Jan. 6 committee members preview next hearings, warn 2024 election could be a violent 'mess'

Members of the House Jan. 6 committee said Sunday that their next televised hearing will focus on the effort by former President Donald Trump's campaign to organize and promote a slate of fake electors in an effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
"We'll show evidence of the president's involvement in this scheme," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union. "We'll also, again, show evidence about what his own lawyers came to think about this scheme. And we'll show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldn't go along with this plan to either call legislatures back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden."
The scheme appeared kind of slapdash and amateur, The Washington Post reports, "but internal campaign emails and memos reveal that the convening of the fake electors appeared to be a much more concerted strategy, intended to give Vice President Mike Pence a reason to declare the outcome of the election was somehow in doubt on Jan. 6, 2021, when he was to preside over the congressional counting of the electoral college votes." The Justice Department and an Atlanta-area prosecutor are investigating to see if any crimes were committed.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Committee members declined to offer specific evidence that Trump himself committed criminal acts, saying the committee will present its findings at the hearings. But Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of two Republicans on the committee, said Trump's false claims about the 2020 election being stolen are still reverberating dangerously through all levels of the U.S. government and the 2024 election will likely be a "mess."
Kinzinger, who is not seeking reelection, pointed to a New Mexico county where Republican commissioners initially refused to certify the results of a primary because they don't trust their voting machines. Similar Trump-influenced officials will be in charge of certifying elections in many states, he said on ABC's This Week.
Kinzinger also disclosed that he received a death threat in the mail several days ago, a letter sent to his home address threatening to execute him, his wife, and their 5-month-old baby. "It was sent from the local area," he said. "There is violence in the future," and "until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can't expect any differently."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
5 hilariously sparse cartoons about further DOGE cuts
Cartoons Artists take on free audits, report cards, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Following the Tea Horse Road in China
The Week Recommends This network of roads and trails served as vital trading routes
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: March 30, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?
In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
By The Week Staff Published
-
Supreme Court upholds 'ghost gun' restrictions
Speed Read Ghost guns can be regulated like other firearms
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump sets 25% tariffs on auto imports
Speed Read The White House says the move will increase domestic manufacturing. But the steep import taxes could also harm the US auto industry.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump allies urge White House to admit chat blunder
Speed Read Even pro-Trump figures are criticizing The White House's handling of the Signal scandal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Waltz takes blame for texts amid calls for Hegseth ouster
Speed Read Democrats are calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Michael Waltz to step down
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Judge: Nazis treated better than Trump deportees
speed read U.S. District Judge James Boasberg reaffirmed his order barring President Donald Trump from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US officials share war plans with journalist in group chat
Speed Read Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal conversation about striking Yemen
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Canada's Mark Carney calls snap election
speed read Voters will go to the polls on April 28 to pick a new government
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published