just to show support because i happen to believe the election was rigged at a level like nothing has ever been rigged before. the full thing goes on for about four more minutes or so, when he rambles all through the big lie, just saying things which are just completely not true. perspective now from stephanie, who was an adviser to the former first lady. she s author of the book, melania and me, the rise and fall of my friendship with the first lady. also with us, john dean, former white house counsel to president nixon and cnn contributor. stephanie, you spent quite a bit of time with the tormer president over the years. i wonder from what you heard in these recordings, the continued delusions and conspiracies, i mean, does that sound like the person you knew? it does, anderson. it sounds very much like donald trump. very much in denial, and very convincing to his followers. this is something that happens
i imagine him saying this over and over. i mean, talking about the big lie every single day. one of his i don t know if it s a genius or just a pathology, but when he has something he wants to make everybody believe, he just repeats it so much that it exhausts you, and then repeats it even more. absolutely. i mean, anderson, i personally witnessed, had an experience with mr. trump and melania at trump tower, where he convinced me so much, and i speak about it in my book, about rich gates, that he didn t know who this person was, and he was his deputy chairman. there is this nature within him, and i think that his lies are so convincing that he actually believes them himself. and he s made all of his followers believe them as well. john, it is rare in life that one encounters a conman who, you
so therefore he s going to say it was rigged. because he didn t win. stephanie, i also think, what a slap in the face to capitol hill police officers, you know, dozens of whom were injured, traumatized, you know, will have things that they re dealing with for the rest of their lives in some cases, for the former president to be saying, well, you know, the capitol police, there was so much love in the crowd, and the capitol police just let them in, and they were hugging the protesters. you know, as somebody who, you know, you were intimate with the family, more so melania, and not really from a political realm. you were a friend of hers and working on the inauguration. i m wondering what you saw on january 6th. how did you see it? well, i saw it exactly as it was. i mean, this was a, you know, destruction of our democracy. and what happened to the police officers was, you know, it was a