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Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson has COVID-19, is likely to miss Thursday hearing

Rep. Bennie Thompson
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chair of the Jan. 6 committee, is likely to miss Thursday’s prime-time hearing after testing positive for the coronavirus.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
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Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Jan. 6 committee, is likely to miss the panel’s Thursday hearing after contracting COVID-19.

Thompson tested positive for the coronavirus Monday and has mild symptoms, he said in a statement. He plans to isolate for several days in accordance with federal guidelines. Committee staff said Thompson has instructed them to proceed with Thursday’s prime-time hearing, scheduled for 5 p.m. Pacific.

The hearing will examine in detail what former President Trump was doing in the 187 minutes between when the attack on the Capitol began and when Trump released a video urging rioters to go home. It will be led by Reps. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) The chairman and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) have given opening and closing statements at each hearing, even when other committee members lead the presentation and question witnesses.

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Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger, two former White House aides who resigned immediately after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, are expected to testify. The committee has spent nearly a year collecting depositions and documents detailing moment by moment what the president was doing behind closed doors in the White House as the Capitol was stormed.

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