According to the investigation committee, the attack on the US Capitol was an “attempted coup”

*Paromita Das
According to the head of the US Congressional Committee investigating the deadly Capitol riots, the attack was the “culmination of an attempted coup.” Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, spoke during a public hearing on June 9 that was widely broadcast live across America during primetime.

On January 6, 2021, supporters of former US President Donald Trump carried out an attack on the US Capitol, claiming that his defeat in the US elections in 2020 was a ‘fraud.’ Trump had spoken to his supporters just before the attack. US lawmakers from both parties were certifying US President Joe Biden’s victory at the time of the attack. The building was evacuated as a result of the attack.

House committee chairman Bennie Thompson warned during his opening statement that the conspiracy was far from over.

“The conspiracy to subvert the will of the people is far from over,” he declared.

“There are those in this country who crave power but have no love or respect for what makes America great: devotion to the Constitution, allegiance to the rule of law, and our common journey to build a more perfect Union,” he said.

During the hearing, the committee presented preliminary findings from a year-long investigation into the assault, attempting to outline a deep-seated and ongoing plot to undermine the US Constitution and overturn Donald Trump’s election defeat.
In the coming days, the committee will release “never before seen footage” from the attack as well as additional information.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed the investigation as a “witch hunt,” but the public hearings were clearly on his mind Thursday, when he launched into a largely false tirade on his social media platform, defending the insurgency as “the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again.”

The committee intends to argue that Trump laid the groundwork for the insurgency with months of lies about fraud in an election described as the most secure ever by his own administration.