The House committee examining the events leading up to and surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is getting ready to start releasing its findings. The Associated Press reports the committee has interviewed 300 witnesses, collected tens of thousands of documents and interviewed election officials around the country.

Will their findings amount to anything? Right now a vast number of people in this country believe that the insurrection was just a peaceful protest, that if any violence was done it was political expression and should be protected by the First Amendment, and that the real crime is that Donald Trump’s election victory was stolen from him by a vast conspiracy of election officials, including Republicans.

The events of the day certainly cannot be denied. There has probably never been a public event so thoroughly documented by news video and especially social media posts by the rioters themselves. The committee is examining how this came about, the role did Donald Trump play with his continuous contention that he won the election and his pressuring election officials to change their counts.

Trump’s base may never accept the commission’s report, but the committee should continue its work. History needs to know what transpired that day, and there are far too many willing to deny the facts, sweep them under the rug or rewrite them. There needs to be another account by investigators willing to ask the questions and seek the truth.