Trump’s 'state of mind', role in Capitol attack to be unveiled by House panel at hearing

Evidence and "surprising" details from former US president Donald Trump’s Secret Service about the 2021 attack on the US Capitol will be unveiled by the House January 6 committee on Thursday afternoon. Associated Press quoted a committee aide as saying that the 10th public session by the panel will likely delve into Trump’s “state of mind” and his role in the deadly mob siege.

Details about the movement of then-Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the joint session of Congress on the day, will also be divulged during the hearing. It will be the final investigative presentation before the November midterm elections.

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A mob had attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 to stop the Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential elections. The committee has been probing Trump's role in the grave matter.

Notably, a lot of the same people who attacked the Capitol are now running for congressional office, some with Trump’s backing.

Closing arguments will be delivered by the panel’s two Republican lawmakers, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Both of them have been shunned by Trump and their party and will not be returning in the new Congress.

The hearing isn't expected to have any live witnesses and the panel will share information from interviews that it held. This will include testimony by Ginni Thomas, the Conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She was in contact with the White House during the run-up to January 6.

The committee has also held talks with US Secret Service on the matter of missing text messages from that day. The agency had said that the messages were deleted during a technology upgrade.

New documentary footage from the day of the attack and from the rally on the White House Ellipse will also be shown. Trump had called on his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell".

The Secret Service gave over 1.5 million pages of documents and surveillance video to the committee, according to agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

(With inputs from agencies)