Senate to hold hearing into 6 January Capitol attack by Trump supporters – live updates
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Version 0 of 27. Law enforcement officials will give witness testimony about day pro-Trump mob stormed Capitol Mike DeBonis and Karoun Demirjian write for the Washington Post that what it is at stake today in the Senate is who gets to write the narrative of what happened on 6 January. While there has been a push to make the hearing as bipartisan as possible, it is inevitably going to surface divisions. They write: Today’s hearing is not likely to be the last, either: Read more here: Washington Post – At stake in Senate hearing Tuesday: The story of the Capitol riot, and who is responsible You might think that an impeachment trial was enough of an investigation into the events of 6 January and to put them on the record in Congress, but today there will be more delving into what happened. Here’s a reminder of the video montage that Democrats used when presenting their evidence that Donald Trump was responsible for what unfolded. The session today will start at 10am EST (1500 GMT) and we are expecting four witnesses: Robert J. Contee III, the acting chief of police of the Metropolitan Police Department in DC Steven A. Sund, former chief of the Capitol Police (2019-2021) Michael C. Stenger, former sergeant at arms and doorkeeper of the Senate (2018-2021) Paul D. Irving, former sergeant at arms of the US House of Representatives (2012-2021) You’ll notice a lot of 2021 dates in that list – Sund, Stenger and Irving all resigned after the Capitol attack. Neither Stenger or Irving have spoken publicly about the 6 January assault before. Welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Tuesday. Here’s a catch-up on what is happening, and what we might expect to see later today… The Senate will begin a hearing on the 6 January Capitol attack, with witness testimony from law enforcement officers, three of whom have subsequently resigned over security failings on the day. It’s likely to be contentious – among those on the Senate panel are Republican Ron Johnson, who has said the events did not amount to an armed insurrection, and Sens Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, both of whom continued to dispute the election result and chose to discount states’ electoral votes after the riot. Yesterday, president Joe Biden held a ceremony at the White House to mourn those lost to Covid as the US reached the grim milestone of over half a million deaths, the first country in the world to do so. The US recorded 56,044 new cases and 1,413 further deaths yesterday. The total US death toll, according to figures collated by the Johns Hopkins University, stands at 500,071. The supreme court agreed that Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr could obtain years of former president Donald Trump’s federal tax records. The court also said it would not hear an appeal from Pennsylvania Republicans trying to disqualify mailed ballots in the 2020 presidential election. Emma Coronel, the wife of El Chapo, was arrested in Virginia on drug trafficking charges. In Joe Biden’s diary today he will be meeting with Black essential workers at 1.15pm EST (1815 GMT). Biden will then host Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau at 4pm. It is the new president’s first time hosting a foreign leader, and there might be a little bit of frostiness in the air after his Keystone order halted work on the pipeline between the two countries, although you expect Trudeau will find Biden easier to work with than Donald Trump. They are expected to give a joint statement at 5.45pm. Jen Psaki will give the White House press briefing at noon today. It’s a busy day in Congress. Today will see further hearings in the lengthy process of confirming Joe Biden’s cabinet – Xavier Becerra and Deb Haaland will be up today. It is also the concluding day of the Senate hearing into appointing Merrick Garland as US attorney general. |