Democracy on Trial (full documentary) | FRONTLINE

[Music] the president's intent was to stay in power at all costs election was stolen I FL i' said I swore oath I'm not going to break it I'm not putting on no stinking circus they put their faith in Donald Trump and he deceived them I don't think by any large stretch can you characterize it as bipartisan the select committee laid the path down for the Department of Justice Donald Trump is going to be the defendant and the candidate it's hard to imagine how it's going to play out now on front line democracy on trial this program contains mature content which may not be suitable for all audiences viewer discretion is [Music] advised an historic day here in Washington a Federal grand jury here has indicted former president Donald Trump Mr Trump is charged with three counts of conspiracy and one count of obstruction this is the third criminal case brought against the former president this year he will now head to appear in federal court for the arraignment this was not quite the return to Washington this former president had envisioned for [Music] himself we were getting ready to win this election frankly we did win this [Applause] [Music] election I won this election by hundreds of thousands of votes there's no way I lost Georgia there's no way I only need 11,000 votes fellas I need 11,000 votes give me a [Music] break make no mistake this election was stolen from you from me and from the country [Music] and we fight we fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore for the first time in American history a president charged with crimes in office the major development in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into former president Trump special counsel Jack Smith will make remarks at a news conference from the justice department shortly this is a climactic moment certainly in this investigation an indictment was UN sealed charging Donald J Trump with conspiring to defraud the United States aspiring to disenfranchise voters and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding since the attack on r capital the Department of Justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day Jack Smith is sort of like the uh Central Casting career Federal prosecutor he's been doing this for 20 years he has a reputation for being thorough and methodical he's fairly aggressive but not Reckless aggressive he's a very formidable opponent for Trump's lawyers in this case my office will seek a speedy trial so that our evidence can be tested in court and judged by a jury of citizens in the middle of a presidential election a critical moment for American democracy it lands us right in the middle of a presidential campaign it is unavoidably going to be tainted um with the appearance of politics at play obviously that's the card that Donald Trump will play they waited right to the middle of an election until I became the dominant force in the polls I got indicted over bull I got indicted I get indicted for saying the election was rigged if he's convicted then he's you know running for president as someone who's been found guilty of federal crimes I love that mug shot I love that beautiful woman right there with a mug shot to say the stakes for that trial are high doesn't even begin to cover it really we often in the media use the phrase trial of the century for this Sensational trial or that one but really this would be I think the trial of the century because I cannot imagine anything more important than a former president on trial charged with trying to subvert American [Music] democracy tensions are still high following the chaos at the capital the Federal indictment has its roots in the aftermath of the January 6th attack the chaos here has shaken the US capital and the country our nation's capital under a state of emergency under a Citywide lockdown in Congress there were calls to create a blue ribbon bipartisan commission a 9911 style commission to look into the causes of the attack a bill to create a bipartisan commission faces an uphill battle in the Senate what was amazing was that the Senate Republicans refuse to do that to do what Congress has done in many previous incidents of great National catastrophe or crisis or controversy which is to create a bipartisan special committee across both Chambers republicans in Congress led by Senator Mitch McConnell wouldn't support forming a commission that might go after Trump leader McConnell almost instinctively goes into damage control mode he's not necessarily going to go out on a limb when the rest of his caucus isn't going to go with him in the face of Republican opposition the Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi created a committee of her own morning with great solemnity and sadness uh I'm announcing that the house will be establishing an a select committee on the January 6th Insurrection the House of Representatives today did what the Senate would not voted to create a select committee it was the hope of Peli and the Democratic majority that they'd be able to pick off at least some Republican support that there wouldn't be that great a push back but in fact there was and and in the end only two Republicans voted for uh the formation of that committee and in fact those two Republicans Adam kininger and Liz Cheney were the two Republicans who ended up serving on the committee the fact that Li cheny and Adam kininger are the only two House Republicans who believe that we should know what happened on January 6 that people should obas subpoenas from Congress that people should provide documents when requested and that's itself incredibly astonishing they would spend a year and a half examining the evidence Tim hay was the chief investigator a former US attorney hay led the independent review of the violence in Charlottesville in 2017 and was now taking on January 6th we ended up hiring I think it was 14 or 15 former prosecutors lawyers that have the skill set to interview witnesses to digest a large amount of documents and to to sort of discern what's relevant and separate that from what's not that skill set is developed largely by trying cases by investigating cases in federal and local prosecutors offices they conducted more than 1,000 interviews the house elect committee is shifting into high gear preparing to do battle