Jan. 6 Committee Spent $17.4 Million—Twice Initial Estimate—Hiring TV Producers to Dramatize Hearings

An investigation by The Center Square has revealed that the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack spent $17.4 million on its probe, nearly double the $9.3 million budget reported by The Washington Post in September 2022. The committee, established in July 2021 to examine the Capitol breach, hired television producers and documentary filmmakers to create scripted videos and manage live hearings, using taxpayer funds to present dramatized narratives against President Donald Trump and his associates.

The expenditures, detailed in U.S. House disbursements reviewed by The Center Square, included $2.4 million to Innovative Driven Inc., a Virginia firm specializing in data discovery and project management. Freelancers like Emmy-winning producer Brian Sasser, who managed rundowns and scripts for hearings, and former ABC News executive James Goldston, who oversaw production, were contracted to ensure "accuracy of all scripting" and coordinate with investigators. Goldston, president of ABC News from 2014 to 2017, billed through his firm for consulting on the committee's high-profile televised sessions in 2022.

The committee's work, which produced an 845-page final report in December 2022 blaming Trump for the riot, involved six public hearings styled as primetime events, viewed by 20-30 million Americans each. Critics, including Taxpayers Protection Alliance policy director Dan Savickas, noted the spending exceeded the median House committee budget of $6 million annually, calling it "excessive" and indicative of grandstanding over accountability. The probe led to over 1,200 criminal charges against riot participants but no indictments of Trump or his inner circle, despite referrals to the Justice Department.

The revelations come amid ongoing scrutiny of the committee's operations, including the deletion of encrypted Signal messages by staffers and the reliance on anonymous witnesses. House Administration Committee Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) has subpoenaed records since January 2023 to examine the panel's conduct, with the $17.4 million figure emerging from those disclosures. The committee, comprising seven Democrats and two Republicans—Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)—concluded its work without bipartisan consensus on key findings.