Jan. 6 Capitol attack: Prime-time public hearing is set for this week

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold a prime-time hearing on Thursday night.

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Members of the committee said over the weekend that in addition to testimony that the committee intended to present at the hearing, it is now expecting to hear from new witnesses.

It is not clear who the new witnesses may be, but the committee on Friday subpoenaed members of the Secret Service after it was told that the agency had erased text messages exchanged on the day of the attack on the Capitol.

According to a spokesman for the agency, the text was lost during a “pre-planned, three-month system migration.”

A Secret Service spokesperson said the agency has turned 800,000 records over to the committee, the Hill reported last week.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, a member of the committee, told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday that the agency had been given until Tuesday to turn over the text messages from that day and the day before, and the committee expects to receive them on time.

“We need them. And we expect to get them by this Tuesday,” Lofgren said.

“I was shocked to hear that they didn’t back up their data before they reset their iPhones — that’s crazy,” Lofgren said. “I don’t know why that would be. But we need to get this information to get the full picture.”

While data on some phones were lost, Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, said, none of the text messages the committee sought were permanently erased.

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Virginia, a committee member, said the hearing would also feature more of the videotaped testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

“Cipollone’s testimony is very valuable ... but there’s actually more,” Luria said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There’s other witnesses we’ve spoken to who have yet to appear in our previous hearings, who will add a lot of value and information to the events of that critical time in January.”

Committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, said Thursday’s session “is going to open people’s eyes in a big way” about former President Donald Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

“If I was a president sworn to defend the Constitution — that includes the legislative branch — watching this on television, I know I would have been going ballistic to try to save the Capitol. He did quite the opposite.” Kinzinger said.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing concerning the attack on the Capitol.

For now, Thursday’s hearing is the last of eight hearings the committee has held in public. There could be more public hearings, according to some committee members. Thursday’s hearing will begin at 8 p.m. ET.

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