with some pretty big names in the Trump World reviewed millions of documents the house committee probing the January 6 Capital Riot has issued 10 new subpoenas thousands of hours of video evidence these subpoenas brings the focus to the actions of former president Donald Trump in the days and weeks leading up to the Insurrection they're con people they're con artists from the beginning Trump denounced the committee the select committee on January you know like these people are legitimate every one of them is a radical left hater the committee issued a subpoena to none other than former president Trump himself he refused to cooperate Trump suing the January 6th committee to block a subpoena for his testimony and while many of his AIDS did testify others followed his lead criminal contempt charges against former white house chief of staff Mark Meadows Peter Navaro refusing to cooperate with the January 6th committee the committee's final report spans 692 Pages a case against Donald Trump a blueprint for special councel Jack Smith we saw our work as the first step in a process and not the end of the process it's very clear that the select committee laid the path down for the Department of Justice the January 6th case that will be heard in judge chuin courtroom in Washington DC has the most striking resemblance to um what um unspooled itself from the January 6 committee the basis of the indictment looks like a carbon copy of what the January 6 committee uncovered a lot of the evidence that we uncovered is now in the hands of the Department of Justice I just think all what we see now is a by product of the work of the January select committee Benny Thompson a longtime Democratic Congressman chaired the committee Benny Thompson is a Mississippi Congress a black man who grew up during the Civil Rights era in Mississippi during the last vestages of Jim Crow and saw how hard fought the franchise of V was for so many black Americans in January 6th Thompson saw parallels well one of it symbol of Southern resistance to voting rights and equal opportunity was the Confederate Battle Flag and to see that flag being waged by many of the protesters brought back those [Music] memories when he saw riers storm the capital carrying the Confederate battle flag essentially trying to take away the votes of the American people that I know affected him profoundly and certainly was a a driving factor in the way that he led the select committee Thompson's committee had gathered a trove of information the challenge what to do with it the one thing that we knew was the information that we have is compelling the thing we needed to do was tell that to the American people in a compelling way so that's why we brought in a former president of ABC News yeah I got a call pretty much out of the blue um from the January 6th committee they wanted they wanted a Storyteller and while they were brilliant they were brilliant lawyers storytelling for a mass audience is not what they do to bring in a guy like this who would think outside the box really did prove to be fruitful and it was Goldston who really began to Envision this as in a way a kind of miniseries that there would be you know sort of Nine episodes and that these episodes would tackle particular themes attack on the capital the investigation the first hearing was Prime Time television as the nation is about to witness a defining moment the first hearing before the country the results of the January 6th investigation this is an extraordinary moment in American history when it came to that first hearing we knew how high the stakes were is about to hold its first Prime Time hearing we were either going to you know make people realize that this was important you know or once once you've lost them you you've lost them for good on the evening of June 9th 8:01 p.m. the doors opened my heart was beating pretty fast on June 9th and it it was a real question uh of is this going to work or not all right everybody here we go five on the line please I'm in this tiny control room right up the stairs from Canon cus and we countown to to the start of the hearing and at that point what can you do here we go in 3 2 1 the select committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the United States capital will be in order without objection we wanted to make sure that this was a presentation that would grab the audience and hold on to him chairman Thompson loved to say it's got to pop to get it to pop they had just the thing Donald Trump lost the presidential election in 2020 don't believe me hear what his former Attorney General had to say about it no just what I I've been through I've had I had three discussions with the president that I can recall former Attorney General Bill bar on December 1st this is the Attorney General of the United States of of America for him to come forth under oath I think was very powerful I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I told the president was [Music] Bull Bill bar who had been hated by the left and who had been beloved by Trump all the way until December of 2020 to hear him say mincing no words um that uh that there was all this bull that was being perpetrated by Trump made you realize that okay we're now about to walk into a portal of evidence that is um that is in fact different than everything else following bar shocking video most of the footage we are about to play has never been seen the select committee obtained it as a part of our investigation hold the hold the hold the we have aach of the capital breach of the capital have L we can't hold this we're going to get too many people look at this we need to hold the doors of the camp I need cour support we the line we the line pull back all pull back up to the deck all pull back the [Applause] deck in the room that moment we had officers that had been there on January [Applause] 6th there was a a real gravity that we wanted to bring to that first hearing that that video really put in perspective for us [Music] there I don't think anyone until that footage was shown had really fully understood the violence of the day those law enforcement Personnel here are people who are sworn to protect the capital come to work on that day to do just that and they are [Music] assaulted paying special attention to the hearing Donald Trump responded on his