After nearly five months of public testimony, the final hearing of the bipartisan House select committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol concluded on October 13 with a unanimous vote to subpoena former President Donald Trump, sending right-wing media’s campaign to discredit the panel and downplay the insurrection into overdrive. 

The panel presented mountains of evidence that displayed a clear, coordinated, and deliberate effort by Trump and his supporters to infiltrate the Capitol and overturn the results of the 2020 election. Evidence presented during Thursday’s hearing illustrated that Trump sought to sow chaos in his final days as president by authorizing the withdrawal of troops overseas; provided further evidence that Secret Service and law enforcement were aware of the threats ahead of January 6 and sought to cover up their failures; and aired footage and testimony laying out the actions of political leaders including House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and former Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, 2021. 

Many right-wing figures, however, continued their longstanding campaign to brand the hearings as a politicized witch hunt and falsely accuse the panel of failing to present evidence that directly connects the violence to Trump.

The conclusion of the October 13 hearing and the vote to subpoena Trump himself was followed by a new set of attacks from right-wing outlets which have consistently pushed lies about the insurrection and its investigation in order to downplay the panel’s findings and deflect from their own potential complicity, instead painting the hearings as a flashy distraction from “real” issues leading into the midterms. 

Right-wing media outlets dismissed the hearings as “political theater” and downplayed the new evidence:

• Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum tried to minimize Trump’s role in the riot, claiming, “What they have not been able to do so far, although they have said that President Trump was at the center of this from the very beginning, is directly tie him to the break-in and the riot at the Capitol.”
• Fox News contributor Andy McCarthy told MacCallum, “This is show biz. This is not really a hearing.” 
• Washington Examiner correspondent Byron York accused the committee of treating the hearings like a TV show, saying, “You know, the committee very famously hired a former president of ABC News to kind of craft their hearings into an exciting series. And each one had kind of a beginning, and a climax, and a tease for the next episode. They all did that. And this is — the subpoena of the president is entirely theatrical.”
• Right-wing radio host Erick Erickson took to Twitter, claiming that the committee’s move in “subpoenaing Trump at their last televised hearing is theater designed to affect an election, not procedure to seek the truth.” 
• Newsmax congressional correspondent Kilmeny Duchardt claimed, “So far, what we have seen revealed in that room today has not been anything corroborating the support, or rather, claims by the former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson that there was an altercation between Trump's security detail and the former president when he demanded to be taken to the Capitol on January 6,” adding, “We don't know if this is a season finale or a series finale.” 
• Right-wing radio host Mark Levin tweeted, “The Jan 6 Committee hasn’t presented any evidence — NONE — linking Donald Trump to those who stormed the Capitol Building. Nothing. But there’s tons of evidence tying Joe Biden to foreign payoffs.”
• Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak tweeted, “Just in time for the midterms, the super-important January 6 show trial has resumed, touting new evidence that, once again, says nothing about anything except the desperation of Democrats to pervert justice and due process to prevent the opposition from competing fairly for power.”

Right-wing media pundits suggested Democrats are using the hearing to deflect attention from more important issues, namely, inflation: 

• On Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum, network contributor Marc Thiessen said, “I don't think it's a coincidence that they scheduled — rescheduled this hearing for the day that the inflation numbers came out because, you know, we just found out that the record inflation continues and we got numbers on the consumer price index and they want everybody to be talking about January 6 instead of that. So I feel like it's not just political theater, it's political manipulation.”
• On Newsmax’s John Bachman Now, host John Bachman said, “Another January 6 hearing is about to get underway. So why is the committee even meeting today? Does it have anything to do with these horrible inflation numbers?”
• Curtis Houck, an editor for misinformation hub NewsBusters, tweeted, “The left and their so-called conservative allies don't care that you can't afford to pay rent, pay down debts, have been skipping grocery visits, and can't afford to go anywhere. They demand you care more about January 6 and Donald Trump than your livelihood.”
• Former Daily Caller contributor Greg Price:

Pundits critiqued the committee vote to subpoena Trump:

• On Twitter, HotAir editor Ed Morrissey called the committee vote to subpoena Trump “an election stunt.” 
• Conservative nonprofit Citizens United tweeted, “Instead of doing something about Biden's 8.2 percent inflation crisis, Democrats in Congress are about to issue a subpoena for President Trump. This is a taxpayer funded political stunt designed to impact the midterm election that's coming in 26 days.”
• On Telegram, conspiracy theorist and “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander posted that the subpoena was “a break from norms and separation of powers. … This was a psychological-operation by legislators who know the corporate media are too dumb to report this to the American people.”
• Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak tweeted, “Nothing says ‘apolitical’ like voting to subpoena the former president and likely future candidate less than four weeks before Election Day. Every member of this committee is a fraud.”
• In a Fox News opinion piece, author Victor Davis Hanson wrote, “Frightened Democratic candidates on script are resorting to strategies of diversion. They avoid mention of their prior lockstep support for Biden agendas that induced current high gas prices, spiraling inflation, deflated 401(k) retirement plans, out-of-control violent crime, 3 million illegal aliens pouring across the southern border, and the disaster in Afghanistan and its aftermath.”