were aware that there were armed people in that crowd on january 6 and the president's response to that, according to e witness, was sring when he said, let them all in, take down the maches, let them in. there werpeople with ar-15's, guns, because they were no threat to him, so it didn't trouble him that there were armed people ready for violence in the crowd that day, and that confirms that this was a president who was willing to do anything to overthrow the presidtial election in 2020 and clearly had violence within his sites that day. >> we heard a lot of new information today. what do you think the most significant piece of testimony was today? >> i found that to be quite astounding and eye-opening. we had the president of the united states upset that the secret service and other authorities were using metal detectors for people entering his rally and he wanted those taken down so everyone could enter, including people who were armed. there were official reports of people carrying ar-15's thatay , so to me, that's something the american public needs to think about. this crowd was obviously aed and dangerous and hell-bent on enteri the capitol and this witness simply blew away any pretense that the president didn't kn what was going on. >> kathy hutchinson was a relatively low ranking official. do you think this paidff? >> cassidy hutchison's office was between out of the president and the white house chief of staf she was advisor to the white hoe chief of staff and she's a young woman of extraordinary poise and understandg and insight. today, we learned she was a young woman of extraordinary patriotism, because she demonstrated a lot of courage when there are still some people who haveot summoned e kind of courage she's had to tell the truth. >> there is more testimony she gave you behind closed doors. was this within the last 10 days, which is why you called the searing? >> she ske to the committee several times and her testimony today included aspects of all of the prior conversations. the evidence of witness tampering the committee has released, the two episodes the vice chair cited today anonymously, for obvious reasons, it is a crime ttamper with witnesses. it is a form of obstructing justice. the committee won't tolerate it and we've not had the chance to investigate it or discuss it. >> any testimony that would be clsified? >> no coent. >> senator johns has since responded since his mention at the last hearing. he said that you have not pu all the information out and you are using it in the wrong sense. are you inserted -- interested in getting more information out of him? >> we want all the material witnesses to come forward and i don't think the's a single piece of evidence we've offered that' been materially contradicted in any way, but obviously, if there is a mistake , the committee is interested in correcting mistakes. our whole -- you know, our whole committee exists in order to correct the lies about the 2020 presidential election, nullifying the big lie and tellg the american people the truth about what happened on january 6. >> what actions do you expect or do you feel the justice department needs to take amid these revelatis? these are some pretty searing revelations about witness tampering, the presidentrying to come to congress. what actions can the justice department take at this point? >> that is a question better posed to the department of justice. i am a separation ofowers guy. i know our mandate comes from hoe resolution 503, which is to assemble all the facts about what happened on janua 6, the causes behind them and what needs to be done to fortify american democracy against cs, insurrection -- against coups, insurrtion and political olence going forward. every hearing involves testimony where there is a l of evidence of pential crimes and we know the depament of justice is expert in that and it is really eir jurisdiction, so the questions need to be posed there, and i know there's a greahunger in the public for individual criminal accountability and we share that, obviously, like all americans, but that's not our jurisdiction. somee else will have to decide whether there were crimes that took place and whether or not to pursue that. >> you said separation of powers. [indiscernible] >> yes. well, congress is in article one for a reason. were the lawmaking branch of government and we have a responsibility to try to make government work, and so we will be releasing at the end of this whole process a bunch of recommendations about how to safeguard the integrity of o government and the separation of powers and how to make sure that elections don't come under attack in this w. >> what you have to do more hearings to avoid that situation? >> you see we have been keeping you on your toes. we arealling hearings as we see fit and obviously there was a lot of information as well. >> [indiscernible] >> right now -- well, speaking as one member of the committee, the evidce i have seen is the evidence you have seen. noomment on tt. >> hutchinson had three interviews for this committee. she was heavily featur in this hearing. how is it that some of these explive revelations, easily the largest that have come out of these hearings, let alone her testimony, how is it that it took four interviews to get some of tse out of her? >> without conceding the premise of your question, i think it is best to ask her. >> can you talk about how this new evidence changed your hearing schedule if it all? have you received evidence that would add to the scheduled ones happening in july? >> we are in the process of reorganizing according to the evidence that surfaced. >> [indiscernible] >> no comment. >> what is on the new schedule now? >> just what the chair and vice chair stated. you know, this is important information that we wanted to get right to the american people and congress. >> [indiscnible] >> i suppose that isn the eye of the beholder. speaking as one member of the committee, i hope that people understand the fundamental importce of civic courage in defending our democratic institutions. ere are number of hero who have come forward, like shea moss, like, you know, the izona speaker of the house, and like mitch hutchinson -- like ms. hutchison today, and there have peoplwilling to play along in an authoritarian attack on constitutional democracy, and i think constitutional democracy is under attack all over the world today and these hearings are an opportunity for us to reassert what america means and what our government is all abo becau, if democracy fails in america, one despairs of what it means for countries around the world struggling for human rights and democracy. >> do you think ms. hutchison's testimony will inspire othemembers of the trump administration to testify? >> i think the example of ms. hutchison's civic courage and honesty will inspire thoswho have been reluctant. we hope nobody would give into any kind of intimidation or witness tampering. we hope that everyone will step forward and give the committee all of the relevant evidence they have within their possession. all right. thanks. >> this is obviously pretty monumental hearing today.
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