Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

Line you want the American People to know . There was a very sophisticated multi part plan overseen by donald trump. You cant ever accept when they steal and rig and rob. To attempt to stay in power. As the longest, largest investigation into Donald Trumps attempt to stay president comes to a close, we put it all together. Ive got Three Men Walking Down The Street in fatigues and carrying ar15s. The explosive testimony. I heard the president saying something to the effect, i dont care if they have weapons, let my people in. New insight from witnesses. I said, you want me to take my state, 3. 2 million voters, and just throw them out the window . Was he asking you to commit a crime . It gets back to the criminal intent issue. I dont know what he believed. Hang mike pence and what might lie ahead. The former president and his allies represent a Clear And Present Danger to democracy. Not because of what they did On January 6th. You better run, cops its because of what they pledged to do in 2024. A cnn special report, american coup, the january 6th investigation. Im a very textural artist. I love a lot of texture. In arizona, the republican speaker of the house, rusty bowers, is an artist by trade. But last february, bowers was thrown into a reallife drama. The bill number was 2596. 2596, one of more than 100 bills submitted in arizona to tighten access to the ballot box. The measure would have scrapped early voting. All voting would be on election day only. 90 of my district votes early. And it would have mandated paper ballots. But most egregious to rusty bowers was this. With no guidance criteria, the legislature after the election could dismiss the election. And i said, welcome to fascism. Hb 2596 elections. And so i said, i will give this the respect it deserves. Education. So i sent it to 12 committees so we would have a long vetting process. Military affairs. Typical is one or two. If it was a controversial bill, you might send it to three. If it goes to four committees, then youre getting a message. Judiciary. I assigned it to 12 committees. Transportation. It was theatrical, and i admit it. Its no overstatement to say because bowers stood up for democracy, he will no longer be in the state legislature. Im rusty bowers term limited in the state house, he ran in the republican primary for a state senate seat. I stood up to the radicals and kept my conservative campaign promises. My opponent was David Farnsworth. David farnsworth is going to do the job. Their positions on major issues nearly identical except for one. I believe the election was stolen. Farnsworth bought into trumps election lies. Bowers did not. Arizona voters pick David Farnsworth over i lost big. It is very possible that the bill that i assigned liberally to my committees will be back. The possibility of that getting a governors signature would just be a disaster. I call it the possibility of going back into the dark ages in arizona. As the u. S. Headed into the 2022 midterm elections, there was perhaps more at stake regarding American Democracy than ever before. From arizona to pennsylvania to georgia, in all the socalled swing states, the former president , donald trump, backed not only those who supported his lies about Election Fraud in 2020, but also often those who expressed a willingness to undo any future results they dont like under the pretense of trumpedup fraud. Thank you, mr. President. As this was happening, the House Select Committee investigating january 6th was interviewing witnesses, holding hearings, and gathering evidence to fully expose what the Committee Says was a plot designed to keep donald trump as president in 2020. And to try to make sure it can never happen again. Whats the bottom line you want the American People to know from these hearings . There are several things, but one is there was a very sophisticated multipart plan overseen by donald trump to attempt to overturn the election. No president in our history has ever done anything even close to that before. Vice chair liz cheney, one of just two republicans on the committee, has spent the last year bucking her party and helping investigate Donald Trumps sophisticated multipart plan. The first piece the committee focused on were the lies. Mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country because theyre cheaters. In the leadup to the election, donald trump had been talking about the possibility of widespread voter fraud for months. Voting by mail is wrought with fraud. People steal them out of mailboxes. Looking back, its clear he was laying the groundwork for this. This is a fraud on the american public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. Trump may have been crying widespread fraud, but he had no proof. What the former president did have proof of, based on his own teams assessment of votes, is that he lost, a fact made clear by the January 6th Committee, which exposed to the world that so many trump aides, despite toeing the trump line in public are you expecting the president to concede . Maria, that words not even in our vocabulary right now. Knew trump was going to lose legitimately and that he did lose legitimately. Admissions they were forced to make under oath. I was in the oval office, and at some point in the conversation, matt askowski, who was the lead data person, was brought on. And i remember he delivered to the president pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose. Trump Campaign Attorneys followed up on all of the fraud claims, and they quickly concluded that fraud did not take the election from donald trump. Voters did. The news was told to trumps Chief Of Staff at the white house, mark meadows, in mid to late november. I remember a call with mr. Meadows, and i remember sharing with him that we werent finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states. During a meeting several weeks later, the president got the same message from his white House Counsel, Pat Cipollone, and another white house lawyer, eric herschmann. Eric and pat told the group, the president included, that none of those allegations had been substantiated to the point where they could be the basis for any litigation challenge to the election. It is statistically impossible that the person, me, that led the charge, lost. But donald trump continued to refuse to publicly accept defeat. The evidence of the fraud is monumental, and more is coming out. Audacious claims of widespread fraud became a daily occurrence. Numerous times we found glitches, and every single time the glitch went 100 to biden and no percent to trump. The only thing left is to vote. That could have been mickey mouse. That could have been a dead person. Standing near giuliani is an attorney named Sidney Powell who became the face of one of the most notorious and frankly one of the most deranged lies that dominion Voting Machines were flipping votes for trump to biden. The Dominion Voting Systems were created in venezuela at the direction of hugo chavez to make sure he never lost an election. After she was sued by dominion, powells attorney eventually conceded that powell lied, saying that, quote, no reasonable person would conclude that her statements were truly statements of fact, unquote. But long before that happened, the president s Attorney General, bill barr, was investigating all of trumps fraud claims. It was getting awkward because obviously he had lost the election and barr said he made it clear to trump at a November 23rd meeting that he had lost. Our role is to investigate fraud, and its just not meritorious, theyre not panning out. He was going to win in spite of all the fraud but spurred on by the most ardent election liars including many in maga media clearly the president won this election. Donald trump would not listen to reason or fact. Where is the doj and the fbi in all of this, mr. President . Missing in action. This got under my skin, but i also felt it was time for me to Say Something, so i set up a lunch with the ap reporter, mike bolsamo. And i told him that to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election. A heated trump barr meeting followed and barr got another opportunity to debunk the lies. Among the claims he focused on were the ones about dominion Voting Machines. With the turn of a dial or the change of a chip, you can press a button for trump and the vote goes to biden. I told him that the stuff his people were shoveling out to the public was bullshit. I specifically raised the dominion Voting Machines, i saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations. But they were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing a lot of people. Before the end of december, barr had quit. His replacement, acting Attorney General jeffrey rosen, who came with a blunt yet lowkey acting Deputy Attorney general named Richard Donohue. Like barr, rosen and donohue took seriously and thoroughly investigated each of the fraud claims coming from then President Trump. In late december, donohue spoke with the president and told him the truth about numerous false claims, including one involving dominion machines in northern michigan. There you had supposedly a Cyber Expert Group issue a report that said there was a 68 error rate. It was not a 68 error rate. In fact, it was i think a 0. 