Shocking findings about the Capitol riot by the Jan. 6 House Committee

Much has occurred in the past six months since the House select committee was established to investigate one of the most shocking events in recent American history: the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021.

Thus far, the committee has been quite secretive regarding its findings, and many are anxiously awaiting, with much anticipation, the interim report that is to be released in the summer of 2022.

Pictured: From left, Reps. Elaine Luria, D-Va., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., in July 2021.

As the committee makes its work more public, it will continue to conduct research and interview witnesses to decide if the Justice Department should take legal action against politicians, including members of Congress and even former president Donald Trump.

According to The Washington Post, committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (pictured) recently said in an interview: "We have to address it — our families, our districts and our country demand that we get as much of the causal effects of what occurred and come up with some recommendations for the House so that it won't ever happen again."

The Washington Post reported that thus far, the committee has collected a vast amount of information: interviews with over 300 witnesses from the January 6 Capitol riot, obtained over 35,000 pages or records, announced 50+ subpoenas and collected hundreds of tips through the January 6 tip line.

Naturally, the panel has uncovered some rather shocking information. Click on to read everything we know regarding what the committee investigating the Capitol Hill riot has unveiled so far....

According to CNN, the House committee obtained text messages from Fox News reporters, lawmakers, and even Donald Trump Jr. pleading with Mark Meadows (pictured) on January 6, 2021.

Meadows, the White House chief of staff at the time of the riot, received texts from a variety of persons practically begging him to get President Trump to do something to stop the violence at the US Capitol on January 6. Per CNN, all of the text messages that Meadows received were read on the House floor.

In a message to Mark Meadows, Donald Trump Jr. wrote, "'He's got to condemn this **** ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.'" 

Meadows, responded to Trump Jr. that "he agreed." Trump Jr then wrote, "We need an Oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand."

Per CNN vice chairwoman Liz Cheney said, "Indeed, according to the records, multiple Fox News hosts knew the President needed to act immediately. They texted Mr. Meadows, and he has turned over those texts."

Pictured: Fox's Sean Hannity speaks at a rally for Donald Trump in October 2020.

Laura Ingraham wrote, "Mark, the President needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy."

In addition, Brian Kilmeade (pictured) also texted Meadows, writing, "Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished." Finally, Sean Hannity asked Meadows if President Trump couldn't do something: "Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol?"

Meadows even was sent texts from various individuals, including lawmakers, from within the Capitol buildings during the attack. These individuals informed Mark Meadows of the attack and wondered if Trump would take action.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff (pictured) from California shared that Meadows received additional messages both prior and post the 2020 presidential election regarding the need to keep Trump in power at all costs.

CNN reported that a message was sent to Meadows regarding Jeffrey Clark (pictured). The text, sent from an unknown number, was in support of Clark being placed at the acting attorney general so Trump could get the Justice Department to support his claim of election fraud.

The anonymous messenger wrote, "I heard Jeff Clark is getting put in on Monday. That's amazing. It will make a lot of patriots happy, and I'm personally so proud that you are at the tip of the spear, and I could call you a friend," the text to Meadows read.

In addition, the day following the election, Meadows was sent a text encouraging an "aggressive strategy," which many members of the January 6 committee believe was sent by former Texas governor and energy secretary for the Trump administration Rick Perry (pictured here with Trump in 2019).

The text stated that Republican-led state legislatures ought to "just send their own electors" to Congress and allow the Supreme Court to decide who the victor of the presidential election was.

To date, the January 6 committee has only held one public hearing; however, it was a doozy. The hearing, held in July 2021, featured the testimony of officers who experienced firsthand the violence and mayhem of the Capitol riot.

In total, there are five teams on the House committee investigating the January 6 riot. From money and funding for "Stop the Steal" events to online extremist activity and plans to undermine the presidential election, among other topics, the panel members are doing their best to make sense of it all.

The Washington Post reports that investigators will also look into troubling issues such as "how Trump has been able to convince so many of his supporters that the election was stolen despite having no evidence to support that claim."

A senior committee aide is quoted in The Washington Post saying, “I think that Trump and his team have done a pretty masterful job of exploiting millions of Americans. How do you get that many people screwed up that deeply? And continue to screw them up? Right? And what do we do about that? So there are some big, big-picture items that go well beyond the events of [Jan. 6] that the committee is also grappling with.”

A committee aide told CNN that following the interim report of this summer, a final report will be released in the fall of 2022. In addition, the committee hopes to publicly share more of their work, including hearings during the first half of 2022 that clarify the events that led to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

However, the House committee will not just stop at clarifying the events that led up to and during the Capitol riot, but it is also expected that the committee members will suggest both legislative and administrative changes.

Panel members have also said they will be looking over laws to prevent the President's abuse of power if similar situations arise and they must decide if new laws are needed to avoid problems involving the denial of valid election results in the future.

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Finally, there is the question of whether the Justice Department will need to get involved due to the crimes the panel believes Trump and his aides may have committed. This has been the case with Mark Meadows who the House committee referred to the Justice Department for the criminal nature of his actions.