seeing it in america too. nothing is inevitable, nothing can be taken for granted. a lot of same challenges of tribalism and division that i saw overseas, i see that starting to grow here. to be clear, i don t think democracy is dead, i think it s far from it. i think the vast majority of americans do not want any part of this extremism, this division, this tribalism. but what usually happens in cases like this is there is an extreme minority that can cause tremendous disruption to a system. and in historical examples, it s extreme minorities that can actually take over and ruin democracy. so i would much rather be having this conversation now and getting out ahead of it than when it s too late. i don t think it s too late. i think we have an opportunity. i would say, and it s not just my experience seeing what happened in iraq, just being the son of immigrants, i know the stories and have heard the stories of what happened in latin america where there wasn t a transfer of power. it
attack on american democracy unfolded around them. some of them hunkered down together in the house gallery, going into survival mode. take a look at the harrowing minutes when they didn t know if they would make it out alive. the house will be in order. reporter: 18 minutes. that s how long it was between the first rioter breaking into the capitol and the house moving to adjourn. without objection, the house is going to go back into recess. stop the steal! reporter: as members evacuated the house floor they broke the glass. everybody stay down. reporter: dozens were stuck in the gallery above. some praying for their lives. we re being instructed to each of us get gas masks. they ll let us know when we need to put the masks on. take your pins off. shots are being fired inside the capitol chamber. reporter: trapped lawmakers
legislation in the senate now, which we hope they will send back to the house with their amendments, that we can pass, to protect our democracy. the sanctity of the vote. to stop their nullification of elections. not only do they want to suppress the vote, they want to nullify the results. and they are appointing certain people who make a judgment as to who really won the election, rather than the numbers speaking for themselves. so, we have to stop that. and you would think that there would be enough people in the republican party to do so and there were in this case. some of the judges were appointed by trump. some of the elected officials, the election officials were trumpites, but they honored their oath of office. what about securing the capitol itself? changes have been implemented. are they enough to ensure that what happened in this incredible building a year ago can t happen again? yes. but more needs to be done, because we need more resources,
capitol, people say, oh, when are they going to open this up, oh, the security issues it s mostly covid that s kept us shut down. there s a statue here, i want to show it to our viewers. it was created in 1814, cleo, the muse of history, recording events. she bore witness to the attack. how do you think she would look at this chapter in american democracy? with tears in her eyes. i ll call this an episode in our democracy. every time we have a new class of members, i bring them here, we have dinner, this or that, and we talk about cleo, that she is recording everything that she sees. c cleo, the muse of history. in fact, the president referenced her this morning beautifully, because we feel very possessive of cleo. and so seeing that had to bring tears to her eyes, because for all of the divisions we have had in our country, we never had a
and your job description are the same. representative. so, you know that you may have confidence in what you believe, but you have humility to recognize others are representing their districts. and for a long time, that s how i served in the congress. some of my best friends were on the other side of the aisle. it didn t interfere, because it wasn t about, are you a patriot, do you believe in our system of government as it is now. do you there s a lot of americans right now who are very worried about the state of democracy, who are worried about the future for their kids. do you worry about where our democracy is? well, let me say this. you always have concerns. you have to be ever vigilant. a democracy is like a horizon. you don t want it to get too far away, you are always reaching for it to improve it and the rest. but the fact is, this is the united states of america. this is this great country. it has resilience.