006 error rate. Donahue also debunked Fraud Claims Trump stayed about the votecounting done at the State Farm Arena in atlanta, georgia. I dont run to see if people are walking in with suitcases and putting them under the table with a black robe around it there were allegations about suitcases of fraudulent ballots being smuggled into the facility. Now theyre going to start pulling these ballots out from under this table. Ballots being run through multiple times. The u. S. Attorney looked at it and found that none of those allegations were true. Donahues boss, jeff rosen, then forwarded an email from the white house Chief Of Staff mark meadows asking the department of justice to look into the possibility that italian satellites were changing votes from trump to biden. They sent these new numbers back up through this military satellite, Italian Military satellite i was skeptical to say the least. We very quickly determined that was not a wellfounded allegation, and we told the Chief Of Staff and others as well. Whiskey tango foxtrot, whats going on over there . The nations top Law Enforcement officials were investigating and finding nothing substantive. And in the courts, the usual venue for the claims of voting misconduct, the president s team lost over and over again. The courts again shutting down more desperate attempts to overturn an election. You were on george w. Bushs shortlist for the supreme court. Youre not some raging liberal. Is that fair . Totally fair. Michael luding is a highly respected Conservative Retired Federal Court judge. Ludig did not hear any of the trump fraud cases, but he and his colleagues did analyze more than 60 of them. We reviewed each individual claim and decided there was nothing that would have changed the result in a single precinct, let alone a single state, let alone nationally. Ahead youre asking me to do something thats against my oath, and im not going to do that. Donald trump puts the squeeze on Statehouse Leaders across the country. Going to have a big impact on tuesday if you guys dont get this thing straightened out fast. energetic music plays there he is its right there oh, hes straight ahead. Hes straighahead. Raight ahead. Go go go. Cover more ground in the kia sportage turbohybrid. Kia. Movement that inspires. Why do dermatologists choose dove . The dove beauty bar, is gentle. It not only cleans, it hydrates my skin. As a dermatologist, i want whats best for our skin. With 1 4 moisturizing cream, dove is the 1 Bar Dermatologists use at home. Trying vapes to quit smoking might feel like progress, but with 3x more nicotine than a pack of cigarettes vapes Increase Cravings trapping you in an endless craving loop. Nicorette reduces cravings until theyre gone for good. When i was diagnosed with hiv, i didnt know who i would be. But here i am. Being me. 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I sat there in my little prius and had a chat with the president with bad Phone Reception and backed out from the house where i get better reception. Rudy giuliani was on the line, too. And bowers says it was giuliani who began making crazy claims about voter fraud in arizona. I cant give you the exact numbers but ill throw out numbers, but theyre kind of of the audacious numbers like 200,000 Illegal Aliens voted. 6,000 Military Ballots were stolen and used. Bowers says giuliani wanted him to hold an official Arizona House hearing to air these claims publicly. And then i said, but whats the whole purpose of this . What are you trying to achieve . And he said, well, weve heard theres an arcane law in arizona that if you have sufficient cause, that you can throw out the Biden Electors and put in trump electors. And i said, thats a new one to me, ive never, ever heard of that. And so now youre asking me to do something thats against my oath, and im not going to do that. But bowers says he told giuliani he had good lawyers and would be happy to put the former mayor in touch with them. I dont do anything of this magnitude without having strong Legal Counsel and proof. And the president says, rudy, you got the proof . He said, yeah, i got the proof. And i said, i want the proof. I didnt get it when he said hed do it. He never called my attorneys. But the asks did not stop with giuliani. Bowers would later get a call from another trump attorney, john eastman. We know there was fraud. Whom the january 6th Committee Sees as a key player in this grand plan to undo the legitimate results of the 2020 president ial election. The ask was kind of that we would throw out the electors. And i said, has it ever been done . He said, no. I said, you want me to take my state, 3. 2 million voters, and just throw them out the window because i want to . And thats responsible on my part . I said, okay, thank you. Were not doing that. Bowers kept his caucus on the sidelines, but in the arizona senate, republicans there yielded to pressure from team trump and voted to conduct an audit of the results in arizonas largest county. When they got the cyber ninjas i thought, ill watch, this will be interesting. I dont want to be close to that. You might remember the ninjas. The company was run by a trump supporter. They employed Ultraviolet Lights which could supposedly identify ballots from china. They came out that mr. Biden won by a larger margin than previously, and mr. Trump lost a number of votes. Bowers and his colleagues in arizona were not the only State Officials to feel the heat from trump and or giuliani. Material discovered by the january 6th Committee Showed it happened over and over across the swing states that biden won. Mr. Speaker, this is Rudy Giuliani and jenna ellis. In pennsylvania, bowers counterpart Republican House speaker brian cutler got the calls. Hello, mr. Speaker. This is jenna ellis, and im here with mayor giuliani. Hey, brian, its rudy. I really have something important to call to your attention that i think really changes things. The january 6th Committee Says cutler thought the calls were inappropriate and had his lawyers tell giuliani to stop them. I understand you dont want to talk to me now. I just want to bring some facts to your attention. And then there was georgia where the republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, got an hourlong call from President Trump. Brad, what are we going to do . We won the election, and its not fair to take it away from us like this. Trump probably put more pressure on Brad Raffensperger than anyone else. It was immense. All i want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes. And i think its the phone call that everyone remembers that was later leaked where he in turn berated Brad Raffensperger. Theyre going around playing you and laughing at you behind your back, brad. He praised him. He seemed to try to charm him at times and even indicated that if he did not act, that there could be criminal liability for those actions. Youre not reporting it. Thats just you know, thats a criminal thats a criminal offense. And it was not just pressure. There were threats, usually from Trump Supporters who Felt Empowered or incited by him. Take for instance the two men in this hummer with a qanon decal. Prosecutors say they drove the vehicle filled with Automatic Weapons and ammunition from virginia to the Philadelphia Convention center in early november 2020, where votes were still being counted. At the time, al schmidt was the republican responsible for overseeing the vote count in philadelphia. He received threats aimed at his family. Tell the truth or your three kids will be fatally shot. It included our address. It included my childrens names. It included a picture of our home. And the Republican House speaker in that state had protesters show up at his home. There were multiple protests, at least three outside either my District Office or my home. My then 15yearold son was home by himself for the first one. We have now counted in georgia, Brad Raffenspergers wife received disturbing messages. People started threatening her, sending her sexualized texts, those kind of intimidations. Georgia election worker shea moss testified before the House Select Committee about threats she received via facebook messenger. A lot of threats wishing death upon me, telling me that, you know, ill be in jail with my mother. These threats happened after Rudy Giuliani spread lies about her and her mother, ruby freeman, who was counting votes with moss at State Farm Arena in atlanta on election night. Tape earlier in the day of ruby freeman and Shea Freeman Moss and one other gentleman quite obviously surreptitiously passing around usb ports as if theyre vials of heroin or cocaine. Its obvious to anyone whos a criminal investigator or prosecutor they are engaged in surreptitious illegal activity. What was your mom actually handing you on that video . A ginger mint. This turned my life upside down. I dont want anyone knowing my name. I dont want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name out over the Grocery Aisle or something. I havent been anywhere at all. Ive gained about 60 pounds. Its affected my life in a major way. Congressman Adam Kinzinger of illinois, the only republican on the January 6th Committee other than liz cheney, says all the threats are part of trumps plan. I dont think you can look at the words and actions of donald trump and think that he wanted anything except the explosion of these threats to people. He could stop that in a second if he wanted to, but he likes it. There are a lot of members of congress that i think voted against impeachment because they were scared for their family and for themselves. What does that mean . It means threats of violence worked. Up next they suggested that he use the apparatus of government to the apparatus of government to seize Voting Machines. Tists. Tourist taking photos that are analyzed by ai. So researchers can help life underwater flourish. The Morgan Stanley Client Experience . Listening more than talking, and a personalized plan to guide you through a changing world. Thursday night football on prime. Its on. Thursday night football returns, as the vikings take on the eagles. Stream thursday night football. Only on prime. I brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein. Those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks uuuhhhh. Here, ill take that woohoo ensure max protein, 30 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar. Enter the 10,000 powered by protein max challenge. Wake up, achievers. Youre making the most of every hour of your life. Except the hours that youre sleeping. So why do we leave so much Untapped Potential on the table . 