own social media platform the so-called Rush on the capital was not caused by me it was caused by a rigged and stolen election the committee continued laying out its evidence to the contrary the attack on our Capital was not a spontaneous Riot president Trump summoned the mob assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack Vice chair at the hearing Liz Cheney a lifelong Republican and rock ribbed conservative or destroyed by force the government I chose Liz cheny as my vice chair she had Republican credibility in the broader sense so you'd take an African-American uh liberal and and a white female conservative to lead this committee Liz Cheney is Republican royalty in many ways she's the daughter of Dick Cheney the vice president she's very conservative she represents Wyoming no one would mistake her for a liberal uh but she also was someone who broke very publicly with Donald Trump and there is no rhino in America who has thrown in her lot with the radical left more than Liz Cheney she has gone crazy I will do everything I can to ensure the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office she's been so strong on we need to have the truth about January 6 we need to have the truth about what happened before January 6 we can't have Trump again he can't be president again I talked to to her about what was motivating her and she said that every time she sees the video of Mike Pence being rushed to safety for fear of his life on January 6th on the other side she saw in her mind the image of her father plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center here in New York City oh my God that looks like a second plane Dick Cheney the vice president being rushed away from his office in the white house to the bunker on 9/11 it is one of the darkest days in America attacked in an act of terrorist War tremendously sad day insurrectionists have stormed the US capital and they have been cheered on by the president and suddenly I got it suddenly I got it for her this was what Al-Qaeda and 911 were to her father to the extent that her father became really quite driven by his his view of the mission to protect America after 9/11 she saw her Mission the same way to protect America from Donald Trump now helping to lead the January 6th committee Cheney was determined to lay out the case against Donald Trump over multiple months Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of Presidential Power in our in the very first hearing she kind of laid out the the theory of the case right the opening statement where she puts forth this multi-part plan I think that will sound very much like Jack Smith's opening statement in the trial in March it is a summary of how all this fits together in our hearings you will see evidence of each element of this plan frankly we did win this election we did win this Donald Trump and his advisers knew that he had in fact lost the election but despite this you will see evidence that President Trump corruptly pressured state legislators and election officials to change election results I only need 11,000 votes fellas I need 11,000 votes give me a break what you saw at that hearing methodically laid out by Liz Cheney showed that it wasn't just some sort of like random off the cuff impulsive actions on his part but that there was in fact a strategy and a pattern and a methodology to what he was doing president Trump's efforts to pressure vice president Pence to act illegally likely violated two Federal Criminal statutes because if Mike Pence does the right thing we win the election if I could have been a fly on the wall in the department of justice during that I would certainly probably expect everybody sat up and took notice of what she said after that in our final hearings you will hear how president Trump summoned a violent mob and directed them illegally to march on the United States capital we fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore and with with that the committee stands a join the hearings got the Public's attention first prime time January 6 hearing laying the foundation for a specific case against Trump the house committee went into graphic detail on the results to put it cly the January 6 committee was ratings hit from NBC News January 6 Revelations will quote blow the roof off the house the very first one uh The Prime Time viewing was at 19 .4 million which was really really remarkable huge surprisingly huge numbers last night that's on par with events like Sunday Night Football game there were still multiple multiple brand new Revelations last night that took us by surprise but for his supporters Trump had a different story the unselect committee of political hacks refuses to play any of the many positive Witnesses and statements it's a broadside and it's not just one broadside it is a Contin series of broadsides Bill bar was a weak and frightened attorney general who was always being played and threatened by the Democrats it's just so relentless it's so constant it's so loud that in parts of Maga America that Maga barrage drowns out anything else warmongering and despicable human being Liz Cheney who is hated by the and on the conservative Airwaves they Amplified Trump's message every News Network in in this country but this one Faithfully surrendered its entire Prime Time lineup the effect was North Korean every channel the same a full-on Hollywood multimedia Extravaganza to prosecute Trump with this show trial with this Kangaroo Court I don't think really by any large stretch can you characterize it as bipartisan and this is I guess a consequence of of bigger issues about the evenly divided country that we're in and extreme partisanship in the political process can they show us one damn sentence in the hundreds of thousands of documents that they have collected the Thousand Witnesses they've had anything anywhere that links Donald Trump to directing or ordering an attack on the Capitol building where is it if you're talking to somebody who's deep in Maga America they didn't pay attention to the January 6 commission they were told not to pay any attention to it that it what whatever was going to come out it was going to be fake or fake news and this is the way a lot of Americans live their lives it's not just red Americans blue Americans as well we we live in bubbles and this is