Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., spoke on July 21 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The hearing focused on what former President Donald Trump was doing during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in an effort to interrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
The committee played recorded testimony of former White House counsel Pat Cipollone saying he and others around Trump, like his daughter Ivanka, urged the former president to be forceful in condemning the rioter’s response at the Capitol. Former press secretary Sarah Matthews confirmed that Trump could have gone to the press briefing room to issue a statement at any moment.
“If the president had wanted to make a statement and address the American people, he could have been on camera almost instantly,” Matthews said. “And conversely, the White House press corps has offices that are located directly behind the briefing room. And so if he had wanted to make an address from the Oval Office, we could have assembled the White House press corps, probably in a matter of minutes.”
In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
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