WATCH: Jan. 6 attack ‘emboldened our enemies,’ former White House security adviser says

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., spoke on July 21 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The hearing focused on what former President Donald Trump was doing during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in an effort to interrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

Kinzinger mentioned the last tweet Trump put out on Jan. 6 that said “these things” was “what happened when an election was viciously and unceremoniously stolen.”

Former press secretary Sarah Matthews testified that it was further justification of her choice to resign from the administration.

“At that point, I had already made the decision to resign. And this tweet just further cemented my decision,” she said. “I thought that Jan. 6, 2021, was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history and President Trump was treating it as a celebratory occasion with that tweet.”

Kinzinger also played what GOP leadership said in the days and weeks after the attack; in that moment, they all condemned what happened. He said that other White House personnel considered resigning, but were worried that Trump, “left to his own devices, would put the country at continued risk.”

Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, said he stayed in his position, after he sent his boss his resignation, to help protect the national security of the country. But he said the aftermath created new security issues.

“I think it emboldened our enemies by helping give them ammunition to feed a narrative that our system of government doesn't work, that the United States is in decline,” Pottinger said.

In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.

Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6

Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour

Subscribe:
PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe