Jan. 6 committee drops final report after 18 months of investigations

The House select committee investigating the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has released its final report, following 18 months of investigations and public hearings that many Republicans have derided as a partisan witch hunt and political hit job.

The 845-page report was widely expected to focus heavily on the role of former President Donald Trump, a personal priority of outgoing Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, a stalwart opponent of the 45th president.

Cheney led a group of House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump during his second impeachment trial. Her continued vitriolic comments against him ultimately prompted the House GOP to remove her from her leadership position. She was ultimately defeated in her primary by a Trump-backed challenger and will depart the House in January.

The Wyoming Republican was one of two hand-picked GOP lawmakers whom House Speaker Nancy Pelosi selected to participate in the investigations following her rejection of certain nominees from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. She was joined by Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who also voted to impeach Trump. Both earned the ire of the GOP for their involvement in the project and McCarthy even dubbed them "Pelosi Republicans."

Facing certain dissolution when Republicans take over the lower chamber, the committee made a last-minute criminal referral of Trump to the Department of Justice for his alleged role in the incident.

The committee, throughout its dealings, attempted to paint the narrative that the events of Jan. 6 constituted a violent insurrection directly ordered by Trump with the intent of overthrowing the American republic and keeping himself in power despite his electoral loss. Indeed, the report itself doubles down on that narrative from the state, with a foreword from Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., prefacing the report with such sentiment.

"The rioters were inside the halls of Congress because the head of the executive branch of our government, the then-President of the United States, told them to attack," he wrote. "Donald Trump summoned that mob to Washington, DC. Afterward, he sent them to the Capitol to try to prevent my colleagues and me from doing our Constitutional duty to certify the election. They put our very democracy to the test."

The report consists of eight chapters, focusing on different themes of investigation. Chief among them is "the Big Lie," the establishment media's catch-all for any and all insinuations that electoral fraud may have affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

It further explores other efforts to interfere with the certification of the electoral college votes, including an alleged scheme to substitute alternate slates of pro-Trump electors into the count.

Much of the report details the organization, leadup, and execution of the "attack" on the building itself and devotes much time to the various pro-Trump groups that appeared in Washington during the proceedings.

The publication of the report likely represents the final significant act of this committee, as Republicans plan to eliminate it entirely when the next Congress begins in January of 2023.