The Daily Fuckup

On Jan. 5, 2022, the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack was still assembling its record. The panel had been created to examine the events of Jan. 6 and the weeks around them, and by early January it was continuing to collect evidence on the effort to overturn the 2020 election. citeturn0search0turn0search3

At that point, the committee’s work was investigative, not final. It had not yet issued the later public findings that would lay out, in more direct terms, how Donald Trump and his allies pressed state officials, members of Congress, and Vice President Mike Pence to interfere with the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. On Jan. 5, the question was still what the committee could document, not what legal conclusion it would eventually reach. citeturn0search0turn0search1turn0search2

The panel’s public record already showed the basic shape of the fight: false claims about the election, repeated pressure on Pence, and efforts to delay or derail the count. Congress’s own record from the committee’s early hearings reflects that the investigation was being built step by step through testimony and documents, rather than wrapped up in a single announcement. citeturn0search0turn0search1turn0search2

That left the political stakes intact. Republicans were still sorting themselves into the same camps that would define much of the year: defenders of Trump, members trying to minimize the inquiry, and others hoping it would fade. The committee, meanwhile, kept digging through the pressure campaign and the chain of events that led to the certification fight. citeturn0search3turn0search0