>>> IF KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM JACK SMITH'S 45-PAGE INDICTMENT SOUNDED FAMILIAR, IT'S BECAUSE MANY OF THOSE DETAILS WERE ALREADY PRESENTED TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC THROUGH THE JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE. IN A SERIES OF DRAMATIC HEARINGS AS WELL AS AN EGG00-PAGE REPORT, THE COMMITTEE MADE THE CASE THAT DONALD TRUMP WAS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INSURRECTION. CONGRESSMAN JAMIE RASKIN HAILED THE INVESTIGATION FOR LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR TRUMP'S THIRD INDICTMENT, CALLING IT A TREMENDOUS VINDICATION. HE ALSO FIRMLY REJECTED TRUMP'S FREE SPEECH DEFENSE TO THE NEW CHARGES, A VIEW SHARED BY NONE OTHER THAN TRUMP'S FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL AND CHIEF HENCHMAN, BILL BARR. >> AS THE INDICTMENT SAYS, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT ATTACKING HIS FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT. HE CAN SAY WHATEVER HE WANTS. HE CAN EVEN LIE. BUT THAT DOES NOT PROTECT YOU FROM ENTERING INTO A CONSPIRACY. ALL CONSPIRACIES INVOLVE SPEECH. AND ALL FRAUD INVOLVES SPEECH. SO FREE SPEECH DOESN'T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO ENGAGE IN A FRAUDULENT CONSPIRACY. >> JOINING ME IS CONGRESSMAN JAMIE RASKIN WHO WAS THE LEAD MANAGER DURING DONALD TRUMP'S SECOND IMPEACHMENT, AND A MEMBER OF THE JANUARY 6th SELECT COMMITTEE, AND CONGRESSMAN, YOU'RE UNIQUELY DISPOSED I THINK TO REACT TO TODAY BECAUSE YOU DID LEAD THE SECOND IMPEACHMENT, WHICH WAS FOR WHAT DONALD TRUMP DID ON JANUARY 6th, AND OF COURSE, YOU WERE INVOLVED IN THE JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE. I WANT TO GET YOUR BASIC REACTION TO THE FACT THAT TODAY DID INDEED HAPPEN, THIS ARRAIGNMENT? >> WELL, IT IS A GREAT VINDICATION OF THE RULE OF LAW IN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, AND I THINK THAT IN THIS CASE, WILLIAM BARR HAD IT EXACTLY RIGHT. YOU KNOW, THERE'S NO FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO ENGAGE IN A CONSPIRACY TO OVERTHROW AN ELECTION, TO ENGAGE IN A CONSPIRACY TO INTERFERE WITH A FEDERAL PROCEEDING. THERE'S NO FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO ENGAGE IN A CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OF AN HONEST ELECTION OR TO VIOLATION THEIR VOTING RIGHTS. AND SO I THINK THE COURT WILL BE ABLE TO SORT THAT OUT, JUST LIKE COMMON SENSE TELLS US THAT YOU DON'T HAVE A FREE SPEECH RIGHT TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT. IN FACT, THERE ARE MORE THAN HALF A DOZEN DIFFERENT PLACES IN THE CONSTITUTION ITSELF WHICH EXPLICITLY REJECT INSURRECTION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, AND CONGRESS HAS THE POWER TO CALL FORTH THE MILITIAS IN ORDER TO SUPPRESS INSURRECTIONS AND REPEL INVASIONS AND ENFORCE THE LAW. THAT'S IN ARTICLE 1, SECTION 8, CLAUSE 15. BUT YOU KNOW, IT'S ALL OVER THE CONSTITUTION, IN SECTION 3 OF THE 14th AMENDMENT, IT SAYS IF YOU SWORE AN OATH TO UPHOLD AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AND YOU VIOLATE IT BY ENGAGING IN INSURRECTION OR REBELLION, YOU CAN NEVER HOLD OFFICE