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States formally certified their results as their citizens had voted. The resolution is unanimously adopted. And that, according to the January 6th Committee, is what led to a boisterous white house meeting where the former president considered horrifying action. On December 18th three people, one of them trumps former National Security adviser, Michael Flynn, his lawyer, Sidney Powell, and patrick bern, the founder of overstock. Com, were let into the white house by an aide to peter navarro, another trump adviser. Trump saw them, called them into the oval office, and they start arguing the case where everyone else is failing trump and that trump can take aggressive actions to keep himself in power and to try to impact the results of an election that he had already lost. They suggested that he use the apparatus of government to seize Voting Machines. And as this meeting is taking place, another lawyer in the white house, eric herschmann, figures out whats happening. Calls in the white House Counsel, Pat Cipollone. Mark meadows ends up joining at some point. On his Last Day Of Work joins, Rudy Giuliani gets called in. And this goes on for hours. How much time did you have alone with the president i say alone. You had other people with you, but before the crowd came running . Probably no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Was in that Pat Cipollone set a new land speed record. I opened the door and i walked in, saw general flynn. I saw Sidney Powell sitting there. I was not happy to see the people in the oval office. Explain why. I dont think any of these people were providing the president with good advice. The team had arrived with a Draft Executive Order that, had it been signed by donald trump, would have immediately ordered the secretary of defense to seize, collect, retain, and analyze ballot boxes, and it would have created, quote, a Special Counsel to oversee the operation and institute all criminal and civil proceedings as appropriate. This is a draft of the Executive Order that would have allowed trump to seize Voting Machines. What was your reaction when you heard about this . I think most americans could never imagine those things would happen here. And that order and many of the other things that weve learned through our hearings have been really stunning to me. Because repeatedly i found myself in a situation thinking, my gosh, how could this happen here . And we really thought it couldnt, but its just continued to emphasize for all of us that our institutions are fragile. The appointment of the Special Counsel was not hypothetical. Trump wanted Sidney Powell, a prominent peddler of election lies, in the spot. He asked Pat Cipollone if he had the authority to name me Special Counsel, and he said yes. And then he asked him, does he have the authority to give me whatever Security Clearance i needed . And Pat Cipollone said yes. And then the president said, okay, you know, im naming her that, and im giving her Security Clearance. And then shortly before we left was when cipollone and or hershman and whoever the other young man was said, you can name her whatever you want to name her and no ones going to pay any attention to it. How did you respond how did the president respond to that . Something like, you see what i deal with . I deal with this all the time. The meeting was extremely heated with cipollone arguing against the Special Counsel idea and against seizure of Voting Machines. Can the federal government seize Voting Machines . Its a terrible idea. Thats not how we do things in the United States. Theres no Legal Authority to do that. The three of them were really forcefully attacking me, verbally eric, derek, and we were pushing back and we were asking one simple question as a general matter. Where is the evidence . What response did you get . A variety of responses. Like, what do you mean wheres the evidence . You should know. There was a discussion of, we dont know it now but we will have it or whatever. Going to challenge what she was saying. Well, the judges are corrupt. And i was like, every one . Every single case youve done in the country that youve lost, every one is corrupt . Even the ones that we appointed . And im being nice but i was much more harsh to her. The meeting very nearly devolved into a physical fight. One screamed at me i was a quitter and everything and standing up and standing around and screaming at me. And at a certain point i had it with him, so i yelled back. Either come over or sit your effing ass back down. Im going to categorically describe it as, you guys are not tough enough, or maybe i put it another way, youre a bunch of pussies. Excuse the expression. But thats im almost certain the word was used. I mean, if it had been me sitting in his chair, i would have fired all of them that night and had them escorted out of the building. The January 6th Committee discovered Text Messages sent during and following the meeting by cassidy hutchinson, the assistant to mark meadows who testified live before the Committee Hearing in june, describing the meeting as unhinged. She also snapped this photograph of Mark Meadows Escorting Rudy Giuliani from the white house to make sure he did not get back into the mansion. You tweeted, quote, somehow the Committee Testimony featured live underplayed how crazy that December 18th Meeting was. How was it underplayed . Because donald trump faded into the background as this was all being described. One of the ways in which donald trump has escaped a lot of accountability over time is he gets people fighting with each other, and thats what people focus on. He considered extreme, really unprecedented actions. Now, he didnt take them, but he was unwilling to foreclose options until the last possible second no matter how extreme and and potentially dangerous they were. I remember talking to you after that meeting, and you were shaking. I was. And it was, frankly it took a little bit to process exactly what had happened. But i remember getting a text from a Senior Republican Senate advisor asking me if there was going to be an issue in terms of a peaceful transfer of power after this. And i said, yes, there is a legitimate issue here. And i think that was a real young warning sign. It was floated, this idea, by retired general Michael Flynn in the oval office, that donald trump should seize Voting Machines and ballot boxes from these states that joe biden won. What was your reaction when you heard that . I said to my wife, this is beyond all comprehension. I never utter a word like this, but that in particular sounded in in a Banana Republic to me. Had that happened, we would have been in a situation where literally were in a constitutional crisis because nothing in our constitution gives you the answer. At the end of the evening, no Seizure Orders were issued. The president decided to go in a different direction. He would take it in a tweet. What he wanted was to show everyone who was telling him he lost the election that people agreed with him. The tweet and the violence that followed ahead. Ratch. Raise the jar to flavors from the worlds finest ingredients. And now, from jars to bars. 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We hope you like your work. hours before sunrise on december 19, 2020, after a long, loud, disturbing white house meeting about seizing Voting Machines, President Trump sent a tweet that would change history. Big protest in d. C. On january 6th, it read. Be there. Will be wild. What he wanted was to show these lawmakers not just in washington but everyone who is telling him he lost the election, he wanted to show them that people agreed with him and people backed his lies about the election. Donald trump was summoning his True Believers to washington, d. C. , and evidence pieced together by the january 6th Committee Shows they heard that call and began planning immediately. Women for america first, a protrump organizing group, had previously applied for a rally permit for january 22nd and 23rd in washington, d. C. , but in the hours after the tweet they moved their permit to january 6th. The next day, ali alexander, a trump supporter and leader of the group stop the steal, created a website to share and promote logistics about the rally. It included event times, places, speakers, and details on transportation to washington, d. C. Farright personalities such as conspiracy theorist alex jones almost immediately began spreading the word on their platforms. One of the most Historic Events in American History has just taken place. President trump wants the American People to march on washington, d. C. On january 6, 2021. The