the way Millions upon millions of Americans live in the weeks that followed the committee laid out the details of their case this morning will tell the story of how Donald Trump lost an election and knew he lost an election and as a result of his loss decided to wage an attack on our democracy a central question what the president knew and when he knew it for a long time people who have pursued Donald Trump tripped up on the question of whether they could prove that he knew what he was doing was wrong or that he knew what he was saying was a lie the January 6 committee got past that by demonstrating that he was told time and time again that he did not win the election not by democrats not by the media but by his own people I want to start by showing a video that tells the story of what was going on in the Trump White House on Election night in November of 2020 the Fox News decision desk is calling Arizona for Joe Biden that is a big get for the Biden campaign Arizona's called do you remember that I do what do you remember happening uh where you were when Arizona was called um I uh there was a surprise at the call after Fox News called Arizona for Biden there was discussion about whether president Trump should say something and should declare Victory the consensus of almost all of his advisers was that he should not it was far too early to be making any calls like that um ballots ballots were still being counted ballots were still going to be counted for days um and it was far too early to be making any Proclamation like that the professionals on his campaign staff are telling him you know we can't claim victory um either you know you lost or we have to at least wait and see what's going to happen and Trump makes the choice that he wants to listen instead to roted Giuliani were you part of any discussions about whether the President should make uh any sort of speech on Election night I I I mean I I spoke to the president they may have been present but um president spoke to the president several times that night Rudy giuliani's advice was very different than that of trump Trump's political advisers his personal lawyer Giuliani tells Trump keep fighting we will have a legal Crusade a political crusade to keep you in power Trump loves the idea Rudy Giuliani is one of the most prominent figures in American politics in the last 25 years who is remembered fondly for his leadership post 911 but over the years he drifted towards Donald Trump towards being someone that would be essentially a yes man to Donald Trump and some of his worse impulses and on Election night Giuliani insisted Trump should fight the president ignores The Sound Advice that he's getting from bill steppan from the political professionals around him and he's listening to One voice that is telling him something different and that's Giuliani saying you should go out there and declare Victory and did anybody disagree with your message yes who is that the the president disagreed with that he he thought I was wrong he he told me so and uh you know that they were going to you know going in a you know he was going to go in a different direction [Music] [Applause] I think the most dangerous speech that Donald Trump ever gave was not the one that he gave on January 6 I think it's the speech that he gave at 2:30 in the morning the night of the election this is a fraud on the American public this is an embarrassment to our country we were getting ready to win this election frankly we did win this election we did win this Trump knew that the trends looked bad Trump knew that there were hundreds of thousands of votes still to be counted and he came out and he said frankly we did win the election we want all voting to stop we don't want them to find any ballots at 4:00 in the morning and add them to the list okay in the years since Trump has claimed that he believed what he said that night I what happened I watched that election and I thought the election was over at 10:00 in the evening but according to the committee his claims of fraud were part of a well-established plan the moment when he said frankly I won this election was telegraphed many many times and um throughout the campaign of 2020 he repeatedly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the outcome cast doubt on absentee ballots Etc as early as April 2020 Mr Trump claimed that the only way he could lose an election would be as a result of fraud the only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged remember that it's the only way we're going to lose this election this is going to be a fraud like you've never seen did you see what's going on take a look at West Virginia mailman selling the ballots they're being sold they're being dumped in rivers this is a horrible thing for our country this is not this is not going to end well for the January 6 committee it was crucial evidence of Trump's intent he makes numerous speeches and and TV uh comments and TV interviews you're going to see corruption like you've never seen you're going to see a rigged election it'll be the greatest rigged election in history it'll be the greatest fraud ever perpetrated it's all a big fraud am it's a crooked deal deal it's a Rigg deal new ballots are coming out that are thrown in garbage cans with the name Trump on it this was part of the scheme of getting his supporters sensitized to the fact that there's going to be some fraud here because the only way they're going to win is by a rigged election I really believe that I saw the this is a pattern for Trump he has done this every step of the way through his career long for politics my name is Donald Trump and I'm the largest real estate developer in New York when The Apprentice lost an Emmy to The Amazing Race he claimed that the Emmy contest was rigged Amazing Race winning an Emmy again is a total joke the Emmys have no credibility the Emmys are all politics that's why the Apprentice never won the public is smart they know it's a con game I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory he claimed that the election was rigged in 2012 when Mitt Romney whom he had endorsed lost to Barack Obama this election is a total sham and a travesty we are not a democracy more reports of voting machines switching Romney votes to Obama let's fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting Injustice we can't let this happen we should March on Washington every step of along the way anything he has ever lost is because somebody else has cheated and stolen it from him Fox News can now project that Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won Iowa Ted Cruz wins the Republican contest here in Iowa the big question now how is Donald Trump going to handle a loss the state of Iowa should disqualify Ted Cruz from the most recent election on the basis that he cheated a total fraud um you have tweeted that Senator Ted Cruz stole the Iowa election everything about it was disgraceful it was a fraud as far as I was concerned and I looked at knowing what we know now I think you would go back to February 1st of 2016 it's a total voter fraud when you think of it and actually I came in probably first if you think about it that episode was a bright red blinking light foreshadowing everything that was to come the portrait that both prosecutors and the January 6 committee are trying to paint is that Trump knows what's going on that this wasn't something spontaneous this wasn't something that the president truly believed that it was all part of an overall and illegal according to prosecutors in the committee strategy to remain in power unlawfully and in court filings prosecutors have said Trump's statements are evidence of the criminal conspiracy at the heart of the case they demonstrate the defendant's common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like as well as his motive intent and plan to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results and illegitimately retain power intent is the whole ball game the jury is making an evaluation of that um that's the most difficult thing to prove not impossible but it is the most difficult thing to prove Robert Ray was an independent councel who investigated President Bill Clinton and helped get Trump acquitted in his first Senate impeachment trial our system requires that a jury of 12 unanimously meaning all of them all 12 of them find the defendant guilty Beyond A Reasonable Doubt to try to show the president's intent the committee focused on his own statements after election night although he publicly claimed that he had won the election privately he admitted that Joe Biden would take over his president I remember maybe a week after the election was called I popped into the oval just to like give the president the headlines and see how he was doing and he was looking at the the TV and he said can you believe I lost to this effing guy at the same time that President Trump was acknowledging privately that he had lost the election he was hearing that there was no evidence of fraud or irregularities sufficient to change the outcome his campaign team and this included his son-in-law Jared Kushner went to him after the election was declared and they didn't just rebut the claims of voter fraud they explained to him their analysis of why he lost they showed him the numbers state byst state in the swing States I made this case I know hopix and others did to him which was you should kind of make this a Victory lap go around the country talk about what you accomplished and you're going to be in a great place in 2024 to win the presidency back but then you had Rudy Giuliani who was whispering in his ear what Trump wanted to hear Trump likes the people who tell him what he wants to hear and he picked in effect Rudy Giuliani in order to go down the road of challenging the election there is strong evidence that this was an election that in at least three or four states in approximately 10 they it was stolen bringing in 100,000 ballots in garbage cans and every single one of them was for Biden the Federal indictment alleges that by the middle of November Trump's conspiracy to overturn the election was underway November 14th 2020 is an important date in the Federal indictment of Donald Trump it is the moment when Donald Trump said Rudy Giuliani he's the only one who's providing me with a plausible path forward and I'm going to take it look you can fight it all you want the reality is dead people voted over three uh 300,000 ballots for were counted in secret just rui Giuliani was Central to a lot of these schemes framing them orchestrating them directing other people being in on the communications and so once Trump made a decision to defer to Rudy Giuliani as the person who was setting the tone and giving people their talking points for what the approach was that's when he decided to go after these nutty theories 8021 ballots from dead people mailing ballots for dead people we're checking the records of the cemeteries around Philadelphia during that period Giuliani and Trump would repeat dozens of false allegations and the committee believed they had evidence it wasn't an honest mistake one of things the committee did that was critical was putting together this timeline in which they showed very clearly the president would be told one thing one day not true true don't say that and he would go right back out and say it the next day anyway that's really important toward I think establishing intent to lie intent to defraud each ballot went three times here's ballot number one here it is a second time third time next ballot I told the president myself that these allegations about ballots run through the machine several times it was not true in several counties in Georgia there is clear evidence that tens of thousands of votes were switched from president Trump to Biden well Mr President we did a hand retali of all the ballot and compared that to what the machine said and it came up with virtually the same result in Detroit a vote dump came in unexpectedly I'll tell you what's wrong voter fraud and then he raised the big vote dump in Detroit and I said there's no indication of fraud in Detroit over 10,300 ballots in Georgia were cast by individuals who died prior to the election the actual number were two two people that were dead that voted you have dominion which those machines are fixed they're rigged you can press Trump and the vote goes to Biden I specifically raised the Dominion voting machines I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations and I told them that it was crazy stuff stretching the truth in a campaign ad or on a debate stage is one thing but when you are using that lie to subvert