The committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol said on Thursday it plans to begin public hearings in June and will publish its findings during the midterm election campaign later this year.

Over the course of 8 hearings, key witnesses questioned by a congressional committee will testify publicly for the first time in the alleged conspiracy trial that led to the January 6, 2021 uprising and events of the same day.

“We’ll tell the story of what happened,” said Bennie Thompson, chair of the House committee that investigated the events.

“We will use a combination of witnesses, evidence, what we have from dozens of hundreds of pieces of evidence, as well as hundreds of witnesses who testify or speak in general,” he said.

The hearings are expected to be a televised hit – potentially like those at Watergate or impeachment charges against Donald Trump – the country is reliving the day, minute by minute, when a defeated gang of Trump supporters besieged Congress to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Joe Biden won the November 2020 election.

The panel, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, will investigate alleged responsibility for acts of violence due to Trump’s false statements regarding election fraud as part of an illegal plan to stay in power.

Trump and his inner circle dismiss the allegations of malfeasance, calling the election disinformation and the alleged machinations to invalidate the results a well-intentioned attempt to expose widespread corruption.

Trump’s loyalists argue the investigation is a “witch hunt” to steer the country away from rising inflation and the immigration crisis ahead of the November election, when Democrats could lose control of Congress.