Jan. 6 committee hearing postponed until after Hurricane Ian aftermath

The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has delayed its planned Wednesday hearing due to Hurricane Ian’s impending strike on Florida.

The much-anticipated hearing, which was expected to be the final nationally televised look at former President Donald Trump’s effort to stay in power illegally, will be rescheduled, its leaders said.

No new date was immediately set.

The panel has already built a comprehensive case that the attack was the culmination of a weeks-long effort by Trump to illegally cling to power after losing the 2020 election to President Biden.

10 things we learned from Jan. 6 committee hearings on the Capitol attack

The bipartisan group plans to use the final hearing to give the public a final look at Trump’s scheme, along with never-before-seen footage of the attack and “significant” new testimony from witnesses, according to committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a Republican National Committee Victory Rally at Dalton Regional Airport on January 4, 2021, in Dalton, Georgia. (Alex Wong/)

Will Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) be there even though she lost re-election?

Cheney, perhaps the most recognizable critic of Trump on the panel, will be in her usual spot on the dais alongside Thompson.

The panel’s senior Republican leader is still a member of Congress until the end of the year despite losing a GOP primary in her home state of Wyoming.

It’s not known whether Cheney, who is mulling a long-shot 2024 presidential bid, will play a leading role on Wednesday.

In past hearings, she has delivered crushing rebukes to Trump and his Republican apologists, including closing statements that suggested history will judge them harshly.

Violent insurrectionists loyal to then-President Donald Trump stand outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021. (Jose Luis Magana / AP/)

Will the format be the same as past hearings?

Not exactly.

The earlier eight hearings, which grabbed unexpectedly widespread public attention over the summer, each focused on a particular aspect of Trump’s scheme to overturn the election, like his effort to bully state election officials and even former Vice President Mike Pence.

Wednesday’s hearing will also focus on “a key element of Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the election.” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), without revealing what that “key element” would be.

But he added that “it’ll be potentially more sweeping than some of the other hearings.”

Members have been tight-lipped about what exactly will new revelations the hearing may bring or if there will be some kind of explosive disclosure.

The panel has proven itself to be adept at building up public expectations and then meeting them, like when it slated an emergency hearing that featured White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

The young onetime Trump loyalist delivered perhaps the biggest bombshell with her inside look at Trump’s refusal to stop the violent attack in real-time.

Will the scandal over Trump taking top secret documents to Mar-a-Lago come up?

The hearing is the first one since the FBI searched Trump’s Florida estate and recovered a vast cache of government documents he improperly took with him when he left office.

On the face of it, the federal criminal probe into the documents has nothing to do with the Jan. 6 investigation.

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It’s more than possible that some of the 10,000 seized documents touch on Trump’s campaign to block the peaceful transfer of power. But prosecutors have not revealed their contents to anyone, let alone the panel that might bare them to the public.

Will the committee announce a criminal referral of Trump?

The committee has hedged its bets on whether it will recommend that the Department of Justice charge Trump for his role in seeking to subvert American democracy.

Members have said they would only make a recommendation if they are unanimous, suggesting that some lawmakers may not

In any case, such a referral is largely a formality, since U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland would have the final say on whether to file charges.

Is this the last word from the committee?

No. It will issue a final report, likely after the midterm elections, which take place on Nov. 8.

What if new evidence surfaces?

The panel’s leaders say they will not hesitate to investigate new leads and hold new hearings if necessary, regardless of the proximity to Election Day on Nov. 8