The Jan 6 committee had a surprise hearing on Tuesday, after having announced a break until the Congressional recess ended. However, the testimony of former White House aide to ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, dropped some bombshells about then-president Donald Trump’s actions on the day of the Capitol riots. 

Now, legislators will be away from DC until July 8, and July 4 – the independence day of the US – is also coming up. Chair Bennie Thompson, told Politico last week that after the hearing on Thursday, matters would again resume in July. 

Thus far, there have been six hearings, including the Hutchinson surprise, and while panel leaders had hinted at two more possible hearings after the latest, Thompson said that one or more hearings might be added based on evidence collected in the coming weeks. 

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Starting Friday, the House is scheduled to leave for two weeks, and will only return on July 12. Since Thompson indicated to Politico that the hearings would resume after this recess, one can expect the next date to be in mid-July. However, the committee chair noted that they are under pressure not to push the hearings back further since the panel is tasked with writing the final report and releasing it by fall.  

Hutchinson’s testimony was reportedly moved up over concerns for her safety. The panel has footage from British filmmaker Alex Holder, which Thompson said is “important” without elaborating further. The hearings in July would likely see this footage and Holder will be testifying as well. 

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Holder’s upcoming documentary, titled ‘Unprecedented’, was filmed in the six weeks of Trump’s re-election campaign. The Republican candidate lost the 2020 election to Democrat candidate Joe Biden but remained convinced that the election had been stolen from him and planned to orchestrate a coup to overturn the results, as evidence has suggested.