Jan. 6 commission hearings on Capitol attack: LATEST UPDATES

Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier reacts after day one of the House select committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

"Special Report" anchor Bret Baier reacted after the first hearing of the House select committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. 

"If you were watching, you saw compelling, at times damning, emotion testimony from these four officers who fought the line to try to protect the Capitol and the lawmakers inside," Baier said. "We've obviously talked a lot about Jan. 6 in this time since then, but putting it all together and seeing it again is jarring."

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The Jan. 6 select committee hearing closed on Tuesday after nearly 3.5 hours of testimony, filled with gruesome details of what USCP and MPD officers experienced on that day.

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, asked each of the officers at the end of the hearing to weigh in on what they would like the committee to ensure it covers. Multiple officers said that they want the members to go after public officials who might have had a role in inspiring, assisting or downplaying the violent attack by the pro-Trump mob.

"While I understand there have been investigations the events of Jan. 6, my understanding is that those have addressed some of the micro-level concerns," MPD Officer Michael Fanone said. He asked the members to investigate more broadly the people who created the conditions in which the attack happened.

"The circumstances of that rhetoric and those events leads in the direction of our president and other members... of Congress and the Senate," Fanone said of the Trump 'Stop the Steal' rally on Jan. 6. "What I am looking for is an investigation into those actions... and also whether there was collaboration between those members, their staff, and these terrorists."

"You guys are the only ones we've got to deal with crimes that occur above us," MPD Officer Daniel Hodges said. "I need you guys to address if anyone in power had a role in this. If anyone in power coordinated, or aided abetted or tried to downplay, tried to prevent the investigation of this terrorist attack."

"It's not a secret that it was political. They were literally there to 'stop the steal," USCP Private First Class Harry Dunn said. "Telling the truth shouldn't be hard."

Dunn added: "If a hit man is hired, and he kills somebody, a hit man goes to jail. But not only does the hit man go to jail. But the person wh hired them does."

Dunn said that the Jan. 6 mob was the equivalent of a hit man. "I want you to get to the bottom of that."

Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who was harshly critical of Trump and Republicans at other times in the hearing, also asked for more fortification of the Capitol in case of future attack.

In response to questions from the Jan. 6 select committee, the officers testifying Tuesday appeared to blame former President Donald Trump for inspiring the attack and criticize Republicans for allegedly downplaying it.

"This wasn't the first time that... the MAGA people came up here to the Capitol," Private First Class Harry Dunn said. "There were some skirmishes but it was never an attempt to overthrow democracy."

Dunn added, apparently referring to Trump and his allies: "The only difference that I see in that is that they had marching orders so to say. When people feel emboldened by people in power, they assume that they're right."

"Downplaying the events of that day is also downplaying officers' response," MPD Officer Michael Fanone said.

"It's disgraceful that members of our government I believe were responsible for inciting that behavior and then continue to propagate those statements. Things like this was 1776," Fanone later said. "To me those individuals are representative of the worst that America has to offer."

Quoting some of the attackers, Sergeant Aquilino Gonell said, "Trump sent us."

"The same people who we helped. The same people who we gave them the borrowed time to get to safety, now they are attacking us they are attacking our character," Gonell said, apparently referring to Republicans.

"You're talking about people who claim that they are pro-law enforcement, pro-police, pro-law and order," Gonell continued. "And yet when they have the chance and the opportunity to do something about it. To hold people accountable. You don't. You pass the buck like nothing happened."

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., asked the four officers testifying if Jan. 6 feels "like old history to any of the four of you?"

All four replied that they did not.

USCP Private First Class Harry Dunn on Tuesday detailed the use of racial slurs against him and other officers of color during the Jan. 6 select committee hearing.

"I'm a law enforcement officer and I do my best to keep politics out of my job. But in this circumstance, I responded, well I voted for Joe Biden. Does my vote not count? Am I nobody? That prompted a torrent of racial epithets," Dunn, who is Black, said. "One woman in a pink MAGA shirt yelled, 'you hear that guys? This n------ voted for Joe Biden.' Then the crowd, perhaps around 20 people, joined in streaming, 'boo, f------ n-----."

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who is also Black, asked Dunn to elaborate.

"You talked about being called an n-word," Thompson said. "And you talked about talked about sharing comments from your colleagues, as well as the seeing of the Confederate flag and other things carried through the Capitol. As an African-American law enforcement officer, can you give us how you felt defending the Capitol on that day?"

"It just hurts you," Dunn replied. "Those words are weapons. Thankfully at the moment it didn't hinder me from doing my job. But once I was able to process it, it hurt... just thinking about it that people demonize you because of the color of your skin."

