Jan. 6 committee chair: Public hearing next week, no final report before election

Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Select Committee on Jan. 6, told Just the News that members of the committee will return to Capitol Hill in the second week of October for the rescheduled public hearing and that the final report won't be out before the Nov. 8 election.

The committee had postponed the hearing, originally scheduled for Sept. 28, due to Hurricane Ian. 

Thompson was asked if there are any additional witnesses he wants to hear from before the final report is completed.

"We're not sure we're going to do any more witnesses," Thompson said. "We have a lot of information that we haven't shared with the public that wouldn't necessarily necessitate a witness."

When asked if the final report will be released before the Nov. 8 election, Thompson said, "No, we might release some interim information, but the final report will come after the election."

Critics of the committee's work argue that its intention is to prevent Trump from running again in 2024. Thompson was asked for his response.

"Everybody's got an opinion in this town," he said. "Some people have three or four. Our charge is to look at the facts and circumstances that brought about January 6, and that's what we're doing, and to make recommendations so that if they are adopted, that will never happen again."

Thompson was asked if the Jan. 6 committee's probe is connected in any way to the Justice Department's investigation of Trump, including the FBI's raid at Mar-a-Lago.

"No, DOJ is running a separate investigation," he said. "We're looking at a totally different process. We don't talk. We don't do anything at this point. But obviously, since our work has been public, then obviously they have gotten more engaged because we've discovered a lot of information, some of it legal, but a lot of it illegal. And so the illegal part is what DOJ does."