Democrats to reconvene Jan. 6 panel for anniversary hearing

(The Center Square) — House Democrats are reconvening a special committee for a hearing to mark the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the U.S. Capitol and criticize the Trump administration for trying to “white-wash” history.

In a Dear Colleague letter, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democratic members of the Jan. 6 select committee will hold a “special hearing” on the 5th anniversary of the Capitol building assault to “honor” first responders and “expose the election deniers who hold high-level positions of influence in the executive branch.”

“At the hearing, we will examine ongoing threats to free and fair elections posed by an out-of-control Trump administration, expose the election deniers who hold high-level positions of significance in the executive branch and detail the threats to public safety posed by the hundreds of violent felons who were pardoned on the President’s first day in office,” the New York Democrat wrote.

“We will also present a panel of members who wish to share their personal experiences from that horrific day,” Jeffries said, calling on members “who wish to share their personal experiences from that horrific day.”

The House select committee held a series of live-streamed hearings in 2022 that sought to tie President Donald Trump and his closest advisers to the “insurrection” and efforts to block the certification of the presidential election. The Democratic-controlled panel approved a criminal referral for Trump and called for charges against him, including aiding an insurrection.

But Trump wasn’t prosecuted, and shortly after returning to the White House in January he pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 1,600 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Trump has also urged the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute members of the committee, which included former Republican Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, and Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois — but outgoing Democratic President Biden Joe Biden preemptively pardoned the nine members of the panel.

In his letter, Jeffries said at the hearing Democratic lawmakers will review Trump’s “blanket pardons and commutations” to individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, “including hundreds of violent felons who brutally assaulted law enforcement officers.”

“Several of those individuals have been charged with new crimes throughout the country, putting the safety of the American people in jeopardy,” Jeffries wrote. “A troubling number of the criminals pardoned by Donald Trump have been arrested for child molestation, sexual assault and kidnapping.”

Jeffries also accused the White House of trying to “re-write history” and of ignoring the trauma of more than 140 “heroic” police officers who were injured or “tragically” lost their lives as a result of the Capitol attack.

“In the years since that disgraceful day, far-right Republicans in Congress have repeatedly attempted to rewrite history and whitewash the events of January 6th,” he said. “Our country has been indelibly scarred.”

This story originally appeared in The Center Square.