House GOP’s new Jan. 6 committee questions what happened that day

WASHINGTON (AP) — One week after the nation marked the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the history of what happened that day is being reconsidered, revised and reassessed by the party in power.

The House GOP’s new Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack held its first hearing Wednesday, what was billed as an examination of the FBI’s investigation into the pipe bombs that had been found outside the Democratic and Republican party headquarters during the day. The FBI’s work dragged on for years until the arrest of a suspect last month.

But the House hearing quickly devolved into a revisionist spectacle — militant Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sat in the front row — as Republicans pursued alternative theories about why President Donald Trump’s supporters engaged in mob violence that day. They suggested the rioters were essentially tricked into laying siege to the Capitol, an attack ...