WASHINGTON — The January 6, 2021 attack left five people dead, 140 police officers wounded, more than 700 suspects charged, $1.5 million in damage done to the Capitol building itself, and, it briefly halted the Constitutionally-required certification of the Electoral College vote.
How could such a thing happen and what can be done to make sure it never happens again?
Those questions and more could be answered when the House Select Committee To Investigate the January 6 Attack holds its first nationally televised hearing Thursday night.
"The work of this committee is so important that the largest number of people need to see it as possible," said committee member Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Virginia, 2nd District).
What viewers who tune in will see, according to Luria, is "clear, concise" evidence of a "conspiracy...to overthrow the government."
Luria said Former President Donald Trump played a big role.
"He was involved directly with all of the people who have theories to overturn the election results, to pull the levers of power across different agencies of government, to apply pressure to the former vice president, to subvert the Department of Justice, and made a call to thousands of people to show up and in his words, 'be wild' on January 6, which I think contributed greatly to the violence," said Luria.
Virginia Wesleyan University Political Science Associate Professor Leslie Caughell said the hearings are important to set the historical record straight.
"I mean, I think this is undoubtedly important here," she said. "We absolutely had an insurrection. You know, we don't want this to happen again. So, I think these hearings are really, really important."
Caughell continued: "Every day, as we're seeing more news revelations about members of Congress' involvement, the role of the Proud Boys and things like that have played in organizing, this seems like a very historic moment, and, one that I'm not sure I'm very glad to be living through."