Police who defended U.S. Capitol to testify at riot probe's first hearing

Four police officers who worked to defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters are due to testify on Tuesday at the first hearing before a congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 riot.

The House of Representatives Committee was formed after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent commission to investigate the attack. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, named the committee's members.

Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell, officers with the U.S. Capitol police, and Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges, officers with the District of Columbia police, are scheduled as the panel's first witnesses.

Four people died on the day of the violence, including one rioter fatally shot by police and three others who died of natural causes. A Capitol police officer who had been attacked by protesters died the following day. Two police officers who took part in the defense of the Capitol later took their own lives. More than a hundred police officers were injured.

Police were overwhelmed when hundreds of Trump supporters intent upon stopping Congress from formally certifying now-President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory stormed the Capitol, smashing windows, fighting with officers and sending lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence scrambling for safety.

The riot followed Trump's speech to supporters in which the Republican repeated his false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. Pelosi has called the attack "an attempt to overthrow the government."

Most House Republicans have fiercely opposed the creation of the committee, saying it is politically motivated by Democrats.