the Democratic process and to convince people that they need to overturn the election now you're talking about conspiracy and that's what he's charged with Trump wouldn't talk to the committee but he did talk to NBC News the most senior lawyers in your own Administration and on your campaign told you that after you'd lost more than 60 legal challenges is that it was over why did you ignore them and decide to listen to a new outside group because I didn't respect them uh You' hire sure but that doesn't mean you know you hire them you never met these people you get a recommendation they turn out to be rhinos or they turn out to be not so good in many cases I didn't respect him but I did respect others I respected many others I that that said the election was riged were you calling the shots though Mr President ultimately uh as to whether or not I believed it was rigged oh sure I I it was my decision one of the allegations in the charges against Trump is that he used lies to carry out his criminal conspiracy the defendants knowingly false statements were integral to his criminal plans but to the president's Defenders his statements about the 2020 election true or not should be protected under the Constitution you will see Trump and those who defend him essentially using the Free Speech defense and saying that these are are just words and in the end it's not a crime in America uh to lie to the American public even though Donald Trump lied to the American public a lot this is a central area of the president's defense he does have First Amendment rights and particularly as president and trying to turn words into criminal conduct is a very slippery road for the prosecution under the First Amendment and in the event of a conviction I can guarantee to you this this will be 0.1 in the brief on appeal lying to the government is not protected by the First Amendment obstructing justice is not protected by the First Amendment Ken white is a prominent criminal defense lawyer and a First Amendment expert and so here the government's position is going to be we are not going after him for you know uh what he said on the news that's not the crime the crime is is he specifically pushed to derail specific government [Music] functions as they gathered their evidence the January 6th committee returned again and again to one state Georgia When Donald Trump tried to overturn the election results he focused on just a few States the former president had a particular obsession with Georgia I think that Trump chose us because Republicans did control basically every level of government you got the house you got the Senate all Republican controlled not even close I think he thought he could come here and basically just by some kind of Fiat say okay make it happen and it was in Georgia that Donald Trump received a stark warning from Gabriel Sterling an election official Gabriel Sterling explicitly warned president Trump about potential violence on December 1st 2020 more than a month before January 6th you will see excerpts from that video repeatedly today Mr President it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence someone's going to get hurt someone's going to get shot someone's going to get killed and it's not right Gabe Sterling called out Donald Trump he was the first to really as far as I remember to really come out and say there's going like this is going to lead to violence we're investigating there's always a possibility I get it and you have Gabe Sterling is not listed as some kind of a republican in name only or some kind of a liberal Republican prior to that moment I've been a republican since I was about nine when Reagan was running for re-election I was 9 years old when I first first kind of declared myself my mother was not very happy but my dad was pleased I was working campaigns in the late 80s and early 90s so yeah I've been around Republican Politics as an operative and a volunteer since before I could drive a car so yeah I've been at it for a [Music] while the chair recognizes the gentleman from California Mr Schiff for an opening statement Mr Sterling uh thank thank you also for being here today following the 2020 election in addition to your I remember they told me he was going to question me and I'm like damn it a spokesperson to try to I can't stand that guy he irritates me to death because I think he's wrong and doesn't tell the truth a lot let's take a look at what but I said you know what I'm just going to play this straight I'm a fact witness just answer the questions Donald Trump claims that there was quote massive voter fraud in Georgia Mr Sterling that was just plain false wasn't it yes sir nevertheless I want to give some perspective for this I was a voting system implementation manager I was a bureaucrat of all bureaucrats basically at that time no one should know who the hell I am I just was doing my job Sterling was on the front line As Trump attacked the Georgia election results thousands of uncounted votes discovered in Georgia counties big voter fraud information coming out concerning Georgia Georgia Republic an are angry all Republicans are angry get it done the people in Georgia are mad they know their votes were stolen Georgia of the Six States I looked at is a cesspool Georgia's probably going to be the first state I'm going to blow up and the Secretary of State need to go with it everyone must go to the capital of Georgia now we need to see people power and this will do [Music] it on the ground tensions were [Music] [Applause] mounting I mean you have a whole voting population out there who still today believes that this election was stolen America Amica and they think that you know some fraud happened any and that's how you end up in situations where they're threatening the election officials in Georgia keep opposing the audit and somebody in your family is going to have a very unfortunate incident please pray we plan for the death of you and your family every day I'm sorry you and your family will be killed very slowly it wasn't fun I can tell you that um we were in the mix of a radicalized lie essentially and it just kept on escalating you ought to blow your brains out you piece of the threats poured in to the voicemails of election officials hope you're happy with the way going because you know whose fault this is when the