AGAIN. SO OBVIOUSOBVIOUSLY, WE HAVE A O DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTIONAL PROCESS. THAT'S WHAT THIS PROSECUTION IS ALL ABOUT. >> WHAT DO YOU THINK OF -- DO YOU THINK THERE IS SOMETHING SORT OF POETIC ABOUT THE FACT THAT A PROVISION OF THE KU KLUX KLAN ACT UNDERLIES ONE OF THE COUNTS AGAINST DONALD TRUMP? >> WELL, IT REALLY DOES GO BACK TO RECONSTRUCTION AND THE CIVIL WAR. YOU KNOW, LINCOLN MADE A BEAUTIFUL STATEMENT WHERE HE SAID THAT INSURRECTION IS AN ASSAULT ON THE VERY FIRST PRINCIPLE OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS THAT THE PEOPLE GET TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN LEADERS. AND SO WE JUST ENGAGED IN A WHOLE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION PROCESS THROUGH THE COMPLICATED ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM. WE HAD ARRIVED AT A SOLUTION. JOE BIDEN WON BY MORE THAN 7 MILLION VOTES. AND THEN THIS MOB SHOWS UP TO SAY, NO, WE'RE GOING TO TAKE THIS IN ANOTHER DIRECTION. AND DONALD TRUMP IS DOING EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO VOID OUT THE LEGITIMATE ELECTION RESULTS AND SUBSTITUTE THEM WITH COUNTERFEIT ELECTORS IN A COMPLETELY FRAUDULENT PROCESS. IT WAS AN ATTEMPT TO PERPETRATE A FRAUD ON THE PUBLIC, BUT FUNDAMENTALLY, IT WAS AN ATTEMPT TO USURP THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE AND VIOLATE EVERYBODY'S VOTING RIGHTS, AND SPECIFICALLY, TO VOID OUT THE VOTES OF EVERYBODY WHO HAD CAST BALLOTS IN MICHIGAN. IN ARIZONA, IRN GEORGIA, IN WISCONSIN, THE STATES THEY HAD TARGETED FOR GETTING MIKE PENCE TO JUST NULLIFY THE VOTES, TO STEP OUTSIDE OF HIS CONSTITUTIONAL ROLE AND SAY, I'M GOING TO RETURN THESE ELECTORS TO THOSE STATES OR JUST ANOINT DONALD TRUMP OR KICK IT INTO THE HUS OF REPRESENTATIVES. I MEAN, THERE WERE DIFFERENT PLANS AFOOT, BUT ALL OF THEM WERE ATTEMPTS TO DRAIN THE VICTORY AWAY FROM JOE BIDEN AND OVERTHROW THE ACTUAL ELECTION RESULTS. >> YOU MENTIONED MIKE PENCE. HE CHOSE NOT TO TESTIFY, REFUSED TO TESTIFY IN FACT BEFORE THE JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE. WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF THE REVELATIONS THAT CAME IN PART FROM HIS CONTEMPORANEOUS NOTES, AND THE STATEMENTS HE'S MADE THEREAFTER THAT HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE OPEN, I THINK, ABOUT WHAT DONALD TRUMP WAS TRYING TO COMPEL HIM TO DO? >> YEAH, AND I DID NOTE THAT THERE WERE SEVERAL FACTS THAT WERE PLED IN THE INDICTMENT RELATING TO MIKE PENCE THAT WE DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO BECAUSE PENCE CHOSE NOT TO TESTIFY BEFORE OUR COMMITTEE. BUT DONALD TRUMP WAS CLEARLY TRYING TO COERCE HIM INTO PULLING THE SWITCH-A-ROO. TRANSFORMING HIS PURELY MINISTERIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTION AT THE PEACEFUL TRANSFER OF POWER ON JANUARY 6th, INTO A SUBSTANTIVE ROLE IN PICKING AND CHOOSING WHICH ELECTORS WERE GOING TO BE ADMISSIBLE, ACCORDING TO HIM. AND PENCE, TO HIS CREDIT, SAID THAT HAS NEVER BEEN DONE. THAT'S NOT THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTRY, THAT'S NOT IN THE CONSTITUTION, AND IT WOULD BE UTTERLY LAWLESS, AND HE WAS SAYING THAT IN