Republican congressman refuses to cooperate with Capitol attack panel

Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican and the first sitting member of Congress to be requested to provide documents and sit for an interview with the committee investigating the Capitol riot, said on Tuesday he would not comply with the panel.

The news came shortly after Donald Trump provocatively announced that he will hold a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on 6 January, the first anniversary of the deadly attack on Congress.

The committee has already recommended other no-shows, such as Trump aide Steve Bannon, be prosecuted for their non-compliance.

Successive court rulings have said that the committee was properly formed and does have the investigative powers it is using.

Trump announced his press conference in a statement replete with familiar invective and lies about supposed electoral fraud and the House committee.

More than 700 people have been charged with offenses connected to the riot. Most rioters were not armed with guns but attacked police with other weapons. Guns and explosives were found and bombs planted. On Monday, one rioter who attacked police was sentenced to more than five years in jail.

Trump was impeached for inciting an insurrection but acquitted at his Senate trial when enough Republicans stayed loyal.

His continued presence in national politics and apparent intention to run for president again has stoked jagged divides which some observers fear point the US towards serious discord or even civil war.

Trump seems determined to run, or merely to retain control of the Republican party, through stoking division and anger with false claims about the election and the most serious attack on the US Capitol since the war of 1812.

Trump has sued, so far unsuccessfully, to stop the committee accessing White House documents from his time in power. Two of his closest aides are in serious legal jeopardy for taking similar stands.

Bannon has pleaded not guilty to contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the 6 January committee. He faces a fine and jail time if convicted.

On Monday, citing sources close to Trump, the Guardian revealed his deepening fear as the 6 January committee continues its work.