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       Documents obtained by a House panel investigating the assault on the US Capitol mounted by pro-Trump rioters nearly one year ago reveal how the former president’s allies planned a campaign to intimidate election officials and spread voter fraud falsehoods.

       Another document obtained by the committee was reportedly drafted for the former president for his signature, calling for the seizure of “evidence” in service of the false claims of voter fraud that propelled the attack and his spurious bid to overturn election results.

       In recent weeks, the committee has accelerated its probe into the attack, fuelled by conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Mr Trump, and a violent attempt to reject the votes of millions of Americans.

       On Thursday, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks to mark one year since the attack, according to the White House. At the Capitol, lawmakers will hold a memorial service.

       Meanwhile, the former president – who has waged a legal challenge to block the committee’s access to records – will deliver remarks from Mar-a-Lago reviving his baseless narrative that the election was stolen from him.

       Follow for live updates

       Key Points New documents show how Trump team planned to target election officials Trump lawyers drafted letter for seizure of election ‘evidence’ in ‘interest of national security’, documents show Committee has ‘firsthand evidence’ that Ivanka Trump urged ex-president to stop violence GOP leader accuses Democrats of using Capitol riot as ‘political weapon' Biden, congressional lawmakers and Trump to hold anniversary events

       Show latest update 1641275999 Mike Pence was a ‘hero’ on 6 January, House Committee member says

       Rep Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said that former vice president Mike Pence was a “hero” and a “patriot” on the day of the Capitol riots.

       A member of the House select committee investigating the events of 6 January, Mr Raskin told CBS News that “on that day, he [Mike Pence] was a hero. And this is a guy who, I felt, went along with way too much during the Trump administration. But on that day, he was a constitutional patriot.”

       Former president Donald Trump had attacked Mike Pence in a tweet and said that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.”

       Some Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol had also called for Mr Pence’s execution, chanting “hang Mike Pence.”

       Maroosha Muzaffar 4 January 2022 05:59

       1641274616 Kevin McCarthy accuses Democrats of politicising 6 Jan riots

       Kevin McCarthy, California Republican and House Minority leader accused the Democrats of using the Capitol riots as a “partisan political weapon to further divide our country.”

       In a letter to the GOP, Mr McCarthy wrote: “As we have said from the start, the actions of that day were lawless and as wrong as wrong can be. Our Capitol should never be compromised and those who broke the law deserve to face legal repercussions and full accountability.”

       He continued: “Unfortunately, one year later, the majority party seems no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared and what must be done to ensure it never happens again. Instead, they are using it as a partisan political weapon to further divide our country.”

       Maroosha Muzaffar 4 January 2022 05:36

       1641273168 Public hearings could begin in a matter of weeks from now, House Committee member says

       Representative Adam B Schiff, a Democrat from California and a member of the House committee investigating the Capitol riots, said that public hearings could begin “in a matter of weeks, if not a couple of months from now”.

       The committee aims to release its final report before the November midterm elections.

       The New York Times reported that the committee is planning for a more public stage for its investigation in the coming weeks.

       Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and vice-President Kamala Harris are scheduled to give speeches on Thursday, marking the one year anniversary of the 6 January riots.

       Maroosha Muzaffar 4 January 2022 05:12

       1641271586 Documents Mark Meadows shared led to more questions, House Committee member says

       One of the members of the House Committee investigating the 6 January Capitol riots has said that the documents that the then chief of staff, Mark Meadows, shared with the committee have led to more questions.

       Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California told NPR that before Mr Meadows reversed his stand to cooperate with the committee, the documents he shared revealed a “large amount of information to the committee.”

       She added: “Many of those documents are very revealing but lead us to having more questions. For example, in one text, there was a reference that there should be a further discussion on Signal, which is an encrypted app. We’d like to know what that consisted of. There are references to communication with state officials in an effort to try and overturn the election. We’d like to know more about that. Mark made a trip to Georgia. You know, we’d like to know a lot more about that.”

