Trump on Jan 6 Hearings: I Demand Equal Time

Donald Trump called for equal air time to present his side of the story surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, hours in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 Committee’s third televised hearing on the night of June 16.

The former president took to his Truth Social account to post the midday statement, as the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot narrative was to lay out evidence and testimony following its year-long inquiry.

“It is a one-sided, highly partisan Witch Hunt, the likes of which has never been seen in Congress before,” Trump wrote. “I am hereby demanding EQUAL TIME to spell out the massive Voter Fraud & Dem Security Breach!”

Republicans have also repeatedly decried the hearings as partisan and unnecessary. The Democrat-led panel of nine representatives contains only two GOP members, both outspoken critics of Trump who had voted to impeach the former president in January 2021 and who were picked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

During the third of six hearings expected this month, the committee claimed Trump had aided in escalating violence and put then-Vice President Mike Pence’s life “in danger” during the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, particularly emphasizing behind-the-scenes debates to halt certification of electors from contested states.

The third day of hearings was broadcasted by TV networks, cable news channels, and online carriers.

The committee held its first live-streamed public hearing earlier this month to reach a wider audience. The hearings have not included rebuttal witnesses. Much of the witness testimony has focused on contesting Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud, which they argued were baseless.

“The Fake News Networks are perpetuating lies, falsehoods, and Russia, Russia, Russia-type disinformation (same sick people, here we go again!) by allowing the low-rated but nevertheless one-sided and slanderous Unselect Committee hearings to go endlessly and aimlessly on (and on and on!),” Trump said.

The 45th U.S. president has issued a 12-page rebuttal statement calling the House Jan. 6 Committee hearings a “smoke and mirrors show” to distract from the economic and social upheavals Americans are facing under the Biden administration.

GOP lawmakers have scheduled counter-programming events to present other accounts of what happened on Jan. 6.

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Rita Li is a reporter with The Epoch Times, focusing on U.S. and China-related topics. She began writing for the Chinese-language edition in 2018.

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