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A Houston-area congressman criticized the nighttime hearings that are a part of the investigation into the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, just hours before they are slated to begin.
"The Jan. 6 prime-time political theater happening tonight is a complete sham," U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (R-Friendswood) said in a tweet. "While the Democrats continue this witch hunt, Americans still face inflation, rising gas prices, a border crisis and a crime crisis."
The first Jan. 6 committee hearing is scheduled for Thursday (June 9) night at 7 p.m.
Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported that the hearings follow a year in which a House select committee investigated the attack on the Capitol and the months leading up to it.
The event occurred about two months after the hotly-contested 2020 presidential election was held.
Former President Donald J. Trump asserted that the race was rife with voter fraud and demanded the results be overturned.
The committee tasked with the investigation is bipartisan, with two Republicans who didn't support Trump's claims of cheating at the polls – Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) – as members, the station reported.
Citing a New York Times report, KHOU reported that two witnesses will testify at the first hearing, one of them being a British documentary filmmaker who followed the extremist group the Proud Boys before and on the day of the attack.
A Capitol Police officer who sustained injuries during the event is also expected to testify.
According to KHOU, Cheney, who serves as vice chair of the committee, told CBS that viewers will get an understanding as to how the U.S. democratic system can easily unravel.
Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that the committee conducted over 1,000 interviews and intends to use them in an attempt to back their assertions that the attack was a deliberate attempt to prevent Congress from certifying then-President-elect Joe Biden's electoral victory.