Jan. 6 committee schedules ninth and perhaps final hearing for Oct. 13

The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol has scheduled its next public hearing on Thursday, Oct. 13, less than three weeks before the midterm election that will determine control of Congress.

The session, which was rescheduled due to Hurricane Ian, is expected to be the bipartisan panel’s final one, although its leaders haven’t ruled out holding more hearings if new evidence emerges.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee’s chairman, has given few clues about what to expect but told reporters last week to expect revelations about Save America PAC, Trump’s chief fundraising vehicle. It is facing legal scrutiny after the Justice Department issues a round of grand jury subpoenas seeking detailed information about the political action committee’s fundraising practices.

The nationally televised hearing will start at 1 pm Eastern and is expected to include never-before-seen interview footage of witnesses the committee has deposed since late July. That could include Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was interviewed last week behind closed doors. The committee probed Thomas about her role in trying to help Trump overturn his election defeat, including her correspondence with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawmakers in Arizona and Wisconsin in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election.

The committee is aiming to wrap up its work by the end of the year and issue a final report and legislative recommendations, but its investigative work is not yet complete as lawmakers explore several unanswered questions.

Panel members still want to get to the bottom of missing Secret Service texts from Jan. 5-6, 2021, which could shed further light on Trump’s actions during the insurrection, particularly after earlier testimony about his confrontation with security as he tried to join supporters at the Capitol. Thompson said earlier this month that the committee has recently obtained “thousands” of documents from the Secret Service.

Another decision for the committee is how aggressively to pursue testimony from Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. Some members have downplayed the value of taking that step and time is running short of requesting their testimony.

If Republicans take the majority in November’s elections, they are expected to dissolve the committee in January. The panel plans to issue a final report by the end of December that will include legislative reforms it says would help prevent future attempts to subvert democracy.

With News Wire Services