Friend,

At least 20 million people watched the first prime-time hearing of the House Select Committee’s investigation into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (1)

That’s some of the highest viewership of any show on TV, rivaling Sunday Night Football and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And it’s helping to turn the tide of public opinion about the danger our democracy is in right now.

However, out of the eight hearings so far, six aired during the workday, cutting viewership to a fraction of the prime-time turnout. And 78% of Donald Trump’s Big Lie candidates still won their primaries.(2) It’s essential that before November 8, as many people as possible see with their own eyes that Trump and several other Republican leaders orchestrated and attempted a coup in order to stay in power. That’s why we are collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures calling on the House to hold the hearings in prime time and calling on the major networks to carry them.

Sign our petition and demand that the September and October hearings be aired live in full during prime time.

The people who didn’t see the daytime hearings missed:

• Multiple Republican witnesses tied Donald Trump directly to the fake electors effort while also testifying he was told many times that the plan was illegal.(3)
• Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger reveal that six Republican members of Congress asked for pardons for their roles in the coup attempt, including Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mo Brooks.(4)
• J. Michael Luttig, retired federal judge, George H.W. Bush appointee, and adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, proclaimed that Donald Trump and his allies and supporters remains “a clear and present danger to American democracy.”(5)
• Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Donald Trump knew the crowd at the pre-attack rally were armed and dangerous, but went ahead with activities anyway, saying, "I don't f**king care that they have weapons" and "they're not here to hurt me."(6)

This list isn’t even a quarter of the startling facts and frightening details exposed during these hearings by the House Select Committee -- and yet, because the hearings were shown during the day instead of prime time, nearly half as many people were able to see it with their own eyes.

These hearings are must see TV -- they shouldn’t be buried in a daytime broadcast. Demand now that the final January 6 committee hearings be shown in prime time.

Democracy dies in darkness, and Americans deserve the full truth. We must expose Donald Trump and anyone else who planned, promoted, or participated in the attempted coup to as many Americans as possible.

That’s why these hearings must happen in prime time.

Thank you for speaking out today.

–Irene, along with Amber, Angela, Annie, Mai, Isidra, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie, Mai, Raquel and Scottie (the Courage team)

Footnotes:
1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-22/about-18-million-people-tuned-in-to-finale-of-jan-6-hearings#xj4y7vzkg
2. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/24/trump-endorsed-candidates-2022-primary-results-00053164
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/21/jan-6-committee-hearings-live-updates-day-4/
4. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/january-6-hearing-day-5-takeaways/index.html
5. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/16/trump-clear-present-danger-to-us-democracy-conservative-judge-warns
6. https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/28/politics/january-6-hearing-day-6-takeaways-hutchinson/index.html