Capitol attack | Police testimony will lead off panel's first January 6 hearing

Bennie Thompson says the committee hopes to “set the tone” of the investigation by hearing from those first responders, many of whom were brutally beaten and verbally abused by former President Donald Trump's supporters

A new House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol is expected to hold its first public hearing this month with police officers who responded to the attack and custodial staff who cleaned up afterward, chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson said Friday. Thompson, D-Miss., says the committee hopes to “set the tone” of the investigation by hearing from those first responders, many of whom were brutally beaten and verbally abused by former President Donald Trump's supporters as they pushed past law enforcement and broke into the Capitol to interrupt the certification of President Joe Biden's victory. Referring to the police officers, Mr Thompson told The Associated Press in an interview, “We need to hear how they felt, we need to hear what people who broke into the Capitol said to them.” He said the members of the panel, who held an initial strategy session this week, want to frame that first hearing so that it is clear that they are serious, and also that they care about “those individuals who either secure the Capitol or clean the Capitol.”