New hearings loom in Capitol attack probe

'Unfit for office'

Vice-Chair Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, said in a CNN interview on July 24, "There's no doubt in my mind that the (former) president of the United States is unfit for further office.

"Any man or woman who would conduct themselves the way that he did in attempting to overturn an election and stay in power must never again be anywhere close to the Oval Office."

The 56-year-old daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney was stripped of her House leadership position because of her defiance of Trump. She is expected to lose to a Trump-backed primary challenger next month, who will then win the state's only House seat in November.

Cheney has said she has no regrets about her opposition to Trump.

"If I have to choose between maintaining a seat in the House of Representatives or protecting the constitutional republic and ensuring the American people know the truth about Donald Trump, I am going to choose the Constitution and the truth every day," she said.

During its summer recess, the committee has continued to question potential witnesses behind closed doors, including some Trump allies and former office holders.

Lara Brown, director of the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, said, "You have that sense that we are seeing only a small portion of sort of the proverbial tip of the iceberg."

Committee members said the eight public hearings so far have led new witnesses to come forward with documents, videos and information that need to be examined before proceedings continue next month.

California Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat, said: "We have considerably more to do. We have far more evidence to share with the American people, and more to gather."

The committee is still fighting at least two dozen cases in federal court over access to testimony or phone records. The most prominent case is that of former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon.

He refused to comply with a subpoena to appear before the panel or produce documents. He was found guilty on July 22 by a grand jury of two counts of contempt of Congress. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in prison, as well as a fine of $100 to $100,000. Bannon is due to be sentenced on Oct 21.

The committee is also seeking testimony from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. He initially handed over some text messages and documents to the committee, but refused to cooperate further or give a deposition, claiming Trump had asserted executive privilege. The House held him in contempt of Congress, but the Justice Department has decided not to pursue charges.

Meadows is challenging in court the validity of the committee's subpoenas for his documents, testimony and phone records. A federal judge is considering whether a former president can assert privilege over a former aide.

At the committee's final hearing last month, Cheney said: "In the course of these hearings we have received new evidence, and new witnesses have bravely stepped forward. Efforts to litigate and overcome immunity and executive privilege claims have been successful, and those continue. Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued, and the dam has begun to break."

Cheney has said the committee could "contemplate a subpoena" for Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, if she does not voluntarily meet with the committee over her role in advocating to overturn the 2020 election results.