Jan. 6 insurrection hearings: How to watch and what to know
The series of hearings that will take place over the next several weeks begin with a prime-time session Thursday night. Here's what you need to know ahead of the hearing.
3 years ago
This story originally appeared on WITF.
Pennsylvania Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano has been identified as a key figure by the House Jan. 6 committee in their investigation into the Capitol insurrection and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Mastriano repeatedly supported Trump’s election-fraud lies, including staging a policy committee meeting in November 2020 that gave Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani — and Trump, who called into the meeting — a platform for disinformation. Mastriano spent over $3,000 to bus over 100 Trump supporters to D.C. on Jan. 6.
During the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Mastriano was seen crossing police barricades. He said he did not cross any lines established by law enforcement.
Mastriano has denied a subpoena from the committee, but recently agreed to an interview in lieu of a deposition. He has also voluntarily handed over some documents — but the committee said it was not requesting documents involving his work as a Pennsylvania state senator.
From Election Day to Jan. 6, Mastriano promoted baseless conspiracy theories. The Jan. 6 committee has said he worked with the Trump White House to undermine the results of the 2020 election.
He condemned the insurrection, despite spreading disinformation that motivated the attack, according to reporting from news organizations, investigations, and public records.
The Jan. 6 committee has also subpoenaed midstate Pa. Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry for his involvement in Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 Election.
Here’s the timeline for how Scott Perry promoted election lies between Election Day and Jan. 6.
Information used in these timelines comes from the Jan. 6 committee, the lawmaker’s social media pages, public records, and other reporting.
Between Election Day and Jan. 6, Doug Mastriano participated in an election fraud hearing, and hosted a gathering in Gettysburg with Trump’s legal team that was based on conspiracy theories.
Mastriano directly communicated with a Trump-sympathetic DOJ official about his false election fraud claims, which he also spread to his tens of thousands of social media followers. In the 64 days between Election Day and Jan. 6, he posted debunked disinformation on his Facebook page more than 100 times. Mastriano led the effort in the Pa. General Assembly to call for a partisan audit of the 2020 Election, despite no widespread voter fraud being detected.
The following timeline comes from Mastriano’s social media, official website, and the Jan. 6 committee report.
The House January 6th Select Committee released a report last year detailing how Trump and his allies planned to undermine the results of the 2020 Election.
The report designated Perry’s and Mastriano’s connections to the insurrection as “particularly notable.” Both lawmakers “participated in the pressure campaign against [the] DOJ” to help overturn the election, according to the report.
The report lists the following events related to Perry and Mastriano: