usually listen to republicans. he canceled that an hour after sean hannity's text to mark meadows were made public. his base may dismiss this speech, but this was a very powerful attack on trump by biden. >> yeah. what president biden said is we have to now determine, and i'm anxious to get your thoughts, what kind of nation are we going to be. the big lie was formed by the former president and it's still out there. jim sciutto is watching all of this together with all of us as well. we're seeing the motorcade getting ready to leave capitol hill and head back to the white house with the president. i'm anxious, jim, for your thoughts. as i keep saying, people in the united states are watching president biden, but people all around the world are watching what the president of the united states had to say about the peril to american democracy right now, and they're probably scratching their heads and wondering what's happening in the greatest democracy in the world. >> what's striking, i think, wolf, is that, in addition to placing blame for the former president, for events that happened on gymnastics, biden spoke to a broader issue here. he said we have to be clear, quoting him, about what is true and what is a lie, putting his finger on what goes beyond trump, right, that we don't in this country, sadly, have a shared set of facts about january 6th, but a whole host of things, that the bubbles we all occupy are impenetrable to some degree by facts from people, and that extend beyond gymnastics, beyond the 2020 election, even to an issue of the vaccine. s where people believe lies about the vaccines or believe lies about the seriousness of covid. that's a large er issue that extend beyond the former president. the former president fuels them and as president biden noted in his speech, he said the lies have not abated. as jamie quoted there, trump is still lying about the election. but we have a broader problem in this country that there is, sadly, for many people no shared reality, no shared facts. and i think that biden realized he had a rare moment here to address a broad swath of the country, to reach republican voters, right-wing voters, brian stelter has noted fox airing his comments, to speak directly to them about kiltering the lies of the election. but the fact is those bubbles persist and extend beyond january 6th, and there's a la larger issue for you and me and folks watching at home have to figure out how to deal with. >> it's interesting, gloria, because president biden said of trump, he can't accept the fact that he lost the election, became a one-term president, twice impeached, by the way, the only president to be twice impeached while serving as president. >> also didn't mention that he lost the house and senate while he was in office. maybe he was being gracious about that. what is the thing that donald trump hates the most? losers. being called a loser. what joe biden did today was say, look, fella, you lost. you're a defeated former president. 81 million people voted for me. the -- >> about 7 million more than voted for trump. >> but the courts upheld it, no president in the history of this country has ever refused to accept the results of the election. you're out there, this is about your ego, this is about nothing else, not about the country, look at what you've done. it's not that he's going to convince all the trump ak lites to change their mind or the conspiracy theorists, et cetera, et cetera, but this was the most powerful speech of his presidency, as jamie was saying, historic, because of the clear choices he outlined. and the way biden sees it is this struggle between good and evil, effectively, between democracy and something else, autocracy, and trump's lame response today was all that he could muster. be interesting to be in the room with him and see how he was reacting to -- >> gloria, that's why what you said was so interesting because our reporter asked president biden why he didn't name trump directly in that speech. he called him the former president, referred to him several times. he said i did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the former president. he said it's way beyond that, way beyond that. that's a good point, it's not just trump versus biden and not they disagree on some policy issues. they disagree on a fundamental principle of democracy and what elections look like here in the united states. i think that was what he was saying was the emphasis of the speech and that's why he tried to dismantle the arguments that trump has made about the election and talking about them on a state level, talking about the senators who did vote to certify the election, how bill barr, then the attorney general, did say that no widespread fraud had occurred, that republican governors and governors in battleground states also confirmed that trump lost the election because he wanted to make it clear on the principle ahead of other elections what that looks like and what really happened. >> gloria, i think it's significant that merrick garland, the attorney general, yesterday said he's only really just beginning. he has 720 or 730 people already charged, but a lot more are going to be charged and they'll be higher-ups in the process. at one point he seemed to imply that even the former president could face some sort of criminal charges for what he did in orchestrating, organizing this insurrection. >> that's so important, because of course unfortunately, it is human nature oftentimes to be easily manipulated and to be susceptible to some of the things that happened. the big lie has worked because there has been a willing amount of people to be that audience and be those minions. and so going after the