WASHINGTON (Fwrd Axis) — Thursday’s prime-time January 6 hearing will feature testimony from former deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger, a member of the National Security Council during the Trump administration.
Both Matthews and Pottinger resigned in the wake of the January 6 attack over Trump’s response to the riot and it will mark the first time either witness has testified publicly.
CNN was the first to report the news of Matthews and Pottinger being witnesses at Thursday’s hearing.
The House committee investigating the insurrection has confirmed the hearing will focus on Trump’s inactions and bridge together the three-hour gap between when the attack on the Capitol began and when then-President Donald Trump urged his supporters to leave the building in a video posted to Twitter.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said at the end of last week’s hearing that the committee will present a minute-by-minute account of what took place before, during, and after the January 6 attack.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the Jan. 6 committee, told reporters Monday that while he hopes Thursday will be the final public hearing, there is a possibility of more hearings in August and when the investigation wraps up its report later in the fall.
“No, I can’t,” he said. “I’m hoping it is, but something could come up, just like the Hutchinson situation that warranted what we felt was an immediate hearing.”
“It just depends where the evidence takes us,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) added.
With news of the Secret Service deleting text messages day before and of January 6, Thompson told NBC News that the committee has sent a subpoena for the text messages after the Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog reported the texts were missing.
“They said they had them,” Thompson said referring to a statement from the Secret Service. “So we’re holding them to that word.”
