c-span, c-span now, or anytime online at c-span.org. c-span it your unfiltered view government -- c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> there are a lot of places to get political information. only at c-span do you get it straight from the source. no matter where you are from or where you stand on issues, c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. whether it happens here, here, here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. >> with us next is kyle cheney, with politico on with us to talk about the january 6 committee hearings. on with us now to talk about the january

6 select committee. kyle cheney, although these aren't the first public hearings, certainly since last year and certainly the most nifty ones they held in public, correct? guest: that's right. this is the first when they have done since they conducted their investigation and actually have some findings to share with the american people. host: what do you think the format of this hearing will be? will they have witnesses on thursday night as well? guest: we actually don't really know. i suspect they will. they haven't announced any witnesses. they have cap details close to their vest. i think they want to have maximum impact, which is why they're trying to keep it somewhat mysterious as long as they can. i do suspect we will see different topic areas at each of the hearings that will break down the different leanings of their investigations. host: do you have any idea on the numbers of people the

committee has interviewed, obviously in private, ahead of this hearing? is that give us an indication of where they are headed in this investigation? guest: yes. they interviewed over 1000 people. i think we only know of may be a couple hundred of who those people are, just based on tracking the committee, the lawyers, all of that. we do know they got some very distinct lines of inquiry, things about what donald trump was doing in the -- preceding january 6 and trying to overturn the election. also, the proud boys and oath keepers getting involved. the money trails. there are different lanes that i think we will see broken out in these hearings. host: we mentioned that this is a select committee, not a permanent standing committee. this was selected by the speaker.

tells about the genesis of this committee, particularly the choice of the republican members of the select committee. guest: sure. this committee was never supposed to exist. after the attack, there was bipartisan outrage at what happened, which somewhat retreated a little bit as donald trump reasserted his grip over the republican party. what you initially saw was a call for a bipartisan commission, like the 9/11 commission, that would independently investigate this and come up with some findings that were free of the partisan render. the republicans ended up sinking that legislation. what happened instead was that speaker pelosi said we have to have some investigation, so i'm going to appoint a select committee. it happened there was there were supposed to be nine at democratic appointees and five republican appointees. maybe it was seven and five.

when a minority leader mccarthy said his to the panel, pelosi vetoed them, -- vetoed two of them, which is within her power. so, senator mccarthy withdrew all of his picks and boycotted the committee. host: kyle cheney, a senior legal affairs reporter for "politico." we welcome your calls and comments. (202) 748-8001 is for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for immigrants, and for independents and others, it is (202) 748-8002 . what is expected and when there they expected to wrap up and publish their findings? guest: we are anticipating six

hearings or maybe eight. they are escalating. i think that will remain in flux, depending on how the hearings go and which witnesses they get confirmed. we don't really know much about who they are going to call, but we are expecting some high-profile names eventually. one thing that is very important is that it is not the end of the road for them. they're talking about a timeline that involves releasing their actual report in september. again, that could change. that is fluid for them. there are certain things that may even extend beyond the legal fights they are having to try to get more information going into october or beyond the midterm election. host: as thursday's hearing comes up, who are some of the members you will be watching most closely? guest: the happiest ones are chair bennie thompson and vice chair liz cheney, and cheney probably more so because as the lead of one of two republicans on the committee, and perhaps one of the most prominent

leadership roles on this committee, how she messages the results here and tries to connect with republicans at home who may or may not be tuning into these hearings at all, she has pulled no punches about her own colleagues and their complicity in what happened leading up to january 6. the way she talks about republican involvement is a very important message, because it connects differently than that neo-democrats in calling out donald trump when you hear her doing it. host: what about other members on the committee? who do you expect the toughest questioning to come from? guest: i think cheney wrath is an interesting one to watch. he led the investigation into trump, and adam schiff similarly led this. those two have a long history of pursuing intense investigations

of the former president. i think lofgren is another one. she is another health staffer. -- house staffer. host: jamie raskin has written in his book leading up to the impeachment that he was furious that some of the earliest leaks that came out of that group and tried to shut down the leaks, but it has been just the opposite with this committee. there has been regular information on who is testifying , the information they are gathering in this committee. do you think that has been part of a strategy at guest: the junior six committee? guest:i think it is hard to tell. more than 1000 witnesses. we still can identify more than maybe 250 of them. some of those are the witnesses themselves or the committee declaring who they subpoenaed, who is being deposed, and people watching who is coming into the

building. the leaks that have come out, we again don't necessarily know the sources of a lot of them. sometimes, it could be from the committee, it could be from the witnesses themselves or their attorneys. different motivations are involved. i think what we have seen is like the text messages from mark meadows, the former chief of staff, that has been a consistent source of a drip of leaks. that is some of the most important information the committee has obtained. the committee has released strategically some of its own transfer of information in court filings. that has been a way for them to signal to the public whether investigation has gone, what they have uncovered. some of it is very intentional. host: (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8000 for democrats, and for all others, (202) 748-8002. tom is in harrisburg, pennsylvania, independent line. caller: good morning. i am part of the independent

group and still very neutral. i look at polling. the january 6 issue, like the issue of others, pulled high engineer is six. number two, i'm finding there is a boomerang. trying to help the people democrats are trying to hurt is evidence in here -- evident here in pennsylvania. he won in a landslide. host: call cheney. -- kyle cheney. guest: i think that connects with the average voters at home. they look at generous six as something in the past, and the real, visceral outrage over it has faded. i think the committee knows that. when you ask them what their goal is, they give a different answer. we need to do this for history, we need to document the truth of what happened, and that has been

a -- an important thing for historians. i think what they want to do here is change that somewhat, at the very least. they think they can convince people that what happened was bad, but it is not over, it is something ongoing and there are still attempts to cede bad actors in elections that could create problems in the future. they want to show people who may be preparing to do something better orchestrated next time. i think they feel like they could potentially move some of those numbers. i feel like they did that during the first impeachment over ukraine, which was far more complicated and less connected to the average voter they are not january 6. they want to remind people what they felt like on january 6, when outrage was very real. host: next up is lynn on the democrats line, in ohio. lynn, make sure you meet your television and go on with your

comment or question for kyle cheney. lynn in ohio, you are on the line. go ahead. caller: good morning. host: good morning. go ahead. caller: good morning to you guys. this has been an interesting morning. i have one question. when we are investigating all of these events, why is it that nobody has brought in the fact that all of the male shooters, they are males? they are not females. can you answer that question? host: i think you are referring to our previous segment on gun violence. let me ask you, kyle cheney, is there any indication that the witnesses may include some of the actual participants at the january 6 attack echo -- attack? guest: i think it's possible.

in my account, the people who have been charged and have pleaded guilty in participating in the mall but breach of the capitol, they interviewed with the committee and it's probably more than that. all the ones who testified to the committee have expressed remorse to their actions and said they have been duped into this by donald trump and the result of the elections. they want to discuss with the committee. whether they want to do that in a public setting, with the intense spot like the committee will bring, that is an open question. but i do think it is very likely that we will hear from or maybe cease video testimony from those people about why they did what they did on january 6. host: >> you can see this program. go to our website c-span.org. we will take you live now to the upcoming january 6