people that have carried out directives, that's important because you want to serve as a deterrent to others so they don't commit those same crimes, thinking, you know what, let me consider or reconsider that person who followed orders before, they got in trouble, do i want to be that person? going after the master minds and the puppeteers is equally important because unless you go after those who organized, facilitated, funded or in any way carried out and helped to do so, you are only going to cut off the minions and not the people who can actually orchestrate in the future. i want to point out on that notion of a statement that jamie read, i can't help but laugh that in a nearly 30-minute speech from the president of the united states and an additional speech about ten minutes from the vice president of the president of the united states, the only thing that the former president heard was inaccurately thinking his name was actually involved. his name was never said. the word trump never came out of the mouth. of all the things that could have been referenced and talked about, the undeniable facts, that's what he focused on. it was almost like a complete and total illustration to the very point of the self-absorption that was actually the motivation for that big lie as opposed to what democracy stands for. and, you know, finally, i just -- it reminds me of the sean hannity text, you mentioned it, jamie. one thing sean hannity said in the texts revealed, go to florida, you've lost the race, go to florida and you'll be able to comment on all the ways that biden messes up on a daily basis. don't do what is expected at this gymnastics or whatever is going to happen. >> stop talking about the election. >> stop talking about the election. and look what happened. all he heard in that entire speech was did somebody say my name? and the answer is no. >> it's interesting because he said, the president, for the first time in american history, a president, referring to trump, tried to rev prevent a peaceful transfer of power according to the rules of the u.s. constitution. potentially isn't that a crime? >> absolutely. and the american people are supposed to be able to have an expectation of the peaceful transfer of power, but we also have laws on the books about not interfering we election or trying to do so in any way. that's why you have the courts of law who, when the lawyers for the trump campaign went to the courts and said can i please have relief, the courts rightly said on what basis? where is the evidence to suggest there was any wrongdoing or any reason to grant injunctive relief? there was nothing. then you heard secretary of state brad rath lis berger in that call about find a certain amount of votes, all of these things the reasons that the former president is being investigated today in fulton county and the like for his commentary. so there are laws on the books, but merrick garland is absolutely right. the law will constrain the things that they're actually able to do. the elements must be met. the evidence must be there. and the court of public opinion, while impatient, cannot dictate what they do. >> i think one thing about biden also drew attention to in -- made in his speech talking about trump's role that day. that's something that he says -- jen psaki said yesterday he wanted to talk about how trump has tried to distract from the role he played that day. you saw biden talking about how trump responded to this, saying he had just rallied the mob and went back to the west wing and highlighting his lack of action. that is something we've talked about so much and we know the january 6th committee wants to get to is what was happening in those hours, those minutes, a little over an hour inside the west wing while this attack was happening and the former president was -- >> important point because president biden specifically said this former president did nothing for hours. >> and there have been big questions about what he was doing when he was doing nothing publicly, because he did eventually put out that video. liz cheney, obviously on the committee investigating january 6th, has talked about and been questioned about videos, the outtakes they had of the video they finally did put out where he told the rioters they were special, that they loved them, but to go home. >> he said say he loved them, by the way. >> right. >> this sets the table for the january 6th committee. this is, you know, another part of what biden was doing, which is -- and he said, it's about making sure the past isn't buried. and that's what the january 6th committee is doing, making sure that the american public knows everything that occurred in those 187 minutes. and he said great nations don't bury the truth, they face up to it. >> right. >> to the point of those 187 minutes, what we're hearing from the committee over and over again and liz cheney said this and others, quote, dereliction of duty. his inaction during that time. and the reason they want to see the outtakes of the video -- remember, i think he took four or five tries to get to the final one -- is there had been some reporting out there that there were problems with those first four takes. the staff couldn't get it right. what does right mean? he was still not sending a message for these people to stop and go home. one other point, i just heard from a very conservative republican who voted for trump once, not the second time, who said about biden, this historic speech wrote itself from the behavior of the former president and his republican supporters last january 6th up to the present day. it will go down as one of the greatest speeches in american history. >> i totally think that's -- i agree with that. i want to point out that karl rove, who we all know, who worked in the bush white house, and as conservative a republican as they come, writing in the "wall street journal" that this has to be taken seriously, and i think, wolf, you have -- the quote is -- we have a full screen of it. he makes the point today in the journal that if democrats had done what some trump supporters did on that violent january 6th, republicans would have criticized them mercilessly and been right to do so. republicans would have torched any high official who encouraged violence or stood mute while it was waged and the rwould have b right to do so. republicans would have demanded an investigation to find out who was responsible for the violence and would have been right to do so. there can be no sofl pedaling or absolution for those who planned, encouraged, and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy. that is exactly what the president of the united states was saying today. >> just to take people back to what it was like, because i have been revisiting our reporting and our coverage from january 6th, january 7th, and the days that followed. when it comes to the video we're talking about, several outtakes, i was told then and we reported that trump put that video out because he was worried about being removed from office. that's how they finally convinced him to put that video out. that was the gravity aides were saying to him, this is going to be the issue facing you. even his own daughter, ivanka trump, who was there that day. i was told by sources that trump hated he put that video out. as we had seen with other happenstances in the past, the charlottesville speech, he hated he put that out, telling people to go home. and the days after how things unraveled and how bleak it was inside the west wing and the days leading up to his inauguration. we saw resignations but people who thought about resigning did not ultimately go through with it. but days inside the west wing people described it as there was a very casual conversation about trump resigning, something he shut down almost immediately, said he did not want people making even a mention of president nixon, who of course resigned. at one point trump told people he couldn't trust vice president pence to pardon him like gerald ford did for nixon anyway. that is the state of what it was like in the west wing, which is so remarkable. remarkable for bide on the call out trump, call him a liar, basically, from capitol hill on the one-year anniversary of this attack. but the days in the west wing after were also so remarkable. trump's west wing was always chaotic and crazy, but the way people described those final days was unbelievable. >> there was also an impeachment that took place following this. i know president biden invoked the names of eisenhower and lincoln and the bushes and reagan he said in his speech, really delineate and distinguish between president-day republicans and the republican party of yesteryear, it seemed. but we can't forget there was also action taken by members of congress and there was the same level of distress you speak of in terms of trump towards vice president pence, that same distrust was the air within congress as well, not knowing who may have participated or facilitated even among their own colleagues. that's why part of what the work of the subcommittee is so important is giving the american people all the information but to give some level of comfort to the notion that what happened that day won't just be in the rear-view mirror because it could repeat itself if you just leave it there. we have upcoming elections. we'll continue the democracy to have elections, we have to have that notion. we were talking about this, gloria, the idea of this would be an opportunity for many republicans to speak out about -- i mean, nothing that the president said, well, it's highly charged and opinion nated. there wasn't a lot of inaccuracy what he said about describing what we all saw happen that day with our own eyes in plain sight. this would be an opportunity, as the president talks about, the you nighted states of america, would have been an opportunity to really reinforce the notion of bipartisanship and how to come together. you're right, when we talked about this is a speech he could have gave a year ago. he didn't because he was criticized -- >> and the fact he did it now underscores what peril there is to american democracy, at least seen from the white house, from the president of the united states, the fact he had to give this speech speaks volumes about the threats that are still out there right now. jamie, i want your reaction, mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader, two paragraphs, the first part saying the united states capitol was stormed by criminals who brutalized police officers and used force to try to stop congress from doing its job. this disgraceful scene was antithetical to the rule of law. in the second paragraph, he then said the democrats are simply trying to use all of this for political purposes. >> right. he can't quite get there to say the right thing throughout his statement. he has to turn it to politics. liz cheney said this morning that mike pence was a hero, that his team is cooperating. she said that she looks forward to his cooperation, but she also said that the embrace of donald trump by republicans is, quote, how democracies die. and mitch mcconnell has played this weird role where first he said the right thing, then he pulled back. he has not spoken to donald trump. >> in 13 months. >> donald trump keeps attacking him as well. >> but mitch mcconnell had a moment in history during, as laura brought