It was a puzzle put together by the investigative committee into the storming of the Capitol in Washington on Thursday evening.
It didn't get ready at that first public hearing on the January 6, 2021 riots — nor should it.
After almost two hours, as planned, the framework was already in place.
"January 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup," said committee chair Bennie Thompson at the outset.
Sofia Dreisbach
North American political correspondent based in Washington.
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Video recordings, testimonies and analyzed messages should not only give the American public a more detailed picture of what happened when a mob of Trump supporters broke into the Capitol a year and five months ago over at least six hearings over the next few weeks.
Thompson and his Vice-Chairman Liz Cheney left no doubt about this on Thursday evening. The evidence collected is primarily intended to show the systematic conspiracy and planned escalation of the day by former President Donald Trump.
Republican Cheney said, "President Trump summoned the mob, he gathered the mob, and he lit the fire of the attack." He is the core figure in the committee's chain of evidence that started it all.
The speed and brutality with which the mob he unleashed acted on Thursday, January 6 last year, was shown on Thursday in previously unreleased videos of the unrest.
"I would like to warn everyone that this video contains violence and profanity," Chairman Thompson said in advance.
They were different scenes in chronological order, time stamped.
"I can't say what's going to happen today"
They first show Trump supporters gathering on the National Mall.
A woman stands in front of the Washington Monument's obelisk: "I can't say what's going to happen today because everyone really has to see it with their own eyes.
It will happen.
Something is going to happen.” An indication that what was about to happen that day was planned.
A good hour later, Trump fires up his supporters and sends them to the Capitol to protest against the alleged election fraud: "Stand up for our constitution and our country." Finally, at 12:45 p.m., aggressive troublemakers overrun the first line of police in front of the Capitol, from there hours of utter chaos follow.
Police officers' body cameras show officers being pushed to the ground, kicked, punched, flagpoles and tear gas attacked.
Footage documents the screaming and howling mob smashing windows and entering the Capitol.
"It's up to us, the Americans, now," says a rioter into a camera.
Whatever it takes, "I give my life".
That's why he came today.
In a particularly brutal scene, a clip follows from a later interview with Trump: They were all peaceful citizens.
The entire hearing, which aired prime time at 8 am on all major television networks except Fox News, was a lavishly composed testimony to the work of the investigative committee.
No viewer should jump off, so the group had previously brought an experienced television producer to their side to choreograph the public hearings - that succeeded.
In just under two hours, Thompson and Cheney calmly and yet unequivocally led their message through around a dozen recorded testimonies, the new video recordings and two emotional reports from a police officer who was present and a documentary filmmaker, whose recordings showed the collaboration between the right-wing extremist "Proud Boys" and the " Oath Keepers" when storming the Capitol.
The Capitol Police officer, who was then knocked unconscious with a cordon and later returned to her colleagues in the front row, recounted "war scenes" on Jan. 6.
"Police officers lying on the ground, bleeding, throwing up." It was pure chaos, "hours of struggle".
The statements of former Trump confidants and employees show how steadfastly Trump steered towards this escalation.
Next month, Cheney said, the investigative committee would present evidence that the then-president had made "not a single phone call" to the Department of Defense or other security agencies.
This time, Attorney General William Barr, who resigned in December 2020, said he had spoken to Trump several times after the election that it was not falsified.
"I have made it clear that I do not agree with claims that the election was stolen."
There was "zero evidence" for these allegations.
He told Trump it was "bullshit".
Barr was followed by a notable clip by Trump's daughter Ivanka, then a White House adviser.
Barr's perspective also influenced hers, she says in the survey.
She respects him and therefore "accepted what he says".
Since her testimony in April lasted far longer than this clip, according to Thompson, it's likely that this wasn't her last appearance during the public hearings.
Chairwoman Cheney, who is being cut in the Republican Party for criticizing Trump, gave her party colleagues a hint that evening: "The day will come when Donald Trump will be gone.
But your shame will remain.”