download c-span now today. scott mcfarlane is with us. he has focused the last 11 months on the january 6 attacks. welcome back to washington journal. guest: good morning. great to be here. host: what was the significance of the criminal contempt citation against a former white house, mark meadows? guest: i feel like a chapter in a story that is already pretty long. 700 criminal defendants, but as we go through this, the largest criminal investigation in u.s. history, there is an overarching question going on answered. whose idea was it to storm the capital? did somebody fund this? what skin in the game did any officials have? really trying to answer that larger question going on answered. we see this movement, this growing investigation and mark meadows, reporting for contempt of congress is the most striking step that they have taken so far. host: the citation gets turned over to the justice department. what happens next? guest: they will take time to consider it. the process typically tape -- typically takes weeks, if not months. it took them a few weeks before announcing criminal charges. if they make a decision to prosecute, it could be a couple weeks before they announced it. i expect them to publicly announce that. it could take a matter of weeks. host: where is the steve bannon case at this point? guest: the courthouse is coincidentally right down the street. that is also where all of the 700 criminal cases for the accused rioters are being held. not federal courthouse is between 200 and 400 criminal cases each year. right now they have around 700 capital attack cases alone and it is causing a backlog. it is causing sluggishness. they are already suffering backlogs from the cases that piled up during the peak of the pandemic in 2020. it will not be fast justice or fast movement. host: none -- the numbers of those convicted so far. where is that at? guest: a few dozen cases have been closed. the large majority of these cases have not reached a stage where the can -- where the defendant has pleaded guilty. and not yet reached trial. there have been zero trials so far and they will not be any until spring 2022. because of the backlog, because the justice system tends to move a little more slowly and methodically. those who pleaded guilty are in the low level of cases. those not accused of damage or assault. we have seen prison sentences that are measured in days or weeks, not in months or years. we have not reached that stage yet. host: our reporter for washington, talking about the investigation, the line for republicans is (202) 748-8001. democrats are at (202) 748-8000. independents are at (202) 748-8002. what do you make of the claims about the treatment of those in jail for attacking the capital? guest: there are about 40 u.s. capitol right defendants that are in jail. they are in jail in washington dc. that jail, for generations, has been the source of complaints. it is an old, shoddy facility with poor systems, bad water systems and a general concern about the food, medical care and sanitary conditions. it is a generational complaint. the january 6 defendants are now in that world. they are in the same jail, issuing their complaints, challenging intentions. almost overwhelmingly, there were attempts to get released, citing the conditions of the jail. there are concerns and they are pressing the jail to upgrade initiatives, but as far as they are concerned, arguments have not really moved the meter. one was released after expressing concern over medical care. this is a distinctive defendant. he has been released to get better medical care. that said, the marshall did an inspection of the jail based on these complaints, and they found evidence of standing sewage, evidence of water pipes or water systems not working properly. concerns about retaliation against inmates, a general concern that forced them to evacuate hundreds of inmates from the jail. that is not the section where defendants are being held. host: the term insurrection is used so often. how many defendants have been charged with that? guest: felonies. that nobody has been charged with sedition, but i would mention that nobody has been charged with higher-level felonies yet. do not know what cards the justice department is holding. host: trump's gatekeeper puts them in peril. a months log investigation has revealed the myriad of ways, serving less as chief of staff and more of an enabler. scott, you mentioned moments ago that the committee is focused on the question of, whose idea was that? this focus on mark meadows, does it give a better idea of who they think this idea came from? guest: the justice department is prosecuting criminal activities on-site at the capital. the house select committee is looking at the bigger picture. what led up to this horrific moment and how do we prevent it from happening again? it surprised us to see the subpoenas issued to key figures from january 6, to those who were plotting and planning for possible violent activity or disruptive activity. mark meadows is the tip of the spear. on january 6, he was with donald trump in the white house. this is certainly the highest profile battle the committee has fought so far, trying to get testimony, records, emails from mark meadows. this is not the end of the road for them. i have talked to a number of committee members and they all said they expect or hope to finish their work by spring or summer 2022. they have got more ahead of them. there is a midterm election coming. the balance of power could flip, and that could be the end. they have got a deadline and they will run right up against it. host: we go first to gary on the republican line. morning. caller: i have two questions. why didn't they do something about january 6, with all the riots across the nation? the second is, has any writer been charged with murder? if not, why -- i have never heard it brought up anywhere. guest: a series of questions there. let me tackle that last one. she was climbing through a window into the house chamber as members were still nearby. there was an internal review of that activity and a review by the u.s. justice department. this was not a criminalized event. in fact, the police officer helped to save lives. they have disposed of that investigation. the police officer was in the right and a sensitive moment in american history. you asked about the equivalence between 2020 unrest and january 6. that has been a relevant argument in some defenses from january 6. they have cited this, saying they feel like they are being treated differently, unfairly, charged or penalized. disproportionately, compared to those. we have seen prosecutors and judges push past that argument, saying there is asymmetry here. in part because the democracy was at risk that day. the structure of american government was at risk that day, any particularly flagyl state -- fragile state. this day was unprecedented. a unique american moment. there really is no comparison. host: let's hear from the independent-minded. caller: i just thought -- it was exposed by beating out texts to several powerhouses, including laura ingraham. pleading for meadows -- it bothers me the most. the truth will not bring him down, unfortunately. thank you. host: i was going to ask you, is there any chance that those fox news hosts would be asked to testify for that committee? guest: i had not heard any rumblings, but i do not know what i do not know. investigators had to hold their cards close. she brings up a point that has become relevant in some of these criminal cases. judges have expressed concern about the future danger in this system, where they curate their own information, where people go into echo chambers. she was concerned they were at increased risk. the ongoing political discourse about donald trump coming back into power before 2024. what happens in the media, what is being said, conservative and liberal, is becoming relevant in some of the cases. it actually is germane. host: let's hear from the democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. good morning, america. we are listening to someone who is not qualified, that is trump. he is not qualified for anything. the problem with you folks on the right, you do not owe your life to trump. you owe your life to god and jesus. he gave you life, not trump. you are losing your lives. your grandchildren are going to miss you. you cannot do that because you are breaking people's hearts. if you think that trumpcare is, you are really lost. guest: there is a lot to unpack and there, but one of the things he mentioned, i will read from a post from the senate. there is a high level defendant. accused of being a coronation of the mob. a request to get released from jail. in his argument, he said whatever transpired, the protesters were entitled to do it as the president directed, saying that if trump says that we can be there, we can be there . we heard that argument from other defendants. he told me in a jailhouse interview that he believes he had the power and the right to be there and that president trump directed the mob. there will be some clips being released of the january 6 insurrection? the 14,000 hours of footage captured, the video system that they have there is not being released to the public so that the public can see it. i'm sure up congress is working for us, so why are they not releasing this information? why did it take over 3.5 hours for the chief to get the ok to send the military there, when he should have gotten it immediately? it took three hours and 19 minutes. host: we will hear a response from our guest. guest: some of the criticisms about the release of video. there has been a call for the release of more videos to show the public. what has been released so far? there have been snippets and clips of police, but it is not being issued in a press release. they are not publicly offering a video voluntarily. they are showing some clips in court cases to argue criminal cases. they are using the clips as part of the prosecution. media members have gone to court to ask for the release so that the public can see them. they are not curating videos. they are using them in specific prosecutions, and the media is -- do you want to explain why you are seeing the video you are seeing? there are thousands of hours of videos. we have videos from d.c. police officers. come inside the capital system. that is a lot of video to release. if you and i were to sit down to watch that video together, we would not be done watching until 2023 or 2024. there is a lot there. there are also concerns about giving out sensitive information when you give out raw surveillance data. the second question was about the 3.5 hour wait for the military to show up. that is another question that they are trying to answer. why was there a delay? trying to make it more responsive in the future. the washington dc national guard is not under the power of the governor. d.c. does not have one. it is under the power of the mayor. it is unlike every other national guard where the governor can move them. that is the concern moving forward. it is something that many would like to change. host: republican line, good morning. caller: i think you are being a little disingenuous. you are not really saying who is in charge of the national guard. nancy pelosi could have played a big part, but that will never