time for games is over. The time for action is now. As word spread, it became clear the trump faithful who planned to attend were also planning for the possibility of violence. We know the rules of engagement. If you have enough people, you can push down any kind of a fence or a wall. You better understand something, son. You better understand something. Red wave, bitch. Red wave. Theres going to be a red wedding going down january 6th. The term red wedding comes from the Game Of Thrones tv series. It means a massacre. That fucking door open, look down the street. There are going to be a million plus geekedup armed americans. Some of trumps twitter followers did consider his tweets to be orders. Thats according to a former twitter employee whose identity was hidden while testifying to the committee. It felt as if a mob was being organized, and they were gathering together their weaponry and their logic and their reasoning behind why they were prepared to fight. Members of the Committee Say they were finding similar types of chatter across social media platforms. Quote, calling all patriots, be in washington, d. C. January the 6th. This wasnt organized by any group. Djt has invited us, and its going to be wild. Some of the online rhetoric turned openly homicidal and White Nationalist such as, why dont we just kill them, every last democrat down to the last man, woman and child. And its time for the day of the rope. White revolution is the only solution. The donald dot win, an openly racist and antisemitic site, became a venue for those considering violence to exchange ideas. On that site, many shared plans and violent threats. Bring handcuffs and wait near the tunnels, wrote one user. A commenter replied suggesting zip ties instead. One post encouraged others to come with body armor, knuckles, shields, bats, pepper spray, whatever it takes. All of those were used on the 6th. The post concluded, join your local proud boys chapter as well. We are the proud boys we are the proud boys according to the committee, the proud boys, a farright militia, was active during this time, preparing for january 6th. Proud boys launched an encrypted chat called the ministry of selfdefense. The committee obtained hundreds of these messages which show strategic and Tactical Planning about january the 6th, including maps of washington, d. C. That pinpoint the location of police. Even more alarming, some of the people making plans in the proud boys and in the oath keepers, another rightwing militia, had direct ties to people close to donald trump. One such ally was Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, trumps former National Security advisor. This photo from December 12th Shows Flynn and patrick burn, another trump ally indicted by trump oath keeper roberto minuta. Another shows oath keeper Stewart Rhodes in the picture as well. Both minuta and rhodes have been charged with Seditious Conspiracy, conspiring to use force against the federal government. Theyve pleaded not guilty. But late last year the jury has reached a verdict in the Seditious Conspiracy trial for alleged leaders of the farright oath keepers rhodes and the other oath keep wear found guilty of said Seditious Conspiracy. Minutas trial is under way. More than a dozen oath keepers and proud boys have been charged with Seditious Conspiracy. According to the committee, Longtime Trump ally roger stone had ties to these groups. In the same time frame, stone communicated with both the proud boys and the oath keepers regularly. The committee obtained encrypted content from a group chat called friends of stone, fos, which included stone, rhodes, tario, and ali alexander. Tarrio is enrique tario, leader of the proud boys. The chat focused on on various protrump events in november and december of 2020, as well as january 6th. On january 6th, stone was guarded by two oath keepers who have since been criminally indicted for Seditious Conspiracy. One of them later pleaded guilty and according to the department of justice admitted the oath keepers were ready to use, quote, lethal force if necessary against anyone who tried to remove President Trump from the white house, including the national guard. Members of the Committee Say roger stones connection to the proud boys goes back years and showed him taking the oath required for the first level of initiation into the group. Hi, im roger stone. There are some missing pieces in the public record, such as what, if anything, did donald trump or anyone inside the white house know about the organizing by the farright militias . The night before january 6th, President Trump instructed his Chief Of Staff, mark meadows, to contact both roger stone and Michael Flynn regarding what would play out the next day. Ms. Hutchinson, is it your understanding that mr. Meadows called mr. Stone on the 5th . Im under the impression that mr. Meadows did complete both a call to mr. Stone and general flynn the evening of the 5th. And do you know what they talked about that evening, ms. Hutchinson . Im not sure. I think whats important is that he was going through the process of selling that the election was stolen, and then in convincing folks that, look, if you believe that an election was stolen from you, violence is the only answer, quite honestly. I mean thats kind of the american tradition. If you truly believe that the constitution is being disobeyed, every american would actually be on the capitol. Up next, donald trump puts the squeeze on justice. Him telling us that we should say publicly that it was corrupt, that concerned me. Light Acoustic Music Plays Eagle Screeches energetic music plays there he is its right there oh, hes straight ahead. Hes straight ahead. Straight ahead. Go go go. Cover more ground in the kia sportage turbohybrid. Kia. Movement that inspires. With 30 grams of protein. Those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks uuuhhhh. Here, ill take that woohoo ensure max protein, 30 grams of protein, 1 gram of sugar. Enter the 10,000 powered by protein max challenge. [its the final game, folks. This one wins the series. ] struck out with the cheap seats . Important things arent worth compromising. At farmers, we offer both Quality Insurance and great savings. crowd cheers here, take mine. Farmers Mnemonic nice footwork. Man, youre lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. Now you can stream all your games like its nothing. Yes [ cheers ] yeah woho running up and down that field looks tough. Its a pitch. Get way more into what youre into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. Youre obviously well aware of what donald trump was doing in terms of his Election Fraud claims. Did you have any apprehension of becoming Deputy Attorney general . No, i didnt have any concerns about that. I had a great deal of confidence in the team. I wanted to be part of the team. You want to be there when it matters. You cant ever accept when they steal and rig and rob. After Attorney General bill barr resigned, Richard Donohue was appointed to the number two position in the department of justice, the deputy to jeffrey rosen, the new acting Attorney General. The two men inherited a department under constant and public attack by the sitting president of the United States, fighting to hold on to an election he falsely claimed had been stolen. Trump thought the Justice Department was an arm of his presidency and a way for him to tell them what to do and they should do his bidding and what he wanted. As the new targets of trumps ire, rosen and donohue fielded neardaily complaints from donald trump. Between December 23rd and january 3rd, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day. The Common Element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction that the Justice Department in his view had not done enough to investigate Election Fraud. But they were investigating. The department of justice had been debunking trumps wild Election Fraud lies one by one, but President Trump chose not to listen. On a December 27th phone call with rosen and donohue, President Trump said the department had an obligation to, quote, tell people this was an illegal, corrupt election despite no evidence of widespread fraud. Trump also pressed them to publicly, quote, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. That was an exact quote from the president. He indicated that he had some political avenue he wanted to pursue with the congress, but by him telling us that we should say publicly that it was corrupt, that concerned me. What he intended was for the department of justice to say, we have indications there was corruption. Because from there you can take that seed of doubt and donald trump and republican members of congress can water it, they can grow that doubt and through that get things people to do things like vote against certification On January 6th. As long as rosen and donahue were in charge, they told the president they would not publicly back his false Election Fraud claims. So trump had to find someone who would help him do what he wanted to steal the election. Jeff clarks name had come up on December 27th in the phone call with the president. He brought it up and said, look, people tell me i should change the leadership. People are telling me you two are not doing your job. I hear jeff clark is great. People tell me he could get in there and do something, and it was surprising to me. Surprising because the president would have no reason to even know who Jeffrey Clark was. Even within the department, very few people had really