       Maroosha Muzaffar 4 January 2022 04:46

       1641269634 January 6 Committee has ‘firsthand testimony’ of Trump's inaction, Liz Cheney says

       Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said that the 6 January committee had “first-hand testimony” that former president Donald Trump watched the riots unfold even as calls from several of his allies, family members and conservative TV hosts pleaded with him to quell the riots.

       Ms Cheney said that “the committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred.”

       She said that the former president “could have easily” walked the few steps to the White House briefing room and told the rioters to stop and go home.

       She added: “We know, as he was sitting there in the dining room next to the Oval Office, members of his staff were pleading with him to go on television to tell people to stop. We know Leader McCarthy was pleading with him to do that. We know members of his family, we know his daughter — we have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence.”

       Maroosha Muzaffar 4 January 2022 04:13

       1641268820 How January 6 broke the House

       The Independent’s interviews with multiple House members and former staff, paint a picture of a hostile work environment in the wake of the Capitol riot.

       One year on, the heart of American democracy is riven by distrust and division that goes far beyond partisan politics as usual.

       The Independent’s Eric Garcia reports on how the attacks on the Capitol sparked a crisis for democracy and the people who keep it running:

       ‘More toxic, more difficult’: How January 6 broke the House The Capitol riot wasn’t just an assault on democracy; it turned Congress into a hostile work environment, writes Eric Garcia

       Alex Woodward 4 January 2022 04:00

       1641268261 January 6 committee studying whether to subpoena Republican lawmakers

       The House select committee investigating the 6 January Capitol riots is studying whether it can subpoena Republican lawmakers, chairman Bennie Thompson said.

       He told NBC that the committee members are investigating whether some sitting Republican members of Congress can be issued subpoenas. “I think there are some questions of whether we have the authority to do it. We’re looking at it. If the authorities are there, there’ll be no reluctance on our part.”

       Maroosha Muzaffar 4 January 2022 03:51

       1641265220 Trump allies planned harassment and intimidation campaign against election officials and ‘weak’ House members, documents show

       A "strategic communications plan" from Trump’s allies called for targeting the homes of secretaries of state and election officials across the US, according to documents obtained by the House committee investigating the Capitol attack.

       The plan called for protests at the homes of election officials, Secretaries of State, GOP state legislators and members of Congress deemed “weak”.

       It also singles out Michigan’s secretary of state, who was confronted by pro-Trump protesters outside her home on 6 December 2020.

       Trump allies planned harassment campaign against election officials, documents show One of the election officials targeted by Mr Kerik’s plan says she will ‘never forget the moment armed protestors gathered outside [her] home in the dark of night last December’

       Alex Woodward 4 January 2022 03:00

       1641262520 ‘A hodge-podge of extremist beliefs'

       What do many of the more than 700 people charged in connection with the Capitol riots have in common? They come from all over America, with regular jobs and backgrounds, and are united in the baseless narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.

       For those who track and study extremism in the United States, that such a broad range of people chose to engage in the riot in some way is concerning, reports The Independent’s Richard Hall.

       “That’s almost more alarming, because it’s not alarming,” says Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.. “There’s not a profile. They range from 18-81 in age. They come from 45 different states — they are all over the map. The unifying idea is that ‘we have to stop the steal’ [of the 2020 election]. But it’s kind of a hodge-podge of extremist beliefs.”

       Richard Hall reports on the banality of extremism that led a mob to rush the halls of Congress in an attempt to disrupt a democratic election:

       Extremism experts explain the most alarming thing about the Capitol rioters More than 700 people have been charged for their role in the Capitol attack, Richard Hall asks experts what we know about those people.

       Alex Woodward 4 January 2022 02:15

       1641258920 What happened to high-profile Capitol riot cases

       QAnon Shaman, the “zip tie guy”, and rioters who threatened violence against lawmakers and Nancy Pelosi – here’s what we know about the state of some of the higher-profile cases tied to the Capitol riot.

       A person suspected of planting pipe bombs around the Capitol is still at large.

       Andrew Naughtie reports:

       The most notable Capitol rioters and what happened to them Among the more than 700 people arrested for allegedly taking part in the Capitol insurrection, a few names and faces stand out. Andrew Naughtie catches up with their cases

       Alex Woodward 4 January 2022 01:15

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