January 6 committee news – latest: Trump cancels anniversary speech as Sean Hannity’s texts revealed

Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the select committee investigating the 6 January riots said that the committee wants to hear from former vice president, Mike Pence, directly.

In an interview with CNN, Mr Thompson said: “I would hope that he would do the right thing and come forward and voluntarily talk to the committee.”

However, he added that the committee has not officially asked Mr Pence to speak with them but added “if he offered, we’d gladly accept. Everything is under consideration.”

“I think it’s important that the public needs to know this was the no. 2 person in government. And for our President, at that time, to take 187 minutes to say the rioters you need to stop and go home because my vice president is in the building and his life is in danger is an absolute shame,” Mr Thompson added.

After Donald Trump cancelled a press conference he was scheduled to address on the anniversary of the Capitol Hill riots, he said that he is expecting a “big crowd” on his next appearance on 15 January in Arizona.

In a statement, Mr Trump said: “In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am cancelling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona—It will be a big crowd!”

He continued: “What has become more and more obvious to ALL is that the LameStream Media will not report the facts that Nancy Pelosi and the Capitol Sergeant-at-Arms denied requests for DC National Guard or Military to be present at the Capitol. Their emails and correspondence with the Department of Defense exist, but the media won’t ask for this evidence, or report the truth!”

Several Republican leaders said that the cancellation of the press conference by Trump was not a good idea.

Among the more than 700 people arrested in connection with the Capitol insurrection, a few names and faces stand out. The Independent’s Andrew Naughtie catches up with their cases:

The January 6 riot was an assault on democracy, meant to undermine the democratic process.

But Capitol Hill is also an office where 435 members of Congress, together with five non-voting delegates, 100 Senators and thousands of staffers that range from seasoned professionals to earnest recent college graduates and interns, show up to go to work.

The Independent’s Eric Garcia on how the attack broke the House:

Over the course of the attack and its aftermath, a few viral images became seared in the national memory.

Many of the people who fought to defend the Capitol on 6 January or laboured late into the night to allow Congress to complete its work that day are still struggling to comprehend what they saw, heard, and felt.

Over the last few weeks, The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg spoke with several staffers who lived and worked through the attack. Their message was unified, loud and clear: They are not OK, and they’re afraid what happened that day could happen again.

President Biden will address the historical significance of the 6 January insurrection during a speech from the Capitol’s Statuary Hall on Thursday.

Ahead of the speech, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has suggested the president is going to “speak to the truth of what happened” rather than “spread lies” about the attack, as many GOP figures continue to downplay the assault.

Three Washington state Republican lawmakers attended a 2020 election conspiracy conference put on by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on the taxpayer dime, according to a recent report.

The Seattle Times reports that state Representatives Robert Sutherland, Vicki Kraft and Brad Klippert flew to South Dakota to attend Mr Lindell’s “Cyber Symposium,” a three-day conspiracy-laden event that made claims so legally questionable that Fox News refused to air ads for the event.

The three Republican lawmakers then requested and received reimbursements for their travel from the state legislature, totalling $4,361.

The chief of the US Capitol Police does not expect any major disturbances near the Capitol on the anniversary of the 6 January assault.

Law enforcement is “paying attention” to a planned rally outside Washington DC’s Central Detention Facility, which holds defendants linked to the attack, but “really, nothing is of great concern to us at this point,” said Chief Thomas Manger.

Meanwhile, the agency collected 9,600 credible threats to members of Congress in 2021, a figure that has steadily risen each year, according to Chief Manger. In 2020, the agency reported 8,000.

Despite the staggering number of arrests tied to Capitol riot, at least one person has managed to evade federal law enforcement, despite ample surveillance footage.

Graig Graziosi talks with retired FBI agent John Iannarelli about the mystery of the a suspected pipe bomber who placed a pair of explosives outside the Republican and Democratic national headquarters the night before 6 January.