Capitol riot hearing: Committee declares Jan. 6 riot an 'attempted coup'

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election declared at Thursday's prime-time hearing that the attack was an "attempted coup" that put "two and half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk."Rep.

Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said "the world is watching" the U.S. response to the panel's yearlong investigation into the Capitol riot and the defeated president's extraordinary effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory.

He called it a "brazen attempt" to overturn the election."Democracy remains in danger," Thompson said. "We must confront the truth with candor, resolve and determination."MOBILE APP USERS: Click here for live blogThe committee presented never-before-seen 12 minutes of video of the deadly violence that day and also of Trump administration officials in the chilling backstory as the defeated president, tried to overturn Biden's election victory.In one clip, the panel played a quip from former Attorney General Bill Barr who testified that he told Trump the claims of a rigged election were "bull——."In another, the former president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, testified to the committee that she respected Barr's view that there was no election fraud. "I accepted what he said."Thursday night's hearing aimed to lay out in gripping detail that the deadly 1/6 violence was no accident.

Instead, the panel declared it was the result of Trump's repeated lies about election fraud and public call for supporters to come to Washington and his private campaign at the highest levels of government to block Congress from certifying Biden's election victory."I’m from a part of the country where people.