Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the White House.

I'm Deer Jerval, Shaiqaver Congress.

And I'm Ron Elving, Editor-Corespond.

And it is currently 10.49 pm Eastern time on Thursday, June 9th of 2022. Thank you all

for joining us. We are actually taping this just moments after the first January 6th hearing

concluded. The House is holding six hearings that dig into former President Donald Trump's

role in the Capitol riot. And for those of you all who were not able to watch the hearing,

I just want to quickly recap the evening. At the outset of this nearly two-hour hearing,

Congresswoman Liz Cheney from Wyoming spent a good amount of time just laying out the narrative.

She was attempting to show that President Trump and most of his senior aides actively precipitated

and encouraged the rally at the Capitol and waited hours and hours and hours to encourage

the pro-Trump extremists who broke into the Capitol building to leave.

On this point, there is no room for debate. Those who invaded our Capitol and battled

law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them that the

election was stolen and that he was the rightful President. President Trump summoned the

mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.

Then the committee showed an 11-minute film with footage of the insurrection on January 6th.

After a short break, the committee then heard from two witnesses. A documentary filmmaker

named Nick Quisted and a Capitol police officer who was injured during the riot's Caroline

Edwards. Edwards described part of what she experienced in pretty raw detail.

What I saw was just a war scene. It was something like I had seen out of the movies. I couldn't

believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing

...