up, the impeachment. he could have said to his conference, vote your conscience. if he had said vote your conscience, that impeachment, that conviction might very well have happened. and we would not be dealing with the question of is donald trump going to run in 2024. mitch mcconnell is in many ways, my opinion, responsible for the power that donald trump still has over the republicans. >> still has an enormous amount of power. barack obama issued a statement. let me read a couple sentences. historically, americans have been defenders of democracy and freedom around the world, especially when it's under attack. but we can't serve that role when leading figures in one of our two major political parties are actively undermining democracy. we can't set an example when our own leaders are willing to fabricate lies and cast doubts on the results of free and fair elections. >> well, barack obama is talking about republicans in his statement. joe biden aimed right at donald trump because probably you've got to work with some republicans to try and get some stuff done. obama is talking about how republicans have followed right in line. let me just say that one year after january 6th, what's the litmus test for being a good republican? is it lower taxes? what is it? the litmus test for being a good republican is do you believe the election was freely and fairly conducted? and if you are a good donald trump republican, and donald trump owns the republican party, you know, you would have to say no, the election wasn't free and fair. so that has become now the dividing line. that's another reason joe biden felt the need to give the speech, because one year later the lie is alive and well and prospering. and donald trump is in charge of who gets to win republican primaries or so he believes. and he is out there endorsing candidate after candidate after candidate, some of whom are spreading ridiculous conspiracy theories, a lot of them, in fact, and it's not mitch mcconnell who is in charge really of getting the best republicans to run in the senate, that he thinks can -- do you think he really believes herschel walker is the best candidate? now he's had to come out and say yeah, he'd be okay. but donald trump is the puppeteer here now. a year later. >> kevin mccarthy just went through this where donald trump endorsed mary miller instead of rodney davis. kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell are not in charge of the republican party. >> it's interesting, in the next few months, laura, we'll see is select committee investigating january 6th with public hearings, and there are a lot of witnesses including people who were very close to trump as president of the united states. and they'll be coming out, this is going to be potentially explosive. i suspect there will be what they call criminal referrals. but merrick garland made it clear once again, he's not stopping where he is right now. he's moving forward. >> and he should. remember, there's the role of what the select committee is going to do, which is essentially their legislative and oversight functions fortify whatever gap there was between what was illegal and ought to be illegal and how to fortify our democracy. the department of justice's role will be on the criminal prosecution, and if there are referrals in addition to contempt, they should also pursue those measures. what's important here as well is remember the last time we had public hearings for the january 6th select committee. it was the officers, select officers who were attacked, some of whom describe the racial epithets that were thrown in that direction while in uniform as if it were ever a good time to say that to somebody. but while in uniform, defending the citadel of our democracy, the idea of being dragged, beaten, one officer had his own gun taken away and had to plead for his life and invoke the fact he was a father to try to make it through. one desperately trying to get to his wife and child at home. as you see what's happening, and garland talked about these issues yesterday, spoke about the officers who were assaulted, one who was dragged down the starps face down, people who were tased and beaten and chemicals sprayed on their bodies that burned their skin, the idea of ptsd that continues to happen. these things were deliberately and intentionally stated to make sure people understood by the attorney general that it's not just the idea of people walking through the halls of the capitol. people were being violent and physically assaulting members of our law enforcement. >> i don't think a lot of us, i could never forget some of the images we saw on that day one year ago today. i remember that one guy and a few of his friends, so-called, walking around wearing a camp auschwitz sweatshirt. there's the picture right there. camp auschwitz, where the nazis killed more than a million jew section, including my own grandparents were killed there. to see a guy walking around praising auschwitz at the u.s. capitol on a day like that, to see that was unfolding, something i never would have thought if my parents had been alive, they would have never believed that camp auschwitz was being praised by some crazy individual on a day like that. it was obviously so painful to so many of us. >> it was such a stunning day because i think people understood something was different that day. it didn't take until they were approaching the capitol and they had crossed the barriers and they were breaking the windows and assaulting police officers for people to understand that something was different and something was off. i think even our own reporters who were there that day talked about how angry the crowd seemed down on-in the