Jan. 6 Committee Findings Are So Explosive They Will ‘Blow the Roof Off the House,’ Rep. Jamie Raskin Says

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Images

The Jan. 6 committee‘s upcoming public hearings will “tell a story that will blow the roof off the House,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) predicted Thursday at a Georgetown University event, according to NBC News.

Raskin, who serves on the committee, said hearings are expected in June, with a comprehensive report about the committee’s findings to be released by late summer or early fall. The timing and content of the report could aid Democrats in the run-up to the midterm elections.

“No president has ever come close to doing what happened here in terms of trying to organize an inside coup to overthrow an election and bypass the constitutional order,” Raskin said. “And then also use a violent insurrection made up of domestic violent extremist groups, white nationalist and racist, fascist groups in order to support the coup.”

“This was not a coup directed at the president,” he added. “It was a coup directed by the president against the vice president and against the Congress.”

Some Republicans may secretly agree with Raskin about the gravity of Trump’s actions. Raskin’s comments came the same day we learned that House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — despite his denials — bashed Trump for inciting the attack and said he would urge Trump to resign over Jan. 6. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), too, expressed a desire for Trump to be removed from office, according to The New York Times. McCarthy and McConnell both neglected to act on their tough talk last January.

Raskin also addressed the efforts of Trump’s inner circle to stonewall the investigation. “The closer you get to Trump, the more they refuse to testify,” he said of the work done by the committee, which has spoken with at least 800 witnesses. As of February, at least 18 Trump World figures, from inside the White House and beyond, had refused to cooperate.

McCarthy rejected the committee’s request for an interview in January, for instance. So too have have Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Steve Bannon, who helped set up the Jan. 6 “command center” at the Willard International Hotel in Washington, D.C., defied a subpoena to provide testimony and documents and now faces a trial for contempt of Congress. The Justice Department is considering similar charges against former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Right-wing lawyer and coup memo author John Eastman, meanwhile, has sought to shield thousands of emails from the committee. Rudy Giuliani was also subpoenaed, yet hasn’t spoken with the committee yet. Others, like Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr., have agreed to appear before the committee.

Raskin said on Thursday that the committee would prove a coordinated attempt among Trump, his top aides, and key supporters to overturn the election by having Vice President Mike Pence decline to certify certain Electoral College votes from states Joe Biden won, thus allowing the election to be decided by state delegations, of which Republicans held a majority.

From there, Raskin said, “It’s anybody’s guess what could have happened — martial law, civil war. You know, the beginning of authoritarianism.”