January 6 Committee Postponed in Wake of Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian is forecast to reach category 4 and makes landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast

The House January 6 select committee, which was due to present its final investigative hearing on Wednesday, has been postponed due to concerns about hurricane Ian, which has been affecting part of Florida.

In a joint statement the panel’s chairman, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and the vice-chair, Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said. “In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s proceedings.” The hurricane is forecast to reach category 4 and made landfall on Florida’s Gulf coast.

According to the Guardian, sources close to the investigation said members felt it was insensitive to have a hearing during a potential natural disaster, as well as television coverage of the findings being diminished. There was also a problem concerning one of the committee members. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fl.) had communicated that she was both unable and unwilling to leave her Florida district at a time of crisis.

Damage caused by Hurricane Ian @ Wilfredo Lee

The date for the hearing has not yet been rescheduled. However, it has been suggested that it will take place sometime in October and that the new date will be announced soon.

The topics that the panel intended to cover have not been revealed, in what was expected to be the ‘final’ hearing.

Although it is expected that the hearing is to, at least in part, focus on how Donald Trump and his supporters planned to declare victory, regardless of the 2020 election outcome. The Washington Post reported that the committee intends to show clips from a documentary by Danish filmmakers. These clips captured Roger Stone on camera predicting violent clashes over the election results, months before it took place. In one clip, obtained by CNN, Stone is captured saying, “fuck the voting, let’s get right to the violence.”

Eight hearings have already taken place, featuring testimonies from former White House officials to law enforcement officers. The committee took a hiatus, allowing staff to continue investigations in an attempt to follow new leads and resolve any unanswered questions. 

Some of these issues include whether or not Trump’s ousting of Mark Esper, former defense secretary, was an attempt to install a loyalist, who might have had no objection to using the national guard to delay deployment to stop the Capitol attack.