Following the insurrection at the capitol on January 6, 2021, members of congress formed a committee to get to the bottom of how a group of terrorists breached the capital and tarnished American democracy. 

The committee consists of 9 members; 2 Republicans and 7 Democrats, with Bennie Thompson serving as the committee chairman. The goal of the committee formed on May 14, 2021, is to investigate the individuals that stormed the capital and threatened members of congress. Additionally, the committee is trying to figure out why they chose such a violent path.

The committee has been interviewing members of Trump’s staff to figure out how and why these terrorists stormed the capitol. An article from the New York Time states, “The committee has interviewed over 800 witnesses and plan to interview at least a dozen more.” The most recent interviewee was Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, on April 5, 2022. Ivanka testified for hours on Tuesday, recounting what her father did as the crisis unfolded. She says that she was one of several aides to have attempted to convince the president to condemn the violence. Ms. Trump’s accounts of the day are helping congress members to piece together how Trump could have communicated that day and that Ivanka was crucial in reconstructing the events on that fateful day. 

On November 7, 2020, national media organizations projected that Joe Biden won this election. Donald Trump, however, insisted that the election results were not accurate and someone committed voter fraud to ensure Biden won. The days following consisted of Trump, taking to twitter to  try to convince the public that he won “[Biden] only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA,” Trump subsequently tweeted. “I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!” The former president even went so far as to try to convince his own vice president, Mike Pence, to overturn the election and not confirm Joe Biden as the next president.  

The January 6th attack was a scary time for us all, Kylie Gertner, a junior at the time of the attack said, “I think it was a call of action for a lot of people because it was so crazy that it even happened and people were very surprised that it even happened and I think that’s a good thing, but we also need to figure out how we can make sure it doesn’t happen again.” To keep updated about the committee you can visit their website, https://january6th.house.gov/