heard of Jeffrey Clark. But donald trump had. Unbeknownst to rosen and donahue, Pennsylvania Republican republican scott perry had brought clark to the oval office to meet with donald trump on december 22nd, the day after perry had been amongst republican members of congress who had joined trump at the white house to discuss overturning the 2020 election. Trump also mentioned jeff clark on a separate call with rosen. He made what i regarded as a peculiar reference. I dont remember the fact quote, but it was something about did i know jeff clark or did i know who he was or Something Like that. I was quizzical as to, how does the president even know mr. Clark . Rosen confronted clark who admitted hed broken the longstanding policy governing communication between the Justice Department and the white house. White house lawyers Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin also intervened and warned clark not to communicate with the white house. Clark agreed but just two days later escalated the situation with an email that set off a series of events that would rock the Justice Department. We came in on monday, december 28th, a hectic day as they all were, and then in the afternoon we got that email, which i had to sit down and read more than once to make sure i understood what he was proposing. What was he proposing . He was proposing sending out a letter signed by the three of us the acting Attorney General, myself, and jeff clark to georgia, but also the other states, the other swing states as well suggesting, essentially, that they set aside the electors assigned to support President Elect Biden and hold hearings and basically have the State Legislatures pick a new slate of electors. The letter claimed the u. S. Department of justices investigations had, quote, identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states including the state of georgia, unquote. Was that true . No. While the letter was sent solely by jeff clark, it was written with the help of a new Justice Department employee named ken kukowski, who according to the committee was also working with john eastman, the architect of the multistep plan to overturn the election. The letter mirrored some of eastmans unconstitutional theories. It would have created chaos in the states. I think that would have been disastrous for our country and our constitution. Wasnt that the point of it, the letter, to create that chaos . I think so, yes. Disturbed by the letter, donahue immediately responded to clark writing, quote, this would be a grave step for the department to take, and it would have tremendous constitutional, political, and social ramifications for the country. I had to make it clear to him there was no world which i and certainly the a. G. Were going to sign a letter like that. Rosen and donohue met with clark later that evening. I do remember at the very end saying to him, what you are proposing is nothing less than having the United States Justice Department meddle in the outcome of an american president ial election. But, again, Jeffrey Clark ignored the direction of Justice Department leadership. He continued to claim falsely that there was widespread Election Fraud. He pushed to send out the letter again, and On January 3rd he told rosen President Trump had offered him the role of Attorney General, and he had accepted. That led to a series of discussions and meetings that day. At this point it had gone so far that we had to bring the other leaders in and explain to them so they were prepared in case it happened, but also to get their take on what they would do if that did happen. And what did they say they would do . They uniformly said they would resign. White house call logs obtained by the Committee Show by 4 19 p. M. That day, the white house had already begun referring to clark as the acting Attorney General. That evening, rosen and donohue went to the white house to argue against trump Installing Clark as Attorney General. The threehour meeting took place in the oval office, and by all accounts joined the long list of wild white house meetings. The president turned to me and he said, one thing we know, you, rosen, you arent going to do anything. You dont even agree with the claims of Election Frauds, and this other guy at least might do something. It was basically jeff clark advocating for the Leadership Change and everyone else advocating against it. It was a very blunt, contentious conve conversation. Hershman and i were on the same level of being the sort of Street Fighters of the meeting. When he finished discussing what he planned on doing, i said good effing excuse me. The first act you take as Attorney General is committing a felony, youre clearly the right candidate for in this job. White counsel Pat Cipollone was vehemently against the plan as well. He referred to the letter that jeff clark had submitted as a murdersuicide pact that no one should have anything to do with it. I had basically made the point to the president jeff clark was not even qualified to be the Attorney General. Hes promising you hes going to conduct these very complex nationwide investigations in record time, and this is coming from a guy whos never conducted a real investigation. Mr. Clark responded by saying hes been involved in very significant environmental law briefing before various courts. And that reminded me that, yes, in fact, primarily youre an environmental lawyer, how about you go back to your office and well call you when theres an oil spill. Donohue also informed President Trump that upon clarks appointment, Justice Department leaders would resign en masse. The president turned to me and said, steve, you wouldnt leave, would you . I said, mr. President , ive been with you through four attorneys general, including two acting attorneys general, but i couldnt be part of this. Finally persuaded, trump decided against the idea. When clark was subpoenaed by the january 6th Committee Earlier this year, he refused to answer questions, pleading the fifth more than 125 times. Did you discuss this draft letter to georgia officials with the president of the United States . Fifth. Coming up, inside the plot to pressure the Vice President. It would have immediately plunged the country into paralyzing constitutional crisis. At pnc bank, you can find us in big cities and small towns across the us, where our focus is to always support the people who live and work there. Because you call these communities home, and we do too. Pnc bank. On december 14, 2020 when the electors in each state gathered all 16 electors cast their ballots for joseph r. Biden. So did fraudulent electors in seven swing states that biden had won, such as arizona. Donald j. Trump of the state of florida, number of votes, 11. An ultimate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote, and were going to send those results up to congress. This desperate scheme to overthrow the Election Results had been conceived weeks earlier. Who do you remember being involved in those early discussions around the thanksgiving time regarding having alternate electors meet . Mr. Giuliani, several of mr. Giulianis associates, mr. Meadows. One of the biggest supporters of this outrageous attempt to subvert American Democracy was Law Professor and trump attorney john eastman. The entire Executive Branch is headed by one guy. Trump saw him on fox news, and shortly after that, he was in the oval office. Fraudulent electors were just step one in eastmans plan, which he outlined in these memos and justified with false claims of, quote, illegal actions by state and local election officials. Step two in his plan would have to be executed by Vice President mike pence On January 6th while presiding over the opening and counting of electoral ballots. What you can do is you can say due to these disputes in these seven states, were going to send this back to the states and the states would then be able to help donald trump win the election. It was a lie. In fact, on december 19th, 2020, just four days before dr. Eastman sent this memo, dr. Eastman himself admitted in an email that the fake electors had no legal weight, referring to the fake electors as, quote, Dead On Arrival in congress, end quote. Trump Campaign Aides and outside lawyers shared their concerns about the scheme in emails reported on by the New York Times Maggie Haberman and luke broadwater. And did they think what they were doing was legal . In one email a lawyer working in arizona literally describes them as quoteunquote fake electors, so what we would be doing is sending these fake electors, he has fake in quo quotes, to go cast ballots. In another email there was a discussion about fear from some officials. This would be seen as quoteunquote treasonous. What might have happened had pence trying to go through with this idea that he could reject electoral votes and send them back to the states biden won such as arizona, pennsylvania, wisconsin, georgia . He would have immediately plunged the country into what i characterized would be tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis. Theres just no way that the framers of the constitution who divided power and authority, who separated it out, who had broken away from george iii and declared him to be a tyrant, there was no way that they would have put in the hands of one person the authority to determine who was going to be president of the United States. But President Trump now saw Vice President pence as the man who could keep him in the white house for four more years. On December 23rd, President Trump