be asked. also, if you reverse, you would be talking a different story. inc. you. host: did she have the authority to reach out? guest: she had the authority to lobby and joined the cause, but the power to call up the national guard belonged to the trump administration. it was the administration, the executive branch that had the power, not legislators. host: this committee's report also addresses the security of whether the capital was prepared enough for the force of people that arrived that day. guest: there have been a number of committees looking into that. we have seen a number of republican members of congress saying, we do an investigation into house speaker and how the capital could have been more secured that day. they have authority over the house, but the majority leader in the senate dente, mitch mcconnell. if you want to be politically fair, if you want accountability about vulnerabilities on january 6, it would be both speaker pelosi and mitch mcconnell. when i hear republican members make that argument, i hear democrats responding committee want to investigate nancy pelosi, you would have to investigate mitch mcconnell as well. they looked into this. we expect other committees to take up this issue, but they have kind of taken over the domain of exploring what happened that day. host: let's go to karen in alabaster. caller: good morning. i have a few points to make. president trump said he wanted people to peacefully protest. he never said to storm the capital. the prisoners in the district of columbia, they are in solitary confinement. they are not given any bail. we are not seeing any cash bail. most of these people were charged with trespassing on federal property, yet they get no bail? on the day of january 6, there were a lot of things that happened that we see videos of. before they stormed the capital, they have an fbi informant saying, we are going to storm the capital, let's go storm the capital. why isn't he on trial? the protesters look like they are tourists. they are taking pictures with police officers. also, one other. they have a video of a person laying pipe bombs the night before. where is that person? why aren't we hearing anything from that person? guest: that last question is a great question. we had more than 11 months. simply place pipe bombs on capitol hill. this point, the fbi has not announced a suspect or an arrest. they reminded americans about their tip line. what a remarkably important issue that is. somebody left active pipe bombs on capitol hill, and we do not know who that is yet. i expect the fbi will speak about the issue again, but there has been no announcement. i'm glad she brought that up. those who are in pretrial detention have been largely accused of assault against police or violent activity that day. they are not among the lower level defendants. host: she said they were in solitary. is that true? guest: they are in some ways isolated. because of covid, they are keeping inmates outside of communal areas, quite a bit. but there is this concern that they are in a solitary type situation, that they are in this jail for almost a year now, and there is no trial date set in some of these cases. host: next is james in lawrence, massachusetts. caller: good morning. i'm going to agree with somebody about three calls back. i think you are being pretty disingenuous about what you are talking about. i have one question and i would like to continue after your answer. do you agree with what happened august 20, 20 21? guest: what are you referring to? caller: are you aware of what happened on august 20, 2021? guest: there was a truck bomb threat on august 19 that led to an arrest and the shutdown of the library of congress. that defendant is still in pretrial -- no plea has been reached and no trial date has been set. host: we lost james. let's get one more call for david. bloomsburg, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. the major concern i have is the pretrial detention. they are being denied simple hygiene. they go for months without haircuts and shaves. they want them to look decrepit. the deputy warden has stated many times that any trump supported needs to be in the worst detainment possible. they meet with their lawyer on a phone, so there is no physical contact. it is one of the safest ways any prisoner could be with their lawyer. host: do you want to expand on that? guest: i will be quick about. what the prosecutors of the jail have responded with is, those are largely defendants that are not vaccinated. if you have a vaccination, you might have better access to things like shaves coming haircuts and other services, but this will be a relevant issue, moving forward. host: scott mcfarland is a reporter for nbc keeping an eye on the january 6 investigation and capitol c-span two. this year, the u.s. supreme court took up two cases that could decide the fate of roe v. wade. its landmark ruling on abortion rights. sunday on hewitt i -- q&a, joshua prager talks about the complicated life and times of norma mccorvey, a.k.a. jane roe, the woman behind the case, and the impact her actions had on her and her three daughters. her life is such a mirror, a window into this whole big thing of abortion in america. the pro-life wish to say, aha, look at her and look at the cost of abortion. but you never had an abortion. she is a fascinating testimony to the cost of adoption. she struggled enormously emotionally what it does with what it meant to have relinquished her three children -- was what is meant to have relinquished her three children to adopt loan -- to adoption. you can listen to q&a and all of our podcasts on our new c-span now i. -- at. -- app.