ellipse preparing for former president trump's speech. we should know v note several allies got on stage and gave remarks, including a congressman from my home state in alabama, rudy giuliani was up there talking about it, and delivering this language, talking about kicking ass, talking about taking names, in this violent language that they were using that day, and then of course later denying they had any role in inciting the crowd and urging them to go to the capitol. you could hear it. we were reporting in real time, talking about what we thought was going to be the drama of the day, the pressure on pence coming from the west wing, which was incredibly high because they were sending all the crazy attorneys to talk to former have the pence that day about what he could do to subvert the election. and we thought that was going to be the drama, the inside drama of what was actually happening on the floor. i don't think people realized how insane it was going to get once you saw them breaking down the barriers, police officers assaulting them, and in there that day and the aftermath of how it played out was such a stunning day, not just to us. i want to keep highlighting that. it was a stunning day to the people who served former president trump, his republican allies on capitol hill couldn't believe their own eyes. they were the ones barricaded in rooms trying to get in touch with the white house about what was going on. i think that is something that often gugets glossed over and y don't see trump's allies talk about their reaction that day, very similar to a lot of ours. >> this was a historic moment, a historic day, and i believe like i think all of us believe the most important speech president biden has given certainly as president of the united states and probably the most important speech he will deliver. we'll see where it goes from here. to all of our viewers, thanks very much for joining us for cnn's special coverage of the anniversary of the january 6th insurrection continues all day. i'll be back at 6:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." we'll be live from the u.s. capitol. later tonight, join jake tapper and anderson cooper for a truly unprecedented gathering inside the u.s. capitol with the police, lawmakers, and leaders live from the capitol, january 6th, one year later, later tonight, 8:00 p.m. eastern. stay with us for continuing live coverage. my colleague jim sciutto will continue our coverage after the quick break. 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hello, for the last few years, i've been a little obsessed with chasing the big idaho potato truck. but it's not like that's my only interest. i also love cooking with heart-healthy, idaho potatoes. always look for the grown in idaho seal. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. good morning, everyone. >> i'm jim sciutto. quite a day and quite an anniversary for this country. president biden and kamala harris put the responsibility squarely on former president trump for the insurrection. on january 6th, 2021, our democratic system was under siege, a mob incited by outgoing president trump, who tried to overturn the election. that attempted insurrection failed but it left at its wake damage to property, lives, fundamentals of this country's democracy. tragically, five people lost their lives in that chaos. at least 140, 140 police officers were injured. this morning president biden referenced former former president trump 16 times but without saying his name. >> we saw with our own eyes rioters menacing these halls, threatening the life of the speaker of the house, literally erecting gallows to hang the vice president of the united states of america. what did we not see? we didn't see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in the private dining room off the oval office in the white house watching it all on television and doing nothing for hours as police were ass assaulted, lives at risk, the nation's capitol under siege. >> the fbi says 700 people associated with the attempted coup have been arrested. and yesterday attorney general merrick garland confirming that the justice department will hold everyone associated with the january 6th attack responsible. still right now, the country is deeply divided as republicans continue to push the big lie and fail to recognize what happened on that day just one year ago. let's begin this morning with cnn chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins. president biden essentially calling the former president a liar. >> fact checking him, dismantling his argument from the last year since he lost that election. this was his most forceful attack yet on his predecessor, calling him out from capitol hill, calling out the lies he's spread about the election since then, and standing in the same place where a year ago today this afternoon those pro-trump rioters stormed into the capitol in that very hall where president biden was delivering the speech, going after trump for attacking the legitimacy of his election. >> the former president of the united states of america has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. he's done so because he values pow erp over principle. because he sees his own interests as more important than his country's interest and america's interest and because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our constitution. he can't accept he lost even though that's what 93 united states senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials in every battleground state have all said -- he lost. >> now, of course he did not mention trump by name, did not have to. 16 times he referred to him as the former president, talking about