links between extremist groups like the oathkeepers and the proud boys and members of former president trump s inner circle. marshall cohen is live in washington this morning with a preview for us. how does the committee plan to connect those dots, marshall? reporter: good morning, it is all about the right wing extremist groups and donald trump and the committee has been making the case that this was so much more than a wing k and a n, this was a real affiliation to create a violent attempted overthrow. so as you mentioned, we re expecting in-person testimony from two witnesses today. i ll break them down for you. the first is a guy by the name of jason tatenhove, former national spokesman of the oathkeepers. their members breached the capitol on capital 6 and some charged with sedition. this guy tatenhove was not part of the group on that day, he hadn t been affiliated but he h critic these days of their right wing violent ideology and their anti-government views. so he w
biden on gun violence. on the south lawn he hosted hundreds who have been impacted. victims and their families spanning tragedies from columbine to highland park were invited to the event. that is what we owe those families in buffalo where a grocery store became a killing field, it is what we owe the families in uvalde where an elementary school became a killing family. that is what we owe the families in highland park where a parade became a i w wkilling field. but not everyone was on board. make no mistake sit down, you ll hear what i have to say . let him talk.
january 6 committee will be focused on how people close into trump s orbit were spreading misinformation that was radicalizing americans. you saw steve bannon doing an about-face saying he wanted to testify and that will be a very interesting point here for the committee where they are saying that people in trump s close orbit were very aware of the misinformation and conspiracy theories that they were spreading to the american public and that that was itself both an effort to overturn the election but also an effort to incite violence. burn and others testimony will be interesting to hear in that it will really content the dots on what exactly were the coordinated parts of that effort. and what trump actually knew about what he was riling up the americans to do. a lot still coming at us. some of that will happen later today with that hearing. good to have you here this morning. thank you. and just a reminder, cnn s special coverage of the hearing begins right here on cnn at 11:00
those links ran right through people like roger stone, trump s national security adviser michael flynn, that is what the committee will be flushing out later today. and just to be crystal clear, flynn, stone, trump, all these guys deny that they knew about any plan for violence that day. but if those denials hold up, that is what we ll find out today to see if the committee has anything that can possibly undercut those denials and connect trump to the violence. and we ll be watching to see just how straight i guess that line is as they attempt to draw it. marshall, appreciate it. also with us is matthew brown, national koernltcorrespondent f washington post. if we look at steven ayers who has cited that tweet from the president inspiring him, does it need to be more than just steven ayers who has now pleaded guilty talking about that connection? yeah, so this is a very integral part of what the jan 6
of the group on that day, he hadn t been affiliated but he h critic these days of their right wing violent ideology and their anti-government views. so he will be able to shed light on that. and then also we re expecting in-person testimony by one of the convicted rioters themselves, a man by the name of steven ayers. he is important because he acknowledges that he was inspired and motivated by donald trump s tweet in december of 2020 which was basically a message to the masses, a call to action to come to washington on january 6 and protest wildly. trump said let s get wild, be wild. the committee has worked very hard to connect that tweet to the violence and they say that it was not a coincidence that there were real links between these right wing extremist groups and the trump inner circle.