What the Jan. 6 hearings revealed about Trump’s actions before and after the

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to release its final report later this month in a public presentation in Washington, D.C.

The committee interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and held nine public hearings investigating aspects of what led up to the Jan. 6 attack, what occurred minute by minute that day, and the aftermath.

CNN reported that the committee is considering whether to recommend criminal charges to the Justice Department for former President Donald Trump and some of his former aides. Such recommendations carry no legal weight; they don’t require the Justice Department to file charges. Trump is fighting a subpoena from the committee, whose power expires when the new Congress convenes in January.

Norm Eisen, who co-wrote a report at the Brookings Institution think tank that laid out potential criminal charges for Trump, said a criminal referral is more than symbolic. The referral could influence prosecutorial decision-making. Also, because the committee is bipartisan, a referral would defy criticism that any charges came from Biden’s handpicked Justice Department, Eisen said. 

“The committee has a vitally important role to play in explaining to the public why this is merited as a matter of evidence and law,” said Eisen, who worked in the Obama White House.

PolitiFact watched all the committee’s hearings, here are some of the highlights.

Trump knew he lost the 2020 election, yet publicly claimed victory

The committee presented evidence that Trump knew he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, but publicly denied it.

As early as July 2020, according to what Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale told investigators, Trump talked about declaring victory regardless of the actual votes.

As results were still being tallied, Trump falsely claimed victory.

“We will win this,” Trump said. “As far as I’m concerned, we already have.”

But privately, Trump acknowledged that he lost, testimony from multiple White House officials showed.

About a week after the election, then-White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah said she walked into the Oval Office. Trump was watching Biden on the television.

“He said, ‘do you believe I lost to this effing guy?’” Farah told investigators.

White House officials and Attorney General Bill Barr told the committee that they also told Trump that there was no election fraud.

Trump oversaw the efforts to overturn the election 

Multiple hearings showed how Trump was intimately involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, from urging Georgia election officials to “find” just enough additional Trump votes, to pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject results from particular states. 

Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said each element had something in common.

“Donald Trump participated in each substantially, and personally oversaw or directed the activity of those involved,” she said.

Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican who wanted Trump to win re-election, rebuffed Trump’s personal plea to call a special session to revoke the results that confirmed Biden’s victory. 

Georgia Secretary of…