Jan. 6 panel revises hearing schedule, citing new evidence

Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the Jan. 6 select committee, said Wednesday that significant new streams of evidence have necessitated a change to the panel’s hearing schedule, including the potential for additional hearings.

After the committee’s Thursday hearing — which will focus on former President Donald Trump’s effort to deploy the Justice Department to help overturn the 2020 presidential election — House investigators will resume hearings in July, Thompson said.

Thompson (D-Miss.) cited newly received footage from documentarian Alex Holder, who had access to Trump and his family before and after Jan. 6; new documents from the National Archives; and a flood of new tips received during the committee’s first four public hearings.

Although panel leaders have only teased the possibility of two public hearings beyond Thursday’s, Thompson said they may add one or more hearings, depending on the evidence it collects in the coming weeks. The House is scheduled to leave town for two weeks beginning Friday and to return on July 12. Thompson said the panel’s hearings would likely resume “after the recess.”

However, Thompson cautioned that the hearings couldn’t be pushed back much further because the panel has to write its final report, which members expect to release in the fall.

Thompson said he has already viewed some of the footage provided by Holder, who is slated to privately speak with the select committee Thursday, though he hasn’t seen all of it yet. He described Holder’s footage as “important” but declined to elaborate.