EFFECT, HE ISSUED A MEMORANDUM TO THAT EFFECT ON JANUARY 6th. BUT OF COURSE, TRUMP DIDN'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT. YOU KNOW, HE AND HIS CO CONSPIRATORS REALLY THOUGHT THAT PENCE COULD COME TO PLAY THE KEY ROLE IN OVERTHROWING THE LEGITIMATE ELECTORAL PROCESS. >> IT WAS SORT OF EERIE IN A SENSE THAT THE COURTHOUSE WAS SO CLOSE TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME. THE SCENE OF THE INSURRECTION TODAY, AND THAT'S WHERE TRUMP FACED ARRAIGNMENT. BUT HE AS OF THE LAST 24 HOURS WAS STILL -- HE'S STILL MAKING THREATS. HE HAS VOWED RETRIBUTION, IN 2024, HE PUT ON HIS TRUTH SOCIAL FAKE TWITTER. IT WILL BE OUR TURN. AND HE IS THREATENING VERY OPENLY TO INDEED WEAPONIZE THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE BIDEN FAMILY, AGAINST WHOEVER HIS PERCEIVED ENEMIES ARE, EFFECTIVELY TURNING THE COUNTRY INTO A BANANA REPUBLIC IF HE COMES BACK. WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE FACT HE IS UNDETERRED EVEN AFTER THREE INDICTMENTS, THE JANUARY 6th HEARINGS, CIVIL CASES AGAINST HIM, HE SEEMS UNDETERRED IN TERMS OF THREATENING TO LITERALLY WEAPONIZE THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST HIS ENEMIES IF HE'S RETURNED TO THE WHITE HOUSE, AND THE FACT HE'S EVEN SO VIABLE AS A CANDIDATE ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE? >> WELL, I MEAN, YOU HAVE GOT IT. HE'S IN FULL BLOWN AUTOCRATIC DICTATORIAL MODE AT THIS POINT. HE'S DOING EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO DELEGITIMIZE THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM AND THE RULE OF LAW. FOR HIM, IT'S JUST ABOUT RIVAL PARTY TEAMS, OR EVEN THOSE WHO ARE LOYAL TO HIM AND THOSE WHO ARE NOT. THAT IS POLITICS CHARACTERISTIC OF A BANANA REPUBLIC. AND YOU KNOW, THERE ARE PEOPLE ALL ACROSS THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM WHO ARE REJECTING WHAT HE'S TRYING TO DO, BUT IT IS A VERY TROUBLING SIGN THAT SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY CONTINUE TO FOLLOW HIS IRREDEEMABLY AND ENCOURAGEABLY CORRUPT CONDUCT WITH RESPECT TO AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, SO THAT'S A SERIOUS PROBLEM. BUT WE KNOW THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE ON THE SIDE OF THE CONSTITUTION, ARE ON THE SIDE OF UPHOLDING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS AND ARE NOT GOING TO FALL FOR ANY OF THAT AND DO NOT WANT TO SEE A FORM OF POLITICS ARISE IN AMERICA THAT IS BASED ON VENDETTA. SO HE'S ENTITLED TO THE LEGAL PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE IN AMERICA. HE'S ENTITLED TO DUE PROCESS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE IN AMERICA. THERE'S A GREAT JUDGE ON THIS WHO IS A PUBLIC DEFENDER, A CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER, AND HE CAN MAKE ALL OF HIS ARGUMENTS, BUT FUNDAMENTALLY, THE RULE OF LAW HAS TO BE VINDICATED HERE. >> I THINK WE ALL AGREE, EVERYONE WATCHING THE SHOW AGREES, WITHOUT THE JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE, WE LIKELY WOULD NOT BE HERE. THERE WAS A GREAT RELUCTANCE BY THE FBI TO DO WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW. WE THANK YOU, WE THANK THE
