Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said Sunday that former President Donald Trump is "politically and morally responsible" for the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, but that the House select committee investigating the assault may face difficulty incriminating him.
His comments come just days after the committee held their first public hearing about the violent insurrection. For nearly a year, the bipartisan group of lawmakers have been conducting interviews with more than 1,000 people to investigate how Trump and his allies contributed to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
"Trump is politically, morally responsible for much of what has happened, but in terms of criminal liability, I think the committee has a long way to go to establish that," Hutchinson said during an interview with Fox News Sunday.
The conservative governor, who has previously criticized Trump for his role in the Capitol riot, added that he believes the Republican Party needs to learn from its failures that day and work to improve.
"Republicans need to do a lot of soul searching as to what is the right thing here and what is the right thing for our democracy in the future," Hutchinson added, "and not simply adhere to the basic instincts of some of our base."
On the first day of the hearing, the committee vowed to unleash evidence showing how the attack was an intentional scheme orchestrated by Trump and his allies in order to stay in power. Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and vice chairwoman of the committee, said the crowd of Trump's supporters were "summoned" to storm the Capitol over false claims that the election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud.
Among some of the biggest allegations made Thursday included that Trump did not want the riot to end, and that he said Vice President Mike Pence "deserved" to be hanged.
The committee also outlined information about how Trump plotted to commit "seditious conspiracy," and sought to replace the U.S. Attorney General with someone who would promote his unsubstantiated election fraud claims. The panel is also set to reveal information about how Trump is linked to far-right extremists groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who have been accused of organizing the attack.
The investigators will also be highlighting how other Republican lawmakers and allies aided Trump in his efforts to overturn the election. In some cases, the committee revealed that members of Congress even asked Trump for presidential pardons over their roles in leading up to the riot, suggesting that they knew their actions were criminal.
Once the committee outlines its full list of evidence and testimonies in the coming weeks, the Justice Department will ultimately determine if any laws were broken.
Trump has so far responded to the first hearing by calling the committee "hacks," and continuing to promote false claims of voter fraud.
"The Unselect Committee of political HACKS refuses to play any of the many positive witnesses and statements, refuses to talk of the Election Fraud and Irregularities that took place on a massive scale, and decided to use a documentary maker from Fake News ABC to spin only negative footage," he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. "Our Country is in such trouble!"
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