Former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews before the House select committee investigating January 6 riot at the US Capitol testified that then President Donald Trump had the ability to make a statement from the White House press briefing room "almost instantly" if he wanted to.
"It would take probably less than 60 seconds from the Oval Office dining room over to the press briefing room," Matthews said before the committee hearing.
"For folks that might not know, the press briefing room is the room you see the White House press secretary do briefings from with the podium and blue backdrop. There is a camera that is on in there at all times. So, if the President had wanted to make a statement and address the American people, he could have been on camera almost instantly," she said.
Matthews previously served as deputy White House press secretary until resigning shortly after Jan. 6, 2021, as per CNN.
The committee said that a national security official who worked in the Trump administration testified since the panel's last hearing that the White House was aware of reports of weapons in the crowd on the morning of January 6.
The US House committee will hold additional hearings in September this year, said committee Vice-Chair Liz Cheney on Thursday (local time).
The committee focused on an account of activities inside the White House during a 187-minute period following former President Donald Trump's speech to his supporters that day at the Ellipse.
The panel has said it plans to portray Trump as failing to respond to the attack, a decision that committee member Representative Elaine Luria (D., Va.), who will help lead Thursday's hearing, called a "dereliction of duty."
Over a year ago, a group of Trump supporters entered the US Capitol to protest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results from several US states that Trump claimed were fraudulent. US authorities have arrested more than 725 individuals in nearly all 50 states for criminal offences relating to the riot.
( With inputs from ANI )
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