the lies that he spread. and later on when president biden was leaving the capitol he was asked why he didn't name him directly and he said this is bigger than just a political battle between a current president and a former president. he talked about what it meant for democracy overall, saying it is bigger than that, and also during that speech saying that trump has put a dagger at the throes of democracy, not just what it means about former president trump and the aftermath of his loss but what it's done in the pervasiveness you've seen throughout the united states with people actually not believing what happened that day was an attack on the capitol. >> perhaps realizing he had a rare chance to speak to people right and left in this country, he went after each false claim of the election. kaitlan collins, thanks so much. joining us, debbie dingell. she was in the chamber that day a year ago. thanks for taking the time today. >> it's good to be with you on this sole emmn day for this country. >> memories fade and disinformation thrives in this country, a lot of people believe the former president's lies. you were there. you addressed a fearful congress that day to calm people down as it was being assaulted. for folks at home, tell us what you remember most from that day. >> well, i was on the floor of the house. i didn't understand what was happening quite frankly at the beginning. the secret service and capitol police had cleared the vice president and the speaker and senator mcconnell. but the rest of us were there. and stamp said to me, keep people calm. my immediate reaction was from what, what's going on? but quickly security came into the chamber, told us to get down on the ground, put our heads down, there could be bullets coming through glass. they told us to take out the gas masks -- i'd never used a gas mask. i didn't know how to put it on my head. and you began to hear the crowds out in the halls, the pounding on the doors. you smelled tear gas. but, you know, i also have this memory that a lot of people don't talk about of everybody on that floor pulling together, republicans and democrats, putting benches against the door, young new republican members helping me how to put a gas mask on and when we vacated making sure that we were safe. i want to say that when i listened to the president today, yes, he was strong, and i lot of people wished they'd see him be this strong, but i also asked the question we all ask and need to ask ourselves -- what do we want this nation to be? and it isn't what we saw that day on january 6th 2021. >> i'm glad you mentioned bipartisanship, that for a moment that day lived. it was sadly bipartisan realization that this was a genuine threat. you were protecting each other. you knew regardless of party that this was a genuine threat and violent. some things worked, right, in the days leading up to january 6th and afterwards? courts, state election officials, recounts, some real, some fake, but they all found the same thing. the election was fair. do you see any hope in that? a year later, are we any better off as a country moving beyond, assessing, dealing with what was reveal and the threat we faced on january 6th a year ago? >> i have two things to say as you ask that question. one is we do need to do an assessment of where we are. we have to have hope. but every one of us, it's not just those of us that served in the congress, every american across this country has to worry about what's happening in this country, our democracy. we go to school and we learn freedom of press, of religion, of speech. those freedoms can not be taken for granted. we all have to protect the roots of our democracy. and i think that is the biggest message that i have from today is that we do have to have hope and we have to think about how much we need each other. that fear, that anger you saw that day, we're seeing in our communities. i think we need to add, is that what we want to be as americans? >> and do we -- can we have a shared set of facts and reality, right? so off within so many issues we don't see that today. president biden forceful, and by the way he didn't use the name trump but he was certainly placing responsibility for january 6th and what happened before and after firmly on the former president. do you think president biden struck the right tone, had the right message today? >> i think he certainly tried. i think he laid out the facts. i believe that we all have responsibility to protect our democracy, that the fundamental roots of it are under attack. and i think he asked the question of every american, to think about what we want our nation to stand for. we can't normalize this violence, this anger that we're seeing. i think that's part of the questions that he was asking. so, you know, i want to focus on the future. look, i didn't want to be anywhere near the capitol today. i wanted to be home. i want to be where i know i'm safe in my community, but i also think we all have a responsibility here. >> we do. it's on all of us. listen, congresswoman debbie dingell, we're sorry you had to go through that one year ago today. thanks for joining us this morning. >> thank you. my closing words -- you nighted we stand, divided we fall. >> they're good words. inspiring. thank you, congresswoman. jim, really telling to hear her say the anger we saw at the capitol last year is still in communities today and we can't let it exist. >> no. listen, she comes from michigan and this is a state that went blue in the last election, but it has many republicans and democrats and she hears from constituents that have very different views about it, right. we have not come together to the degree that we hoped. >> how sad