USCP Sergeant Aquilino Gonell on Tuesday apologized for an "outburst" he had during the Jan. 6 select committee hearing, in which he appeared to suggest that people should "go to [Trump's] house.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., asked Gonell to react to comments from Trump that the mob of his supporters that stormed the Capitol was "loving." Gonell, who detailed the violence, threats and verbal abuse from the mob. And Gonell, an immigrant and veteran, responded by saying Trump's comment was "upsetting."

"It's a pathetic excuse for his behavior for something that he himself helped to create... I'm still recovering from those hugs and kisses that day," Gonell said. "If that was hugs and kisses I wish you all would go to his house and do the same thing to him."

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., followed Cheney in the questioning order. She asked Gonell a question, and before he answered he apologized for his earlier comments.

"Before I start I just, by no means am I suggesting that we go to his house, may I apologize for my outburst," Gonell said.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., gets emotional as he speaks during the House select committee hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Oliver Contreras/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., appeared on the verge of tears as he spoke during the questioning round of the Jan. 6 hearing, following Officer Michael Fanone's account of how he was "tortured."

Fanone described the violence inflicted against him by the pro-Trump mob and how individuals only intervened to stop the attacks after he shouted that he has kids.

"I never expected today to be quite as emotional for me as it has been," he said. "I think it's important to tell you right now, though, you guys may like individually feel a little broken. You guys all talk about the effects you have to deal with… but you guys won. You guys held." 

"Democracies are not defined by our bad days. We're defined by how we come back from bad days. How we take accountability for that. And for all the overheated rhetoric surrounding this committee, our mission is very simple: It's to find the truth and its to ensure accountability," Kinzinger added.

Kinzinger added later, again getting choked up: "We may have our deep differences on other policy issues, but we are all Americans today. And we thank you for holding that line."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., also got choked up during his remarks.

"If we're so driven by bigotry and hate that we attack our fellow citizens as traitors if they're born in another country, or they don't look like us, then God help us," Schiff said, visibly emotional.

"But I have faith because of folks like you," he said referring to the officers. "I didn't expect this could be quite so emotional either but it must be an 'Adam' thing today."

Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police officers detailed verbal abuse hurled at them by the pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, and attacked public officials who downplay the attack.

"To my perpetual confusion, I saw the thin blue line flag -- a symbol of support for law enforcement -- being carried by the terrorists, as they ignored our commands and continued to assault us," MPD Officer Daniel Hodges said.

"To be honest, I did not recognize my fellow citizens who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 or the United States they claimed to represent," USCP Officer Aquilino Gonell, an immigrant and Army veteran, said. "The rioters called me traitor, a disgrace, and shouted that I, I, an Army veteran and police officer, should be executed."

"I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room. But too many people are telling me now that hell doesn't exist... The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful," MPD Officer Michael Fanone said, slapping table.

Fanone added: "Nothing, truly nothing, has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day and in doing so betray their oath of office."

D.C. Metro Police Officer Michael Fanone, testifying about the events of January 6, said it was “unlike anything I had ever seen, unlike anything I had ever experienced.” He recalled being pulled into the crowd, beaten with fists and “what felt like hard metal objects,” and electrocuted.

“I heard chanting from some in the crowd, “Get his gun,’ and ‘kill him with his own gun.’”

He said doctors later diagnosed him with a concussion, a heart attack, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Fanone railed against those who have downplayed or denied what happened, calling it "disgraceful."

In his opening remarks, Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., claimed that this year “a peaceful transfer of power did not happen.” He then played a video montage of the events of Jan. 6 to those in attendance.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., one of two Republicans on the committee, then spoke, saying that this should be a non-partisan investigation.

“No member of Congress should defend the indefensible, obstruct this investigation, or whitewash what happened that day,” she said. 

At a press conference prior to the hearing, Republicans led by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not properly addressing security concerns and leaving Capitol Police unprepared on January 6. House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., stated that Pelosi was made aware of “potential security threats” to Capitol in December 2020 and “failed to act.”

Tuesday's hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET. It will feature testimony from police officers who were at the Capitol on January 6. According to Rep. Adam Schiff, the hearing will begin with statements from committee members before a round of questions from each of them. The hearing is expected to last roughly two and a half hours.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy arrives in the Rose Garden of the White House on July 26.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., "Pelosi Republicans" after they accepted seats on the House speaker's Jan. 6 special select committee.

McCarthy took the shots at his former No. 3 in the House and the Illinois centrist after being asked about the commission while attending a Rose Garden event for the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, speaks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington

The news on Sunday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will appoint Rep. Adam Kinzinger as the second Republican representative on the special House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is once again putting the congressman from Illinois in the national spotlight.

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