Members of Congress laid out what they described as Donald Trump’s efforts to lead an “attempted coup” against the US government that was months in the planning and only stopped with the help of some of his top officials, writes The Financial Times.

The statements came during a nationally televised Capitol Hill hearing of the committee investigating the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol, which members accused the former president of encouraging. It was the first in a series of public sessions that the committee hopes will get the public’s attention and refocus efforts on what they argue is an ongoing threat to US democracy.

The two-hour hearing featured clips of sworn testimony by Trump’s closest aides, which detailed how they did not believe the president’s claims of electoral fraud and their attempts, sometimes angrily, to stop him from pursuing them. It also highlighted the involvement of two far-right groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers - whose leaders were shown meeting in a car park hours before the attack - in the storming of the Capitol.

William Barr, Trump’s attorney-general, was shown telling investigators that he confronted the president directly, calling his claims of election fraud “bullshit”. Barr added it was part of the reason he resigned before the end of the administration.

Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, said she “accepted” what Barr said about the outcome of the election.