调查1月6日美国国会大厦袭击事件的众议院特别委员会召开了会议周四第一次黄金时段听证会。
听证会以前所未见的视频片段和证人证词为特色，立法者旨在解释他们所谓的“协调，多步骤的努力”前总统唐纳德·特朗普及其盟友推翻2020年总统大选的结果。
他打电话给我:戏弄下一次听证会，委员会显示暴徒表达意图的视频
主席本尼·汤普森在听证会结束时播放了一段暴徒对委员会的采访视频，超过六次国会大厦暴徒用他们自己的话解释了去年1月6日他们在国会大厦游行的原因。
“特朗普只要求我做两件事，”罗伯特·肖纳克(Robert Schornack)说，他于去年3月被捕，去年12月承认了一项轻罪。“他问我的投票，他问我1月6日。”
丹尼尔·赫伦丁说:“他让我们去华盛顿，说事情会发生，他去年承认非法进入国会大厦。
汤普森最后调侃了委员会的下一次听证会，该听证会定于6月13日星期一上午10点举行
“我们将调查那些说服那些人和其他人袭击国会大厦的谎言，”他说。
历史性的听证会结束了
在黄金时间举行的近两个小时的听证会上，众议院特别委员会将特朗普置于“未遂政变”和“旨在推翻总统选举的多步阴谋”的中心，该委员会的主席强调特朗普及其盟友如何一再试图阻止权力的和平转移。
一名国会警察描述人群为“绝对的战区”，从未见过的镜头和生动的证词让听证室的一些人流泪，因为委员会阐述了它将如何在随后的听证会上解释特朗普窃取选举的“复杂的七部分计划”。
怀俄明州共和党众议员利兹·切尼(Liz Cheney)表示，长达11个月的调查和1000多次采访显示，川普“很清楚”国会大厦的暴力事件以及副总统迈克·彭斯和议员们的安全风险，但选择什么也不做。
“特朗普总统不仅拒绝告诉暴民离开国会大厦，他也没有呼吁美国政府指示国会大厦进行辩护，”她说。"副总统彭斯做了所有这些事情."
六月九日晚上十点零二分
“这是一场大屠杀”:国会警察讲述“滑入人们的血液中”
国会警察卡罗琳·爱德华兹(Caroline Edwards)在暴徒将她撞倒在地后脑部受到创伤，她详细描述了她所说的“绝对的战区”,当时警察们正在努力守住防线。
“我只记得我的——我的呼吸卡在喉咙里，因为我——我看到的只是——一个战争场景，”她说。“这就像我在电影里看到的一样。
“我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。地面上有军官。你知道，他们在流血。他们在投掷...我看到朋友们满脸是血。我在人们的血液中滑倒，”她继续说道。
“我在人们摔倒时接住他们...简直是大屠杀。一片混乱。我甚至无法描述我所看到的，”她补充道。“我做梦也没想到，作为一名警察，作为一名执法人员，我会发现自己置身于一场战斗之中。”
六月九日晚上九点五十六分
视频显示国会警察被打昏
该委员会播放了一段视频，显示了国会警察卡罗琳·爱德华兹被击倒的那一刻，她试图阻止一群暴徒推搡路障和自行车架。
视频开始时，爱德华兹退缩了。
“我感觉自行车架压到了我的头顶，我被向后推，我的脚碰到了身后的楼梯，我的下巴撞到了扶手，”她说。"那时我眼前一片漆黑，但我的后脑勺撞上了身后的水泥楼梯。"
爱德华兹在恢复意识后返回岗位，她说当她去国会大厦西侧保护参议院台阶时，“肾上腺素起作用了”。在她被胡椒喷雾和催泪瓦斯击中之前，她在那里帮助那些被胡椒喷雾伤害的人和其他人。
Jan. 6 committee live updates: Cheney claims Trump said Pence 'deserves' hanging
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held itsfirst prime-time hearing on Thursday.
The hearing featured never-before-seen video footage and witness testimony as lawmakers aim to explain what they call a "coordinated, multi-step effort" byformer President Donald Trump and his alliesto overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
'He called me there': Teasing next hearing, committee shows video of rioters voicing intent
Chairman Bennie Thompson wrapped up the hearing with a video compilation of rioters' interviews with the committee, with more than half-a-dozenCapitol riotersexplaining in their own words why they marched on the Capitol last Jan. 6.
"Trump only asked me for two things," said Robert Schornack, who was arrested last March and pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor last December. "He asked me for my vote, and he asked me for January 6th."
"He asked us to come to come to D.C. and said things are going to happen," said Daniel Herendeen," who pleaded guilty last year to illegally entering the Capitol.
Thompson closed by teasing the committee's next hearing, scheduled for Monday, June 13, at 10 a.m.
"We're going to examine the lies that convinced those men and others to storm the Capitol," he said.
Historic hearing gavels out
In a nearly two-hour hearing in prime time, the House select committee placed Trump at the center of an "attempted coup" and "multistep conspiracy aimed at overturning the presidential election," with the panel's chairs emphasizing how Trump and his allies repeatedly tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
Never-before-seen footage and graphic testimony from a Capitol Police officer, who described the crowd as an "absolute war zone," brought some in the hearing room to tears, as the committee laid out how it will explain in subsequent hearings a "sophisticated seven-part plan" by Trump to steal the election.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said the 11-month-long investigation with more than 1,000 interviews revealed that Trump was "well aware" of the violence at the Capitol and security risk to Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers but chose to do nothing.
"Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element to the United States government to instruct at the Capitol be defended," she said. "The vice president -- Pence -- did each of those things."
'It was carnage': Capitol Police officer recounts 'slipping in people's blood'
Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after rioters knocked her to the ground, described in detail what she called a "an absolute war zone" as officers struggled to hold the line.
"I can just remember my -- my breath catching in my throat, because I -- what I saw was just -- a war scene," she said. "It was something like I had seen out of the movies.
"I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground. You know, they were bleeding. They were throwing ... I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood," she continued.
"I was catching people as they fell ... It was carnage. It was chaos. I can't even describe what I saw," she added. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think as as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle."
Video shows Capitol Police officer getting knocked unconscious
The committee aired a video showing the moment Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards was knocked out as she tried to hold the line from a crowd of rioters pushing up against barricades and bike racks.
Edwards winced as the video began.
"I felt the bike rack come on top of my head and I was pushed backwards, and my foot caught the stair behind me, and my chin hit the handrail," she said. "At that point I blacked out but the back of my head clipped the concrete stairs behind me."
Edwards returned to duty after regaining consciousness, saying "adrenaline kicked in" as she went to the West Front of the Capitol to protect the Senate steps. There she helped people who had gotten pepper sprayed and others injured before she was hit herself with pepper spray and tear gas.
