As Jan. 6 committee wraps up, Raskin looks back on key moments

Oct. 27—While the committee looking into the invasion of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is expected to wrap up its investigation by the end of the year, remaining questions could be handled by other congressional committees, according to U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin.

With no more investigative hearings scheduled, the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack will deliver a final report and make any recommendations, Raskin, D, a member of the committee, said in an interview Tuesday.

Whether Democrats keep control of the House of Representatives in the Nov. 8 election or cede control to Republicans, Raskin said, the next Congress would have to decide whether there is more work to do in looking into the attack, and what committee should handle it.

"Midnight for us is the end of the year, practically speaking," Raskin said of the current committee.

The committee made headlines again recently with its decision to subpoena former President Donald Trump.

Raskin said he would like to think that a former high-ranking government official would comply with a congressional subpoena, and pointed out that Trump has already talked about Jan. 6 at various rallies and other events.

He said the committee waited until closer to the end of the process to subpoena Trump out of deference to the former president's claims that he had done nothing wrong.

Now, after taking testimony from more than 1,000 witnesses, the committee has a "mountain" of evidence to guide very specific questions for Trump to answer, Raskin said.

Raskin said several moments from the committee's investigation stand out in his mind.

One was testimony that Trump asked a staffer, "Can you believe I lost to this [expletive] guy?" which Raskin said proves that he knew he had lost the election to President Joe Biden.

Another was former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony that Trump tried to get the Secret Service to allow armed protesters into a rally on Jan. 6 before the attack on the Capitol.

And a third was then-Vice President Mike Pence's refusal to get in a car and leave the Capitol that day, and his determination to stay and finish counting the votes of the Electoral College.

The events of Jan. 6 not only revealed Pence's uncertainty about what would happen if he left, but showed the vice president acting in his own constitutional capacity, Raskin said.

Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter: @RMarshallFNP