--- title: Trump's Documents Fight May Crowd Out Jan. 6 Committee News description: The Jan. 6 committee returns in September with public hearings and an initial report. Trump may prefer public attention to be elsewhere. canonical: https://time.com/6209156/trump-documents-fbi-jan-6/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-08-29T11:00:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T14:40:30.925Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump May Like Mar-a-Lago Storyline Crowding Out Jan. 6 One og:description: The Jan. 6 panel is set to return in September with public hearings and an initial report. Will the public take notice? og:url: https://time.com/6209156/trump-documents-fbi-jan-6/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6a60bbf03738235/698a34f1457a521e20d66be7/GettyImages-1413177131.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Former President Trump Holds Rally In Support Of Wisconsin Candidates og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump May Like Mar-a-Lago Storyline Crowding Out Jan. 6 One twitter:description: The Jan. 6 panel is set to return in September with public hearings and an initial report. Will the public take notice? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6a60bbf03738235/698a34f1457a521e20d66be7/GettyImages-1413177131.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # As Jan. 6 Committee Preps Return, Trump May Want Public Attention on Document Fight  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Aug 29, 2022 11:00 AM UTC  Former President Donald Trump greets supporters during a rally on August 05, 2022 in Waukesha, Wis., three days before the FBI searched his Florida home. Former President Donald Trump greets supporters during a rally on August 05, 2022 in Waukesha, Wis., three days before the FBI searched his Florida home.Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Aug 29, 2022 11:00 AM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ The [headlines](https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-mar-a-lago-ap-top-news-arrests-77dcee0e80424bc294153de4d829d95f) coming out of [Mar-a-Lago](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/us/mar-a-lagos-time-in-the-spotlight-began-long-before-trump.html) won’t stop. It might just be what saves Donald Trump. It’s been a wild August for the former President, an inflection point in a saga that began over a year ago. First, we [learned](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/us/politics/trump-documents-search-timeline.html) that he had [taken](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/23/trump-records-mar-a-lago-fbi/) a trove of highly classified material from the White House. Then we learned that the National Archives scolded him for doing so and wanted it back. Trump’s team turned over boxes of files in January—but only some of the material in his possession that belonged to the U.S. government. Talks [continued](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/us/politics/national-archives-letter-trump.html), to little avail. A grand jury was seated. Then a judge [approved](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-loses-bid-keep-jan-6-records-house-committee-investigating-n1283613) a search warrant to [retrieve](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/26/trump-affidavit-released/) the leftover material from Trump’s seaside club that the FBI executed on Aug. 8. It’s a dizzying set of developments that are unfolding like a spy novel. The scandalous details—direct correspondence with the North Korean leader [hoarded](https://www.axios.com/2022/02/07/trump-records-national-archives-mar-a-lago) in a private club, messy record keeping that has classified material intermingled with souvenirs, an ex-President who dug in his heels and refused to discuss that matter—all make for yet another strong narrative against Trump and his defenders. But there’s a problem here for the Trump haters: this ring of the circus is drawing the spotlight away from the other one, where the House committee looking at the Jan. 6 riots is closing in on its final burst of public activity. In reality, Washington has just one spotlight. Since 2015, that spotlight has often been on Trump, and this summer has been a return to that model. Next month, the Jan. 6 committee is expected to hold its final public hearings. Having the spotlight bounce back and forth between Mar-a-Lago and the Capitol insurrection is a good way for most Americans to lose interest in both storylines. Muddying the two sins isn’t good for the separate narratives, even if the figure acting as carnival barker in both is Trump. That is, unless it becomes clear that the two acts are one in the same. The National Archives has already [provided](https://www.axios.com/2022/01/21/national-archives-trump-documents-jan-6-committee) the Jan. 6 committee with some of its materials, and the records that were being stashed at Mar a Lago may similarly prove helpful. For now, though, it’s a two-ring act under the big top. The summer hearings were a [success](https://time.com/6192327/trump-jan-6-hearings-reality-show/), and the public has tuned in. But it’s tougher to spark sustained interest from a mostly redacted Justice Department filing. Sure, there are common themes in both sagas: a [petulant](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/it-s-disappointing-avenging-trump-overshadows-midterm-message-rnc-n1288715) President who thinks his powers were [absolute](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-total-authority-boast-should-ve-enraged-republicans-instead-ncna1184806), believes he can [bully](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/30/opinion/after-trumps-night-abhorrent-bullying-how-can-anyone-still-stand-by-him/) his way through any situation, and possesses an apparent [inability](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/02/politics/meadows-texts-january-6-trump-stop-violence/index.html) to listen to his wise advisers who repeatedly told him _no_ to no avail. But the Jan. 6 events were [visible](https://time.com/5927664/capital-siege-trump-supporters/) for the world to see. They played out in real time, with cameras [capturing](https://time.com/5938095/video-capitol-riot-impeachment-trial/) almost every moment of the attack on Congress and electronic conversations [documenting](https://time.com/5953486/january-capitol-attack-investigation/) the lead-up to that day. State officials have taken the conspiracy theories from that realm and have [changed](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/19-states-enacted-voting-restrictions-2021-rcna8342) laws and policies at home to make it easier to countermand unfavorable results in future elections. And some of those who attended the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol are now on the [ballots](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/politics/january-6-republican-candidates-house-election/index.html) this fall. Secreted away documents are tougher for the public to get excited about, no matter how sensitive the materials. A paper trail isn’t a mob. The evidence of Trump’s direct involvement may be stronger when it comes to spy papers in the basement, but it lacks the emotional trigger that Jan. 6 still brings. Unless there’s evidence Trump was passing those documents to hostile actors or they contained incriminating information he was desperate to hide, most Americans will shrug it off as yet another example of Trump and his orbit lacking any respect for norms or discipline to actually do their jobs. (Or the bar may even be higher. As President, Trump [gave](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/17/15653434/israel-spy-compromised-trump-russians) Russia pieces of Israeli intelligence with no real consequence.) At the Jan. 6 committee’s last public hearing on July 21, members [announced](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/07/22/jan-6-committee-hearings-whats-next/10087791002/?gnt-cfr=1) there would be more public testimony in September. An [initial report](https://time.com/6200347/adam-kinzinger-interview-jan-6-committee/) is also expected to come out next month, a preview of the committee’s full report later this year. So as Congress gets ready to return to Washington after Labor Day, the limelight stands to be split between the Jan. 6 investigation and the one playing out in Florida courts. Democrats giddy that Trump is facing scrutiny on two fronts would do well to remember that there is a finite appetite for news, and two troughs of bad-for-Trump headlines just splits the public’s serving size—[unless](https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/trump-mar-a-lago-jan-6-investigations-rcna44600) it turns out the two stories actually are the same one. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6209156/trump-documents-fbi-jan-6/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6209156/trump-documents-fbi-jan-6/"},"headline":"As Jan. 6 Committee Preps Return, Trump May Want Public Attention on Document Fight","datePublished":"2022-08-29T11:00:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T14:40:30.925Z","description":"The Jan. 6 committee returns in September with public hearings and an initial report. Trump may prefer public attention to be elsewhere.","url":"https://time.com/6209156/trump-documents-fbi-jan-6/","keywords":["The D.C. 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