she doesn't feel safe returning back to the capitol today as well. sad moment for this country. with the country still deeply divided, three retired generals have warned that another insurrection is looming if the country doesn't act soon. one of them joins us next with his perspective on president biden's speech. or atopic dermatitis under control? hide my skin? not me. by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within keeping you one step ahead of 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is. >> their piece in "the washington post" saying we are chilled to our bones at the thought of a coup succeeding next time without constant maintenance, the potential for a military breakdown nearing societal or political breakdown is very real. joining me now to discuss is one of the authors of that piece, retired u.s. army major general pauley. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> is a sobering morning. tell folks at home why you're worried that sufficient changes have not been put in place to prevent january 6th in worse form, right, actually succeeding, being able to overturn something like that, overturning an election. >> we did see admiral kirby address the -- you know, how the defense department is getting after some of the right-wing extremist issues that we have. necessary step and it's a bidding step, a complicated step, so we're on the right path. i also expect to see a thorough run through the chain of command through the command and control apparatus to ensure that this doesn't happen again, that our national security components, our federal police forces, national guard duty if need be, are read in and prepared to address a national security event of this type. >> one of the reasons you say that you and your colleagues are, quote, chilled to your bones is because the fact that 1 in 10 who had been arrested there at the capitol had served in the military in the past. is this a surprise to you? and what do you think can be done to remedy that and make sure it doesn't happen again? >> thank you. when i had the project to rebuild the iraqi army, the greatest difficulty we had was to transmit to the iraqi soldiers how to operate in the context of a military subordinate to civil authority. and that is the hallmark, that is something that i had never doubted about the u.s. military. but indications and warnings, when you have that 1 in 10 of those charged with a military record, when you have 124 generals and admirals support trump and stop the stop the steal and challenge the ability of our president to serve as president of the united states, you had republican governors in oklahoma, texas, florida challenge the nature of the commander in chief and national guard. these are indicators. so civics 101 i think we need to reinforce what our men and women got in high school and college and reinforce the nature of how we understand the constitution. and i think we need to war game how we might see events unfold in the next election. >> you mentioned that when we spoke last, the idea of war gaming and domestic threat in a way that military often does for external threats. you of course senior adviser for a political action committee that works to get afghanistan and iraq war vets elected. you're premiering a new ad relevant to this. i'll play it. >> imagine donald trump losing again, but this time commanding rogue members of the u.s. military. the pentagon needs to take steps now to protect the chain of command and vote bets will defeat traitor politicians who try to overturn the vote of the people and replace them with true blue patriots. >> that is a pointed ad to say the least. tell us what specific steps you're talking about to prevent that scenario. >> so what vote bets does is we recruit some of the -- to run for high office, to replace people like congresswoman greene and cawthorn. we build excellence when we set out to get our veterans elected to high office. every veteran that we get in to high office is one more step to ensure civilian control of the military and an appropriate use of all those tools that we have available to us in the united states to come bat domestic terrorism. >> i have to ask you, you know, one year ago today, allies and foes alike watched with horror what was happening in the united states. i'm just curious today, one year later, is our national security from the perspective of foes, iran, russia, china, what have you, are we in a safer position today than we were last year? >> we are, breonna, in a much safer position. we have -- what happened on january 6th. and we had our very senior military embark upon very specific, appropriate actions to ensure that anybody listening out there or interested in taking advantage of a bit of chaos understood that the armed forces of the united states have absolutely prepared to support and defend our constitution and to defeat enemies from throughout. what we really need to do is take a look at the laws that limit what our lettered agencies can do inside our borders to this growing threat of domestic terrorism. >> that's a point you've made. it's about intelligence operations domestically. major general paul eaton, thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. the january 6th house committee is working to get to the bottom of what exactly happened before and after the capitol riot. attorney general merrick garland said the doj will work as long as necessary for justice to be served. what struck me about that conversation in his statement was saying no matter how high it goes. >> right. and before we get into more of that, we are going to go back to washington, where senator shumer is speaking. >> $163 years this space has ben