January 6 panel eyes Trump's culpability as hearings begin
With public hearings kicking off this week, the House select committee investigating January 6
is zeroing in on former President Donald Trump, and is preparing to use its platform
to argue that he was responsible for grave abuses of power that nearly upended US democracy.
The committee's central mission has been to uncover the full scope of Trump's unprecedented
attempt to stop the transfer of power to President Joe Biden.
This includes Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 defeat by pressuring state and federal officials,
and what committee members say was his "dereliction of duty"
on January 6 while his supporters ransacked the US Capitol.
Lawmakers will try to convict Trump in the court of public opinion