gets to damn fan cuz you know it's coming we're coming after you and every mother with our Second Amendment enemy communist sucker you will be served LED it has all gone too far all of it it has to stop I had no script in fact I didn't realize I was going to call out the president I was literally saying the words out loud at the time Mr President you have not condemned these actions or this language this has to to stop we need you to step up and if you're going to take a position of leadership show some now after you made this plea to the president did Donald Trump urge his supporters to avoid the use of violence not to my knowledge now as we know the president was aware of your speech because he tweeted about it later that day the president retweeted a criticism of Gabriel Sterling's press conference so the president was aware that there were threats of violence and he persisted in the big lie you have Gabriel Sterling say people will die this was the warning and Donald Trump was unmoved by it was there any sort of a sense that maybe we had to dial down the rhetoric that maybe this is getting out of hand maybe this is dangerous no Gabriel Sterling's warning that someone could get killed I think that Still Remains true today cuz you still have the president targeting judges and and and law clerks and Witnesses and I think it is remarkable that no one has been physically hurt but I think time will tell whether this something does [Music] happen the committee plans to reveal even more evidence former president Trump pressured State officials to overturn the results of the 2020 election Rusty Bowers the speaker of the Arizona house and lifelong Republican was a crucial witness to Trump's campaign of pressure on local officials Arizona house Speaker Rusty Bowers testifying today he received numerous calls asking him to desertify the Arizona electors Bowers would testify about his private conversations with the president going in the room we walked down through the hall and there's lots of people in the hallways and and then guards and and then there's a doorway and you know I'm thinking okay how big is this room and then I walk in the room and I'm thinking oh my word this is one big room I'm like wow and there's 10 million photographers all jammed together jostling in front of us and I'm trying to maintain composure and not run screaming off down the mall down towards the Lincoln Memorial but I saw Liz Cheney and she was looking at me and um that kind of calm me down I now welcome Rusty Bowers a distinguished legislator from Arizona speaker Bowers thank you for being with us today you're the speaker this is a loyal lifelong Republican he's a conservative who fought to get Trump reelected Arizona house Speaker Rusty Bowers come on up here rusty Bowers is just a compelling person it's hard to talk to him and not believe him and the stories that he told about his Direct Communications with the president um were just so indicative and so powerful that he was kind of an obvious choice frankly for somebody that America needed to hear from directly after the election you received a phone call from president Trump and Rudy Giuliani in which they discussed the result of the presidential election in Arizona uh if you would tell us about that call M the president initially laid out the broad claim of fraud across the country and named different States including my own um what was the ask during this call uh he was making these allegations of fraud but he had something or a couple things uh that they wanted you to do what were those he said well we have heard by an official high up in the Republican legislature that there is a legal Theory or a legal ability in Arizona that you can remove the um the electors of President Biden and replace them well for them to say to me yeah we just want you to throw out those electors and put in trumps I'm thinking have I gone to another planet I mean it's like what I'm not going to do that I mean I wanted him to win okay so what I'm not going to cheat I I'm not going to cheat to win what's what's that I flat flat out said you're asking me to break my oath I swore an oath I'm not going to break it period not going to break it I said well if you're talking this I got to have the proof I said Rudy do you have the names of the dead people who voted he goes yes and do you have the names of the 200,000 Elite Eagles who voted in our election yes I said I want those names and the President says Rudy give the man what he wants give him what he wants he says yeah we've got him Mr President I'll get him to him in the criminal indictment Jack Smith saw the call as evidence of a crime the defendant and co-conspirator one asked the Arizona House speaker to use the legislature to circumvent the process by which legitimate electors would be ascertained if if you are calling a state official and you're asking them to nullify lawful votes and to replace them with unlawful votes that is squarely within Federal statutes regulating election conspiracy not long after the call Rudy Giuliani himself arrived in Arizona uh did you meet with Mr Giuliani and his associates while they were in Phoenix yes I did Sir there was a row of people and Giuliani and Alice I recognized them and I sat down on the opposite side and I just said did you bring me the proof and he said what I said do you remember our phone call when you said you were going to bring me the proof and he said oh yeah I said did you bring it and he turned to Jenna Ellis and he says do you have the proof and she said yeah well can we see it she leans over and fumbles through her briefcase and says oh no I don't have it here it must be at the hotel room in this meeting or at any other later time did anyone provide you with evidence of election fraud sufficient to affect the outcome of the presidential election in Arizona no one provided me ever such [Music] evidence Giuliani was kind of frustrated with us all and he said you know we've got a lot of theories we just don't have the evidence and I when I heard him say that I I said did he just say what I thought he said and they all looked at me like the same thing on the mind like whoa you know that yeah he just said that that was like a rockets red glare moment like wow that's you got to be kidding this is like a this is the CL s show they're they're