retweeted a memo from an individual named Ivan Rightland entitled Operation Pence card. They called on the Vice President to refuse the Electoral College votes from certain states that had certified joe biden as the winner. He had been pressuring him behind the scenes, so now hes going public. Hes trying to get public pressure on mike pence. The January 6th Committees interviews with white House Attorneys made it clear that Pat Cipollone, Eric Hershman, and many others were appalled. The way it was communicated to me was that Pat Cipollone thought the idea was was nutty and at one point confronted eastman basically with the same sentiment. What were your prior interactions with eastman . He described for me what he thought the ambiguity was in the statute, and he was walking through it at that time. And i said, hold on a second. I want to understand what youre saying. Youre saying that you believe the Vice President acting as president of the senate can be the sole decisionmaker as to, in your theory, who becomes the next president of the United States . And he said yes. I said, are you out of your effing mind . The Vice President decided he could not buy into eastmans theories. Was it your impression the Vice President had directly conveyed his position on these issues to the president . Many times. And hed been consistent in conveying his position to the president . Very consistent. You basically cannot overstate the pressure that trump was putting on pence in the leadup to january 6th. I hope that our great Vice President , our great Vice President comes through for us. Hes a great guy. Of course, if he doesnt come through, i wont like him quite as much. That night pences outside lawyer, richard cohen, phoned retired judge michael ludig, an esteemed conservative republican, for help and advice. He said, judge, do you know john eastman . And i said, yes, john was a clerk of mine about 20, 25 years ago. And he said, well, johns advising the president and Vice President that the vips does not have to accept the Electoral College votes as they have been cast. I said, well, richard, you can tell the Vice President he has no such authority whatsoever. Why did you take to twitter . Well, the next Morning Richard calls and he said, look, we have to get your voice out to the country immediately within the next hour or two. Judge ludig with the help of his son sent his firstever twitter thread. My son sent me twitter instructions on how to tweet a thread of individual tweets that were under 140 characters. I had no earthy idea what any of this was about. I just told my son, send it to me right no or ill cut you out of the will. He read me some of that thread. The only responsibility and power of the Vice President under the constitution is to faithfully count the Electoral College votes as they have been cast. The constitution does not empower the Vice President to alter in any way the results that have been cast either by rejecting certain of them or otherwise. That twitter thread spread and garnered attention around the world. But with just one day before congress was set to certify bidens Electoral College victory, trump continued to apply maximum pressure. In this tweet, quote, the Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors. And when they met at the white house on january 5th in the book peril, journalists bob woodward and robert costa wrote the president said, quote, if these people say you have the power, wouldnt you want to . The Vice President says, quote, i wouldnt want any one person to have that authority. The president says, no, no, no, you dont understand, mike, you can do this. I dont want to be your friend anymore if you dont do this. Trump would not relent. At 1 00 a. M. On january 6th he tweeted, quote, if Vice President mike pence comes through for us, we will win the presidency. Mike can send it back. And then there was the Morning Phone Call in which the president pull bullied and belittled the Vice President for refusing to go along with this potential coup. I dont know if he said you are a wimp, youll be a wimp. Wimp is the word that i remember. Its also been reported the president said to the Vice President something to the effect of, you dont have the courage to make a hard decision. Worse, and i dont remember exactly but it was Something Like that, yeah. Soon after the call ended, trump would repeat his dangerous lies and put a target on Vice President pence. I hope mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. And mike pence is going to have to come through for us. As that speech neared its end, inside the capitol the senate and House Of Representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors. But outside, headed their way ive got Three Men Walking Down The Street in fatigues carrying ar15s. Nows the time to see what americas largest 5g network can do for your business. When it comes to getting your flu shot, cvs is pretty. Flex. Wanna schedule one online while prepping dinner . Gravy. Avoid the wait by scheduling for you. Or the whole crew. Or if you prefer to just pop in . Do you. And if you wanna even tack on a covid19 vaccine to your flu shot, feel free and speaking of free . Our flu shots are. Well. 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Stop the steal, stop the steal On January 3rd, the Capitol Police issued a special event assessment. Congress itself is the target on the 6th. Now were on, as they say, the point of attack listen to what mr. Bannon said that day after the first call he had with the president. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. All i can say is, strap in. They thought they could steal this election then he and donald trump talk again. We dont know what the contents of those calls were, because of course, donald trump has not provided that information and steve bannon has not provided that information. Fight for america fight for america the night of january 5th, you were among those summoned to the oval office. Yeah, so i was brought into the oval office that evening, and the entire press team was assembled in there. And the gates opened just a few minutes ago the president had the door to the rose garden open, and you could hear the crowd on the ellipse already assembled, and you could tell he was feeding off that energy and that he was really excited for the next day. The president was making notes talking then about, we should go up to the capitol, whats the best route to go to the capitol . Fight for trump the January 6th Committees presentation of testimony and documentation left no doubt that trump had every intention of joining his supporters march to the capitol. Fight for trump fight for trump did the president tell you this, that he wanted to speak at the capitol . Correct, yes. Stop the steal stop the steal stop the steal we have the power in numbers. We came here to protect our republic. Fight for trump The Morning Of January 6th usa you will listen to us usa supporters began gathering for the rally. Biden did not win this election. What do you think happened . Fraud. Its not made up. Meanwhile, the president s insistence on joining their march to the capitol. Were taking this country back. Had white house lawyers such as Pat Cipollone very worried. Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of, please make sure we dont go up to the capitol, cassidy. Keep in touch with me. Well get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen. But nobody could change trumps mind. And as he, family, and aides arrived at the rally, his Chief Of Staff, mark meadows, was keeping the president s hopes alive. Prior to mr. Trump taking the stage that morning, he was under the impression via mr. Meadows that it was still possible. At the rally, the president had a more immediate, familiar concern, crowd size. When we were in the off stage announce area tent behind the stage, he was very concerned about the shot. Usa usa for the pictures that were shared, he wanted to make sure that the rally space was full. So hes being told its not that people are waiting to get through these mags, through these Metal Detectors, people dont want to go through them because they have weapons with them. During the hearings, the select Committee Showed a secret Service Report that quote, some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, and carrying Radio Equipment and militarygrade backpacks. Lets listen. The Committee Also played Police Radio Transmissions from that day. An individual was entering. Hes got blue jeans, a blue jean jacket and underneath the blue jean jacket, he has an ar15 hes with a group of individuals, about five to eight other individuals, two of the individuals in that group, they had glockstyle pistols in their waistbands. Ive got Three Men Walking Down The Street in fatigues carrying ar15s. Yet trump wanted the Metal Detectors and magnetometers, or mags, removed. We were in the off stage tent, i was in the vicinity of a conversation i overheard the president Say Something to the effect of, i dont care that they have epweapons, theyre not here to hurt me, take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the effing mags away. The 45th president of the United States of america. Donald j. Trump lets reflect on that for a moment. President trump was aware that a number of the individuals in the crowd had weapons and were wearing body armor, and here is what President Trump instructed the crowd to do. Were going to walk down, and ill be there with you, were going to walk down any one you want, but i think right here, were going