WASHINGTON Donald Trump s own attorney general told the then-president that his claims of a stolen election were bullshit, according to videotaped testimony revealed Thursday night at the House Jan. 6 select committees first public hearing.

I told the president it was bullshit, and I didnt want to be a part of it, Barr told committee investigators during his deposition.

Committee chair Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in his opening remarks that the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol was the culmination of a conspiracy to hold on to power. Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup. The violence was no accident.

The two-hour presentation recapped a years worth of investigative work by the committee, tying together numerous strands that have been known to the public into a story as well as offering nuggets of new information.

Vice chair Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, said in her opening remarks that Americans would hear how Trump resisted calls by his own staff to take action as the violent unfolded on his television screen.

You will hear testimony that, The president did not really want to put anything out calling off the riot or asking his supporters to leave. You will hear that President Trump was yelling and really angry at advisers who told him he needed to be doing something more, she said.

And aware of the rioters chants to hang [Vice President] Mike Pence , the president responded with this sentiment, Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it, Cheney added.

She also offered a preview of the coming hearings. Mondays hearing will lay out evidence of how early Trump knew, his lies notwithstanding, that he had actually lost the election, using testimony from his own campaign staff.

The third hearing, set for Wednesday, will showcase Trumps attempt to fire the acting attorney general who refused to help him overturn the election and replace him with an official who would. Cheney said they would hear evidence of how Trump allies in the House, including Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry, requested Trump for pardons before he left office. Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, she said.

Subsequent hearings would cover Trumps attempt to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to declare Trump the winner during the certification ceremony; Trumps fake elector scheme to generate pro-Trump slates in states he had actually lost; and finally Trumps work to summon his mob for the express purpose of attacking the Capitol to pressure Pence and lawmakers to do as he wanted.

The attack on our Capitol was not a spontaneous mob, she said.

The committee also began linking the actual breach of the Capitol to encouragement by Trump, starting with his statement during one of the 2020 presidential debates: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.

A video by committee investigator Marcus Childress said membership in the group tripled after Trumps statement, and that when Trump told his followers to come to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, the Proud Boys saw in it more than just encouragement. The extremists, they took it a step further. They took it as a call to arms, Childress said.

U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered a brain injury when she became the first officer injured in the attack, said the west front of the Capitol was turned into a war zone, something she thought she would never see. Im not combat trained. That day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat. I saw my friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in peoples blood.