US Capitol plot probe to hold surprise extra hearing
Lawmakers investigating last year's deadly attack on the US Capitol and the alleged plot led by Donald Trump that culminated in the bloodshed said on Monday they will hold an extra hearing this week. The House select committee had announced a break of at least two weeks from its series of televised hearings, but it said it would meet again on Tuesday to "present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony." The panel did not announce what new evidence it planned to reveal, or who was due to testify. But investigators said last week they have a trove of evidence to sift through that came in as the hearings were underway, including hundreds of leads from a tip hotline and hours of footage of Trump and his family filmed for a documentary. The committee originally planned to hold seven hearings on the initial findings from its year-long probe into the January 6 insurrection by a pro-Trump mob bent on stopping the certification of Joe Biden's victory. The committee initially said that last Thursday's hearing on Trump's push to co-opt the US Justice Department into his scheme to stay in office would be the last until the second week in July at the earliest. Two July hearings are expected to focus on the far right groups that led the violence at the Capitol and Trump's actions inside the White House on January 6, 2021. The panel hasn't ruled out further hearings stretching deep into the summer. Trump denies all wrongdoing and accuses the bipartisan committee and its Republican witnesses of being part of a Democratic "witch hunt" against him. (AFP)