Updated July 27, 2021 at 11:08 AM ET
The select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is holding its first meeting Tuesday. Four police officers are giving a testimony about the physical and verbal assaults they faced responding to the riot that day.
The four officers — Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell of the Capitol Police, and Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police — each gave opening statements and are answering questions from committee members.
Gonell recounted the events of that day and the impact it has had on law enforcement officers: "For most people, Jan. 6 happened for a few hours," he said. "But for those of us who were in the thick of it, it has not ended."
Watch the hearing live below.
Editor's note: Video shown during the hearing may contain violence and profanity.
Listen live to the hearing and NPR's analysis on the NPR One app.
Metropolitan Police officer Fanone described his experience heading to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to assist U.S. Capitol police. He said the scene he found as he worked his way to the West Front where thousands of rioters were violently clashing with police was "nothing short of brutal."
Fanone decried those in Congress who are "downplaying or outright denying what happened" on Jan. 6, saying, "I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them."
"The indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraceful!" Fanone shouted as he pounded the witness table. "Nothing, truly nothing has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day. And in doing so betray their oath of office."
Officer Hodges repeatedly called the members of the mob attack the Capitol "terrorists." He said that to his "perpetual confusion, I saw the 'thin blue line' flag, the symbol of support for law enforcement, more than once being carried by the terrorists as they ignored our commands and continued to assault us."
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gave impassioned opening remarks himself, describing the threat to democracy and blasting those who have dismissed the magnitude of what happened on Jan. 6:
"Some people are trying to deny what happened. To whitewash it. To turn the insurrectionists into martyrs. "But the whole world saw the reality of what happened on Jan. 6. The hangman's gallows sitting out there on our [National] Mall. The flag of that first failed and disgraced rebellion against our union, being paraded through the Capitol. The hatred. The bigotry. The violence.
"And all of it: for a vile, vile lie. Let's be clear. The rioters who tried to rob us of our democracy were propelled here by a lie. As chairman of this Committee, I will not give that lie any fertile ground.
"We need to understand how and why the Big Lie festered. We need to know minute by minute how Jan. 6 unfolded. We need to understand how the rotten lie behind Jan. 6 has continued to spread and feed the forces that would undermine American democracy.
"And we need to figure out how to fix the damage."
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., one of two GOP House members named to the panel by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also gave an opening statement, saying the panel must also look into the actions of former President Donald Trump on that day.
"We cannot leave the violence of Jan. 6 and its causes uninvestigated. We must know what happened here in the Capitol. We must also know what happened every minute of that day in the White House. Every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to during and after the attack.
"Honorable men and women have an obligation to step forward.
"If those responsible are not held accountable, and if Congress does not act responsibly, this will remain a cancer on our constitutional republic."
Pelosi last week rejected two Republicans named by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to serve on the panel, Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio. Both Banks and Jordan are staunch backers of Trump and publicly expressed doubt about the motives of the panel.
Their rejection by Pelosi prompted McCarthy to withdraw his other nominees to the select committee. McCarthy threatened Republicans would conduct their own investigation into the events of that day.
The select committee is the latest attempt by Congress to look into the Jan. 6 insurrection and what led up to it. Trump was impeached over his involvement in the riot after days of public testimony. In addition, the Senate Rules and Homeland Security committees conducted their own set of hearings.
So far, more than 550 people have been arrested in connection with the storming of the Capitol, and more than half a dozen have pleaded guilty.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