the home of the upper chamber of the american congress. what has taken place inside this room over the centuries has determined in very real ways the trajectory of our nation. in this room, we carry on the mission handle handed down to ue framers to make sure the voice of the people is heard and respected and acted upon. but one year ago today, on january 6th, 2021, mob violence descended upon this clhamber an capitol. thousands of rioters spurred into action by the sitting president of the united states attacked the united states capitol in an armed, violent, and deadly effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power. its windows were smashed. its offices were vandalized. and lawmakers and our staffs, everyday citizens who love their country and work here every day, feared for their lives. nearly 140 police officers were injured. at least five people lost their lives that day or in its aftermath. the warnings of history are clear. when democracies are in danger, it often starts with a mob. that's what happened a year ago here in this building. a mob attack. and for mob violence to win the day, it doesn't need everyone to join in. it just needs a critical mass of people to stay out of the way, to ignore it, to underestimate it, to excuse it, and even condone it. the mob can start out as a small number, but if it's allowed to grow and leaders egg on the mob, encourage it, it can become poison. that is what donald trump is doing. as even his response to president biden's speech today showed. and once that happens, the unthinkable could become real. democracy erodes and could, god fo forbid, god forbid, horror of horrors, vanish. the poisonous mob mentality lives on today in the threats against election workers, poll workers, even other public servants like school board members and health workers. this is what erodes a democracy. and donald trump today continues to spread his poisonous vile about the big lie. franklin roosevelt, the violent insurrection of january 6th was a day that will live forever in infamy, a permanent stain in the story of american democracy, and the final unforgivable act in the worst president in modern times. today, on this first anniversary, members from both the house and senate and our staffs, the president and the vice president, are here today at the capitol. and one of our purposes is to share memories and commemoration of that day. at noon, we will hold a moment of silence in honor of those who were lost because of the attack. and to all my colleagues and to staff who struggle to get through today, you are not alone. you are not alone. we are here by your side. the employee assistance program has resources available to all senate staff who are processing what happened a year ago. let me share my personal experience on that day. as i've recounted in times since then, my personal experience that day was in some ways like the opening sentence in charles dic dickens' "tale of two cities." the best of times, the worst of times. first came the best of times. 12 hours before the attack, at 4:00 a.m., in the morning i learned -- or several hours before the attack at 4:00 a.m., i learned that our two democratic senators had won in georgia and we would gain the maj majority. at 4:00 a.m. it became clear, i tried to get some sleep, couldn't, got down in my car, drove to washington, and got to the floor of this chamber at 1:00 p.m. for the first time as the putative majority leader. within 45 minutes of sitting there and watching the beginning of counting the ballots, a police officer in a big flak jacket and a large rifle grabbed me firmly by the collar like this -- i'll never forget that grip -- and said to me, "senator, we got to get out of here. you're in danger." we walked out the senate chamber door, made a right turn, went through another door. this happened to be captured on the videotape above and it was shown at the impeachment trial, although i didn't even know they had the tape until i saw it at the impeachment trial. but we go through the door. you don't see us for 20 seconds. then we are running out of the door at full speed. i was within 30 feet of these nasty, racist, bigoted insurrectionists. had someone had a gun, had two of them blocked off the door, who knows what would have happened? i was told late they're one of them reportedly said there's the big jew, let's get him. bigotry against one is bigotry against all. and i saw something that i've been told later never happened before, the confederate flag flying in this dear capitol. that's just one of many searing, grotesque images of that unimaginable, most un-american day. there were good moments too. i remember when the leaders, senator mcconnell, myself, speaker pelosi, leader mccarthy, were sent off to a secret place. we convened after desperately trying to get the president on the phone to ask him to call the rioters off. we spoke to the secretary of defense and the acting attorney general but to no avail. but then the four of us got together and said we're going to come back. we're going to count those votes. we're not going to let the violent insurrectionists stop us. and count the votes, we did, until i believe it was 3:00 a.m. the next morning. that was a good moment amitdst lot of bad moments. so now we ask one year later, how shall our country move forward? what are we to say and think and do in response to a day when a sitting american president rather than step down from office unleashed his own supporters to attack the government through mob violence? how can we help those scarred by that day find solace, find healing? how can we make clear to the american people, to the world and even to ourselves that our democracy is still