Capitol Police Officer Will Tell Her Story in Prime Time

With never-seen video, new audio, and a mass of evidence, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol will attempt to show the “harrowing story” of the deadly violence that erupted that day, along with the backstory of then-President Trump's efforts to overturn Joe Biden's election victory, per the AP. Multiple hearings are scheduled for this month, with the first beginning at 8pm Eastern Thursday. Major networks and their websites, except for Fox News, plan to carry the proceedings. The hearing also be streamed live via the committee's website and its YouTube channel.

• First two witnesses: Thursday's prime-time hearing will open with eyewitness testimony from the first police officer pummeled in the riot and from a documentary filmmaker tracking the extremist Proud Boys, who prepared to fight for Trump immediately after the election, and led the storming of the Capitol.
• More on the witnesses: First up will be accounts from police who engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the mob, with testimony from US Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who was seriously injured in the attack. Also appearing Thursday will be documentary maker Nick Quested, who filmed the Proud Boys storming the Capitol—and a pivotal leadership meeting with another extremist group, the Oath Keepers, the night before in a nearby parking garage.

• Trump allies: Thursday's hearing will also feature the committee's accounts from Trump’s aides and family members, interviewed behind closed doors, of the deadly siege that Democrats and others say put US democracy at risk.
• End game: The result of the coming weeks of public hearings may not change hearts or minds in politically polarized America. But the committee's investigation with 1,000 interviews is intended to stand as a public record for history, per the AP. A final report aims to provide an accounting of the most violent attack on the Capitol since the British set fire to it in 1814, and to ensure such an attack never happens again.
• Member's quote: "Putting it all together in one place and one coherent narrative, I think, will help the American people understand better what happened on January 6th—and the threats that that could potentially pose in the future," Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a member of the 1/6 committee, said in an interview.

(More Capitol riot stories.)