When House January 6 select committee chairman Bennie Thompson swung his gavel to open the panel’s final public meeting on Monday, it marked the beginning of the end of its investigation into the riotous attack on the US Capitol fomented by former president Donald Trump as he sought to remain in power against the wishes of the American voters.
After approximately 16 months of work — including deposing hundreds of witnesses, examining countless documents obtained from the National Archives after a precedent-setting court fight, and a series of blockbuster public hearings this past summer — the nine-member panel is set to release its long-awaited report on the attack on Congress, and voted on referrals to the Department of Justice advocating Mr Trump’s prosecution on a series of crimes stemming from his role in egging on the attack and the attempt to overturn the 2020 election that it was part of.
