The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol postponed a public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, citing the major hurricane that is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast.
“In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s proceedings," the panel's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said in a statement Tuesday. "We’re praying for the safety of all those in the storm’s path. The select committee’s investigation goes forward and we will soon announce a date for the postponed proceedings."
They did not immediately provide a new date for the public hearing, which would have been its first in about two months.
The hurricane was gaining strength as it headed toward Florida after it hit Cuba early Tuesday. It is expected to make landfall in Venice as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday, Florida officials said in an update at a news conference Tuesday.
The House panel had announced last week that it planned to hold its next public hearing at 1 p.m. Wednesday, the latest installment in its televised efforts to map out the case that last year’s attack on the Capitol stemmed from then-President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The hearing was postponed just over a month before the midterm elections.