to walk down to the capitol [ cheers ] to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Usa usa how would you characterize Donald Trumps speech at the ellipse On January 6th . Inciting. He said peacefully and patriotically, but he was telling people to go up there. And its hard not to see that that was fomenting and telling people that he had been harmed, and they should be angry on his behalf. Youll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. Trumps National Security advisors believe the president , code name mogul, was going to join the procession. Mogul, the president , was, quote, going to the capitol, and quote, theyre finding the best route now. The chat log continues. Military aide has confirmed he wants to walk. They are begging him to reconsider. Current route will be 15th to f, f to 6th, 6th to penn, penn to the capitol. So this is happening. Theres millions of us here. Dont let them lie to you. What was he going to do up there . I think just lead his people. Lead his base. Be with his base. I dont think this was something that he had thought out too well other than he was acting like somebody who didnt think he had anything to lose. All Vice President pence has to do after more than an hour on stage, the president wrapped up his speech this way. We fight like hell and if you dont fight like hell youre not going to have a country anymore. So lets walk down pennsylvania avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you, and god bless america. When he got off the stage lets go and everybody was making the movement back to the motorcade, i had overheard mr. Meadows say to him that he was still working on getting an offtherecord movement to the capitol. What happened next as trump and secret Service Agent Robert Bobby Ingle got into the president ial limousine known as the beast was relayed to hutchinson by Trumps Deputy Chief Of Staff, tony arenata. When i returned to the white house, tony proceeded to tell me that once the president had gotten into the vehicle with bobby, he thought that they were going up to the capitol, and when bobby had relayed to him, were not, we dont have the assets to do it, its not secure, were going back to the west wing. The president had very strong, very angry response to that. Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, im the effing president , take me up to the capitol now. To which bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the west wing. The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Ingle grabbed his arm, said sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. Were going back to the west wing. Were not going to the capitol. Its a shocking story. And weve now heard from at least the washington, d. C. Detective something very similar. Trump would return to the white house. 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When donald trump is upset what hes seeing, he reacts. He was not reacting here. For more than three hours, the president of the United States refused to call off the violent rioters who stormed the u. S. Capitol. He was watching television and admiring what he saw. You know, was happy the certification was delayed. There were myriad efforts to get him to issue some kind of a statement. Those did not work. He didnt make a single phone call to any member of his government. At 1 49 p. M. Declaring it a riot. When d. C. Police officially declared this a riot, trump tweeted out a link to his speech on the ellipse, the very one that had helped incite that riot. Realizing the severity of the situation, white House Counsel Pat Cipollone rushed to mark meadows, the president s Chief Of Staff. I remember pat saying to him something to the effect of, the rioters have gotten to the capitol, mark, we need to go see the president now. And mark looked up at him and said, he doesnt want to do anything, pat. Its over you better run, cops. Right as the violence surged, trump tweeted, mike pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution. It was the last thing that was really needed in that moment. It pretty much painted a target on the Vice President s back by tweeting that out. Hang mike pence hang mike pence i remember pat saying something to the effect of, mark, we need to do something more. Theyre literally calling for the Vice President to be effing hung. And mark responded something to the effect of, you heard him, pat, he thinks mike deserves it. Working in communications for President Trump, i was very aware of just the impact that his words have on his supporters. That tweet suggested to them that what they were doing at the capitol was okay and that they were justified in their violence and that it was Vice President pence who was allowing an election to be stolen. Inside the capitol, the Vice President was rushed from the senate floor. Secret service held pence along with his family and aides in his Senate Office as they worked to clear a path to safety. If we lose any more time, we may have may lose the ability to leave. A White House Security official who chose to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation explained exactly how dire the situation was for pence and his Secret Service detail. Members of the detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives. They were running out of options, and theyre getting nervous. It sounds like we came close to either service having to use lethal options or worse. When the Secret Service made the call to move the Vice President again, rioters came within 40 feet of him. As he was held in an undisclosed location, it was the Vice President who directed a response to the riot. It was pence who was on the phone with these lawmakers, pence who was on the phone with people in the pentagon about what was happening with the national guard. At 2 38 p. M. , trump tweeted, quote, please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our country. Stay peaceful. By this point, rioters were in both chambers. This is our house. And the Capitol Rotunda was filled with tear gas. At the end of the tweet, he used the phrase stay peaceful. Kayleigh mcenany said he didnt want to include that and that it took a lot of convincing on their part. That was extremely alarming to me. The rioters were getting trumps messages in realtime, as heard on walkietalkie communications between rioters. Trump just tweeted, please support our Capitol Police. They are on our side. Do not harm them. You didnt say not to do anything to the congressmen. I think what the Committee Showed about trumps tweets is that they do take them literally. His messages were received by the people who were there at the capitol very loudly. At any moment during the siege on the capitol, the president could have addressed the country live from the white house. There is a camera on in the White House Briefing room at all times. He could have walked over there, could have been on camera almost instantaneously and blasted out a message to the American People. He had every opportunity, and he chose to not do that. When the president finally relented and released a video telling the rioters to go home, it was 4 17 p. M. Three hours and seven minutes since the riot began. It became very clear that the feds basically had taken the capitol back over. They were not going to succeed in stopping the counting and only then did he come out with that statement. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election. And everyone knows it. Seeing him on camera start the video by talking about a stolen election, i just immediately knew that he wasnt going to meet the moment and say what was needed in that time. So go home. We love you. Youre very special. Yet again, many rioters took the president s words as instructions. Im here delivering the president s message. Working in communications for him, i knew that i would be tasked with defending that, and we had just witnessed all this violence at the capitol and these folks attacking police officers. Chanting horrible things and i knew i couldnt defend that because it was indefensible. I resigned that evening. In the immediate aftermath of the riot as blood and broken glass littered the halls of congress, according to the January 6th Committee, there were those who were still trying to overturn the election. That evening, Rudy Giuliani called a number of republican senators and urged them to continue to try and delay the certification. Im calling you because i want to discuss with you how theyre trying to rush this hearing. The next day, john eastman called white House Counsel Eric Hershman to discuss an appeal in georgia. I said to him, are you out of your effing mind . Now im going to give you the best free legal advice youll ever get in your life. Get a great effing criminal defense lawyer, youre going to need it. And i hung up on him. And the president released a second video condemning the violence more forcefully on january 7th. Like all americans, i am outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem. But according to white house aide cassidy hutchinson, it was only the threat of his cabinet invoking the 25th Amendment that convinced him to make this video. Advisers warned trump talk of removing him from office was gaining traction. Think about what might happen in the final 15 days of your presidency if we dont do this . Theres already talks of invoking the 25th Amendment. You need this as cover. And even then i dont want to say the election is over. I just want to say congress has certified the results without saying the election is over, okay . That video just showed you even after every single constitutional process had been completed, and after over 60 courts had heard his challenges and rejected them, he still refused. It was fundamentally a rejection of the rule of law, and again, america cant sustain itself if we have a Commander In Chief who is at war with the rule of law. Coming up i want the American People to look at these hearings and understand how close we came that day to losing that selfgovernance. This is our capitol the battle to prevent another january 6th. You could add your favorite son you could add your ex add grandma, but dont tell her about the unlimited talk part vo more lines mean more savings, with straight talk. Get unlimited data, talk and text for 25 dollars a line. Known as a loving parent. Known for lessons that matter. 