January 6th Committee Chair Bennie Thompson Guides Investigation to Uncover the Truth

Bennie Thompson, a Democrat representing Mississippi’s 2nd congressional district, serves as the chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. He also serves as the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security.

 

 Under his leadership, the committee has investigated various factors that led up to the January 6th attack. 

 

• In the first hearing, the committee showed never before seen footage from January 6, while witness testimony showed that the attack on the Capitol was a coordinated operation. 

 

• The committee’s second hearing presented the American people with facts exposing the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. 

 

• Witnesses in the third hearing, which centered around Vice President Pence’s commitment to democracy on January 6, testified that President Trump pressured Pence to illegally overturn the election results. 

 

• The fourth hearing, which included testimony from Arizona and Georgia elected officials and election workers, centered on the pressure campaign to find nonexistent election fraud. 

 

• The committee’s fifth hearing featured top Department of Justice officials as witnesses, who detailed Trump’s plan to have the DOJ overturn the election results. 

 

• In a surprise sixth hearing, Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, revealed that Trump and his team knew his supporters would march on the Capitol with weapons on January 6.  

 

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Addressing Those Who Refuse to Testify

In his closing remarks for the committee’s sixth public hearing, Thompson addressed those who have refused to testify to the committee. “I want to speak directly to the handful of witnesses who have been outliers in our investigation, the small number who have defied us outright, those whose memories have failed them again and again on the most important details, and to those who fear Donald Trump and his enablers,” he said. “Your attempt to hide the truth from the American people will fail.” 

 

While he has criticized those who have refused to speak, he has made it clear that he welcomes testimony from any potential witnesses who have changed their minds. 

 

“And to that group of witnesses, if you’ve heard this testimony today and suddenly you remember things you couldn’t previously recall, or there’s some details you’d like to clarify, or you discovered some courage you had hidden away somewhere, our doors remain open,” Thompson said in his closing remarks at the sixth hearing.