Jan. 6 Committee Will Hold Public Hearings Soon and Hopes to Wrap Investigation Before Midterm Elections

The House Select Committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will reportedly enter a new, more public phase in 2022.

As the bipartisan group of lawmakers — there are four Democrats and two Republicans on the committee — prepares an interim report on their findings by the summer, they will hold public hearings to tell the story of the insurrection from beginning to end, according to the Washington Post.

"We want to tell it from start to finish over a series of weeks, where we can bring out the best witnesses in a way that makes the most sense," a senior committee aide told the paper. "Our legacy piece and final product will be the select committee's report."

The committee is also considering whether to recommend charges to the Justice Department for anyone involved in the events of Jan. 6, including former President Donald Trump, the Post reports. They may also recommend legislation to make it harder to overturn another valid election in the future.

"We have to address it — our families, our districts and our country demand that we get as much of the causal effects of what occurred and come up with some recommendations for the House so that it won't ever happen again," committee Chairman Bennie Thompson told the paper.

So far, the panel has interviewed more than 300 witnesses, issued more than 50 subpoenas, and collected more than 35,000 pages of documents for the investigation, according to the Post.

But the work continues for the committee, which is reportedly working on a tentative schedule that includes public hearings this winter and into spring, followed by the interim report in the summer and a full report coming out before the November midterm elections, which could flip the House and give a majority to Republicans who might want to shut down the investigation.

To reach their goals, the committee will continue to seek testimony and records related to the attack from witnesses, including two Republican members of Congress, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who were issued a "request for information" rather than a subpoena.

The committee has recommended charges for two witnesses, Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows, who failed to comply with its subpoenas. Both are close contacts of the former president. Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury on contempt of Congress charges; Meadows has not been charged but the House followed the committee's lead in voting to hold Trump's former chief of staff in contempt.