July 21, 2022: Jan. 6 panel preps for a primetime moment of truth

President Joe Biden travels to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., this afternoon to talk about crime, and the White House is announcing a new “Safer America Plan” that details how Biden would spend a previous congressional request for $37 billion to “support law enforcement and crime prevention.” 

And the eighth public hearing of the Jan. 6 committee, though likely not the last, begins tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern. It’s expected to go on for about two hours and will focus on what Donald Trump did — or refused to do — for 187 minutes at the White House after his speech at the Ellipse and before he finally asked rioters to leave the Capitol.

“The story we’re going to tell,” a committee aide said, “is that in that time, President Trump refused to act to defend the Capitol as a violent mob stormed” it.

Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.