, are particularly valuable in “inspiring” more people to come forward when the committee is set up for at least two public hearing this month.
“Every day we have new people come in and say, ‘Hey, I don’t think maybe this piece of story that I know is important,’ he said Sunday. “More information will be forthcoming and stay tuned.”
The Commission has intensified its year-long investigation 6 attacks and Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Follow-up hearings will aim to show how Trump unlawfully directed a violent mob. toward the Capitol on January 6 and then did not act quickly to stop the attack as it began. Over the weekend, Representative Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chairman of the committee, made it clear that criminal referrals The Justice Department, including against the former Republican president, could follow suit.
The committee also considered the new documentary footage about Trump’s final months in office, including interviews with Trump and members of his family.
Kinzinger, in a television interview, declined to reveal the new information he was referring to and did not say who provided it. He said nothing had changed the committee’s confidence in her credibility.
“There’s information that I can’t say yet,” he said. “We will certainly say that Cassidy Hutchinson has been sworn to testify, we find her trustworthy and anyone who wants to make a disparity about it, who is present, should testify as well. under oath and not through anonymous sources.”
In a separate interview, another member of the committee, Representative Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said: “We are monitoring additional leads. I think those quotes will lead to new testimony.”
In Hutchinson’s appearance before the committee, she paints a picture of Trump as an angry, defiant president who is trying to get armed supporters to avoid security screens at a rally on the morning of January 6 to protest his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden.
According to Hutchinson, Cipollone was concerned that Trump would face criminal charges if he joined his supporters in marching to the Capitol.
Legal experts say Cassidy’s testimony has the potential to make it difficult for Trump as federal prosecutors investigate potential criminal misconduct.
Cheney said in an interview that aired Sunday that the committee is still considering whether to make recommendations to the Justice Department, pointing out that “there can be more than one criminal referral.” offense”.
Committee member said they hoped Cipollone would show up.
“He clearly has information about concerns about criminal violations, concerns about the president coming to the Capitol that day, concerns about the chief of staff getting bloodied if they don’t do more. to prevent a violent attack on the Capitol,” Schiff said. “It’s hard to imagine someone at the center of things.”
In her testimony, Cassidy recounted a conversation with Tony Ornato, Trump’s deputy director of operations, to whom she testified, that Trump then grabbed the wheel of the president’s SUV as the Department The Secret Service refused to let him go to the Capitol afterwards. The rally.
However, that account was disputed. Bobby Engel, the Secret Service agent was driving for Trump, and Ornato was willing to testify under oath that no agents were assaulted and that Trump never got behind the wheel, a person familiar with the matter said. That person will not discuss the matter publicly and will speak on condition of anonymity.
“We interviewed Mr. Ornato several times,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and member of the panel. “His memory doesn’t seem to be as accurate as hers. We would definitely welcome them back if they wanted to do it. “
The committee is also working to set up an interview with Virginia “Ginni” ThomasConservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She was asked to speak to the committee after disclosing her contact information with Trump’s team during the time before and on the day of the uprising on Capitol Hill.
Kinzinger appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Schiff on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Cheney appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and Lofgren spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
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For full information on the January 6 hearings, visit https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege.