Where Things Stand: Some Updates On Those Impending Jan 6 Panel Hearings

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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 28: Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, speaks alongside Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) during a committee business mee... WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 28: Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, speaks alongside Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) during a committee business meeting on Capitol Hill March 28, 2022 in Washington, DC. The committee met to consider a vote to recommend contempt of Congress charges for Dan Scavino, former President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff for communications, and Peter Navarro, former President Trump's trade advisor, for refusing to cooperate with subpoenas from the committee as part of their investigation into the January 6, 2021 insurrection. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) MORE LESS

May 12, 2022 6:18 p.m.

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When the Jan. 6 select committee begins holding hearings on their investigative findings in about one month, we may see video testimony from some members of the Trump family.

CNN has a bunch of new details on how the panel’s televised, potentially prime-time presentation will operate, including that the committee plans to air footage from a handful of the 1,000 witness interviews it’s conducted over the course of the last several months. As CNN noted, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner all participated in videotaped interviews with the panel.

As we learned last month, the first hearing will take place on June 9. That first hearing will reportedly function as a birds-eye view summary of the last 10 months of the committee’s investigative work, focusing on key findings the panel plans to dig into in further detail at later hearing dates.

Some of the topics the committee is expected to address on June 9, per CNN: explaining what former President Trump was doing while the mob breached the Capitol, the details of his Big Lie campaign, the delayed law enforcement response to the attack and the details of the various rallies that took place on Jan. 6.

In addition to showcasing footage from some of the witness testimonies, the panel will also pepper the hearings with video clips of some of the dramatic scenes from the insurrection, as violent rioters broke through barricades and stormed the Capitol.

While it’s unclear who will be called in to publicly testify during the hearings — and, interestingly, if any, say, Trump allies would even agree to do it — the panel also plans to bring in witnesses to share testimony live during the hearings. According to several Jan. 6 committee witnesses who spoke to CNN (including former Trump administration and White House staffers as well as rally organizers), the committee hasn’t reached out to witnesses yet for live testimony, but is expected to do so soon. Two sources familiar with the committee’s work told CNN the panel will start reaching out to witnesses next week. At least one witness who spoke to CNN said they would refuse to testify publicly during the panel’s hearing.

The new details on the format of the hearing come just as news broke this afternoon, revealing that the panel, a month out, is still not quite done seeking information from potential witnesses. The panel announced this afternoon that it had subpoenaed five sitting Republican members of Congress, including House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The lawmakers were subpoenaed because they refused to cooperate voluntarily.