Trump calls Capitol insurrection "hoax" a week before public hearings

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Former US President Donald Trump considered on Saturday the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, a "hoax", one week before the House committee investigating the Trump supporters' attack begins public hearings.

At a rally in Wyoming in support of Republican candidate Harriet Hageman - primary challenger in the midterm elections to congresswoman Liz Cheney - Trump said: "As one of the nation’s leading proponents of the insurrection hoax, Liz Cheney has pushed a grotesquely false, fabricated, hysterical partisan narrative."

Cheney sits on the House committee investigating the January 6 riots. The congresswoman has been defamed by Trump after voting in favor of his second impeachment over the Capitol events.

In his speech, Trump said: "Look at the so-called word insurrection, January 6 – what a lot of crap."

Following the Capitol riots, US lawmakers called for the creation of an independent commission to be created to investigate the events and Trump's involvement.

However, Republicans in the Senate voted against the move, which led the House to form a select committee including Democratic and Republican members of the Congress to investigate the January 6 insurrection.

Since then, the committee - set to hold public hearings starting June 9 - started gathering evidence and taking testimonies from multiple witnesses, amid accusations by Trump and senior Republicans of an attempted coup.

During the Wyoming rally, Trump criticized the arresting of those participating in the Capitol riot, while claiming that anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter movement activists “have killed plenty."

It is noteworthy that more than 800 people have been charged with federal crimes over the insurrection. At least 300 people have pleaded guilty, while nearly 200 have been sentenced, and around 100 others have trial dates.