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He knew he was lying. He was trying to basically change out the doj to be people sympathetic to him to give at least the air of federal complicity in challenging Election Results, and he knew when he was sitting in the office during the attack On January 6th that there was a chance it would succeed. What do you want americans to take away from the hearings . I want the American People to look at these hearings and understand how close we came that day to losing that selfgovernance. Freedom isnt free. You have to defend this, and not just overseas but sometimes here at home. Usa, usa, usa do you miss me yet . Do you miss me . [ cheers and applause ] in the aftermath of january 6th and his Election Loss anthony gonzalez, thats another beauty. Donald trump made it his mission to replace republican opponents with supporters. He had mixed success. In arizona and pennsylvania he backed gubernatorial candidates kari lake and Doug Mastriano and Senate Candidates Blake Masters and mehmet oz. All of them lost. Of the ten republicans in the House Of Representatives who voted to impeach trump because of january 6th, only two returned to congress in 2023. The others either declined to run for reelection such as Adam Kinzinger, or lost their republican primary reelection battles to more trumpsupporting candidates, such as liz cheney. This mission youve taken on has cost you your job. Do you have any regrets . Our obligation, my obligation, very much is above politics. I cant imagine having done anything differently at any stage of this process. Since january 6th it saddens me that so many of my republican colleagues have not met the moment. Kinzinger and cheney were the only republicans on the House Select Committee to investigate the attack On January 6th. Theyve become pariahs in a party where they were once seen as its future. We cannot survive is on a party existing on the personality of one man. The select committee to investigate the january 6th attack had a Herculean Task set before it. U. S. Members and staff conducted more than 1,000 interviews, filmed hundreds of taped depositions, and collected more than 140,000 documents. And finally, the week of december 19th, the Committee Showed us its full hand. Leading this hour, the January 6th Committee referring donald trump to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. The first criminal statute we invoked for referral, therefore at its last hearing, the Committee Recommended donald trump be prosecuted for four different crimes including obstruction of an official proceeding On January 6th, 2021. The whole purpose and obvious effect of trumps schemes were to obstruct, influence, and impede this official proceeding. Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to ob this official proceeding. Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make false statements, and perhaps the most grave referral, the one for aiding or assisting an insurrection. Anyone who incites others to engage in rebelling, assists them in doing so, or gives aid and comfort to those engaged in an insurrection is guilty of a federal crime. Its a charge that may by particularly difficult to prove. You have to have criminal intent. Here you have the problem of proving what was in the president s mind. Ive heard people say, well, he was willfully blind. Should he have known . Yes. But if he did not, i dont know that thats a crime. Not everyone shares that view. Willful ignorance of fact or law by the president of the United States would not be either a Legal Defense or a political defense to the president. Thats about as clear as a former judge could say it. Ultimately the Justice Department will decide whether to bring any charges against former President Trump or john eastman, who the Committee Also referred for criminal prosecution, or anyone else. In november Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a former war crimes prosecutor named jack smith as Special Counsel in charge of these ongoing investigations. We know the Justice Department has been investigating Jeffrey Clark. We also know john eastman is someone whos been touched by this investigation. Id like to see the warrant before you take my property both Jeffrey Clark and john eastman have had their phones seized by federal investigators. Clark dismissed the investigation as politically motivated, and eastman fought the dojs search warrant in court. But there are statelevel investigations as well. Rudy giuliani has been informed hes a target in a georgia investigation we will not talk about this till its over. And appeared before a grand jury in august. At the moment, perhaps the most perilous investigation for donald trump has nothing to do with the attack on the capitol. Former president Donald Trumps maralago home in florida has been searched by the fbi. The investigation that at the moment seems most directly threatening to donald trump is the one into his handling of classified documents and taking documents to maralago with him when he left office. The government has recovered more than 320 classified documents from trumps home in florida. The redacted search warrant identified three federal crimes that the department of justice lists as the foundation of its investigation. Obstruction of justice, criminal handling of government records, and violations of the espionage act. Justice Department Investigations of donald trump are certain to be helped by the 845page Committee Report and the hundreds of documents and transcripts released by the January 6th Committee as the congress came to a close in 2022. Among the recommendations in the report the committee believes that those who took an oath to protect and defend the constitution On January 6th should be barred, disqualified and barred from Holding Government office. Thats aimed at trump who has already announced hes running for president in 2024, something the committee has said should not be allowed. Im thrilled to be back. No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. He is unfit for any office. Among the thousands of pages of transcripts released by the committee were new bits of information including Cassidy Hutchinsons that claim she saw trumps Chief Of Staff, mark meadows, burn documents in his white house fireplace about a dozen times during the transition. Even Richard Nixon didnt burn the tapes. There was a gap, but he didnt burn the tapes. Also in those pages, claims from hutchinson that meadows told her the president knew he lost the 2020 election, despite what he was saying publicly. Does the president really think that he lost . Hutchinson asked meadows on one occasion. He said, you know, a lot of times hell tell me he lost but he wants to keep fighting it. How much the Committee Hearings and findings have impacted the countrys view of trump remains unclear. I think the january 6th hearings actually presented a pretty concise case, and i do think it got through the voters and i think partly it was because it was trumps appointees, republican appointees, who were the ones they used to testify against him. Whether that lingers in voters minds i think is a real open question. I dont think theyve wounded him in the sense of theyve changed a lot of minds. His supporters either dont care or still believe what he says, which is that the election was stolen and biden is not the legitimately elected president. If any of this, new revelations from these transcripts, enough to loosen trumps grip on the republican party, you think . I doubt it, not with his base. His base is going to stay where they are. They dont care about the facts. Donald trump and his supporters are a Clear And Present Danger to American Democracy. Youve been shouting from the rooftops, this is not just about 2020. Youre worried about 2024. I am. And right now the former president and his allies and supporters, including in congress and including in the states, represent a Clear And Present Danger to American Democracy. Thats not because of what they did On January 6th. Its because of what they pledged to do in 2024. Do you think that republicans are hearing what youre saying . I hope they are. Our democracy in the United States relies upon good people in positions of power to do the lawful and right thing. From the president all the way down to local officials. Were having these discussions because there were enough people, enough republicans, who did the right thing in 2020. Perhaps next time there wont be. January 6th has taught us anything, its that nothing is guaranteed. This is the american experiment, not the american proven theorem. For our republic to survive, we need our elected officials loyal not to one man but to the United States of america. Welcom