U.S. news outlets say the congressional committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 of last year will hear testimony from two aides to then-President Donald Trump about his reaction to the insurrection as it was unfolding.
Matthew Pottinger, the former president’s deputy national security adviser, and then-deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews will appear before the House of Representatives committee during Thursday’s session. It will focus on the scene in the White House as Trump’s supporters raided the Capitol to try to block lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden’s win in the November 2020 presidential election.
Pottinger and Matthews are expected to testify about frantic, yet unsuccessful efforts among White House staffers, as well as Trump’s daughter Ivanka, a White House adviser, to get him to issue a statement in the first hours of the attack urging his supporters to stand down.
More than three hours passed before Trump finally issued a statement sympathizing with the rioters over his election loss but calling on them to go home.
