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How to watch the Jan. 6 committee public hearings

The House committee will kick off a series of hearings Thursday night.
Photo illustration of the January 6th hearing committee and a scene outside of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
NBC News; Getty Images

The first public hearing held by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot will take place Thursday evening with witness testimony and video footage surrounding last year's attack on the Capitol.

The televised hearing is the first in a series that's expected to last through July.

When does the hearing start?

The first hearing is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET. The committee is looking to capture a large audience by holding the event in prime-time.

Where to watch the hearing

The hearings will be streamed live on NBC News NOW, NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com and CNBC.com. NBCNews.com will also feature a live blog with news and analysis.

NBC News will have a special report beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET led by "Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt.

MSNBC will have special coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET led by Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace and Joy Reid, with analysis from Chris Hayes, Lawrence O’Donnell and Ari Melber, in addition to a live blog.

CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” anchor Shepard Smith will lead coverage of the first night of the hearings, starting at 8 p.m. ET. There will also be a CNBC live blog.

Who’s testifying?

The committee said it will hear testimony from two witnesses Thursday.

One of them is U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, whose injuries on Jan. 6 have kept her from returning to duty as a member of a first responder unit. Edwards suffered a concussion when she was knocked to the ground and hit her head amid a swarm of rioters pushing back a police barricade.

The other witness is British documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who followed the Proud Boys in the days surrounding the attack. Some of the footage gathered by Quested includes a parking garage meeting between leaders of two far-right militia groups, Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers on Jan. 5 just blocks from the Capitol. A federal grand jury indicted Tarrio and four other members of the Proud Boys this week on new seditious conspiracy charges in connection with the riot.

Quested produced the Oscar-nominated film "Restrepo," which documented a U.S. platoon in Afghanistan, and chronicled the rise of ISIS by co-directing "Hell on Earth" for National Geographic.

Who’s on the committee?

The largely Democratic, nine-member committee is led by Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

The six other Democrats are Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Adam Schiff and Pete Aguilar of California; Elaine Luria of Virginia; Stephanie Murphy of Florida; and Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a sharp critic of former President Donald Trump, is the only other GOP member of the panel.

Cheney and Kinzinger were among a handful of House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last year after the riot. Their membership on the Jan. 6 committee is not backed by GOP leadership, which has denounced the panel as illegitimate.

What to expect during the hearing

The committee has promised to reveal “previously unseen material” surrounding the riot.

A committee aide, who previewed the hearing to reporters on Wednesday, said Thursday's hearing will serve as "an opening statement," present initial findings, and preview details gleaned from 140,000 documents and interviews with more than 1,000 people over the course of the committee's investigation.

According to the aide, the panel will demonstrate that the violence on Jan. 6 was a concerted effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and stop the transfer of power to Joe Biden.

“I think you’ll find that the facts will speak for themselves as we lay them out,” the aide said.

Are more hearings scheduled?

The committee plans to hold several hearings in June and July. The next two are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday, with both slated to start at 10 a.m. ET.