U.S. House panel investigating Capitol attack aims for May hearings

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by former President Donald Trump’s supporters is aiming to hold public hearings on their findings in May, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin told CBS on Sunday.

“The hearings should be in early May. That’s what I’m hoping for. Obviously we’re up against a lot of obstruction,” said Raskin, a member of the House Select Committee on Jan. 6.

The Select Committee has conducted hundreds of interviews in its investigation of the attack, which came as lawmakers inside the Capitol were poised to certify the Republican Trump’s defeat in the November 2020 presidential election.

“What we’re looking for is the connections between the inside political coup and the violent insurrection. And I do feel confident we’re going to be able to tell that story,” Raskin said.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, testified to the committee on Thursday. The panel also expects to speak to Ivanka Trump, Kushner’s wife and Trump’s older daughter.

The panel voted unanimously Monday to seek “contempt of Congress” charges against Peter Navarro, a former trade adviser to Trump, and Daniel Scavino, who was a Trump deputy chief of staff.

Raskin said the committee continues to scrutinize a seven-hour gap in White House records of Trump’s phone calls the day of the deadly attack.

“We have no comprehensive fine-grained portrait of what was going on during that period and that’s obviously of intense interest to us,” Raskin said, adding that witness testimony has given the panel insight into conversations that took place during that time period. “It does seem like the gaps are suspiciously tailored to the heart of the events.”

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy last year described talking to Trump during the riot, saying he urged the president to call off his supporters and accept his defeat.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)