out hunting they're trying to find something and and they're wanting us to participate in this and and he says that holy moly we can't do this stuff you know it's like Rudy Giuliani refused to answer questions from the committee about his conversations with Bowers Trump attorney Jenna Ellis also refused for the January 6 committee that meeting with Bowers was a bombshell revelation we have a lot of theories but we don't have any evidence that shows that none of this had to do with evidence or reality right this is all about just making stuff up in order to justify keeping Trump in power the phrase Giuliani uttered would become iconic and Giuliani a central figure in Trump's indictment listed as co-conspirator number one co-conspirator 1 responded with words to the effect of we don't have the evidence but we have lots of theories it shows Rudy Giuliani admitting that there's no evidence for the theories they have that these are just talking points not backed with any fact and that's exactly the theory of the government during the conversation did he bring up the fact that you shared a a similar party he would say aren't we all Republicans here I I would think we would get a better reception I mean I would think you would listen a little more open to my suggestions that we're all Republicans for someone to ask me to deny my oath and just let the courts figure it out or let somebody else punt it to someone else is not something I will do what you have to understand here is that Rusty Bowers this guy who's who worked for Trump wanted Trump to be reelected in Arizona worked for Trump's re-election is given a choice he can choose between his oath of the Constitution or president Trump and he stays loyal to the Constitution that is in effect what the choice that he's given even in the past when there have been serious Rusty Bowers speaks with a moral and legal Clarity that's very necessary to understand we choose to follow the outcome of the will of the people it's it's my oath and and I hope that I'll never break that I know I'm not you know I'm not perfect I'm certainly not a perfect witness but I am a witness and uh I had my say and I wasn't trying to flower it up wasn't trying to be anything other than just rusty Rusty Bowers is now a key witness on a central charge of the indictment the defendant and his co-conspirators executed a strategy to use knowing deceit in the targeted states to impair obstruct and defeat the federal government function in their filings Trump's lawyers have argued he is immune from prosecution because he was doing his job as president when he work to change the election results the indictment is based entirely on alleged actions within the heart land of President Trump's official duties or at the very least within the Outer Perimeter of His official duties the former president has a motion claiming that he is uh immune from Criminal process with regard to these charges which involve His official acts as president of the United States as president Trump is absolutely immune from Criminal prosecution for such acts the court should dismiss the indictment Donald Trump's legal team suggesting that that even a president who had a political rival assassinated could still be immune from Criminal prosecution the federal judge presiding over the case has already rejected Trump's immunity claims saying a president is not entitled to a lifelong get out of jail free pass the questions being raised right now regarding presidential immunity are absolutely key to the very Foundation the very philosophical Foundation of this Republic because if you take an oath of office in the United States of America you're swearing an oath to our system of government and so if a president is not subject to that system of government if he's not subject to that code of laws we don't have quite the Republic that we thought we had an appeals court is now considering the question of immunity whatever the decision both sides could appeal to the United States Supreme [Music] Court the committee's investigation kept bringing them back to what happened in Georgia Mr Giuliani what are you doing here in Georgia you Giuliani was there to make his case to the Republican state legislature bless you too oh I'm not going to never give up he was very jovial I have to tell you I think he had gotten basically a king's welcome by all the Republicans it was like you know he was their Superstar or whatever they all wanted pictures with him they were all so impressed with him and couldn't believe that he was there and um very obsequious We Appreciate You Rudy we love you Rudy Giuliani and others from Trump's team had come with a conspiracy theory election workers were counting suitcases of illegal ballots thank you thank you Senator Jordan thank you Mr chairman um Jen Jordan a democratic state senator was in the room with Giuliani Jenna Ellis and Trump's other lawyers they are going to pull ballots out from underneath a table watch this table you had the woman who was narrating this table the black one was placed there by the lady with the blonde braids and saying you see this woman here you see her here at about 8:00 in the morning and we're going to roll this back and show it to you there you go so now they're going to start pulling these ballots out from under this table I don't know the name of the lady in the blond braids and one of them had the name of Ruby across the her shirt somewhere she's taking the ballots out and now she's you know filling them in or she's stealing these ballots it was an allegation Trump personally Amplified there is even security camera footage from Georgia that shows officials telling pole Watchers to leave the room before pulling suitcases of ballot out from under the tables and continuing to count for hours they kept on recycling these things the footage appears to show pole workers pulling ballots out of suitcases after they it's like playing whacka yeah how about those suitcases that were pulled out from the table in Georgia looking at ballots they're finding them under the tables I mean I this is like a Banana Republic but the full surveillance video didn't show what Trump and Giuliani claimed the magic suitcases which were really just ballot carriers that had been put under the table about an hour earlier and they were placed under there with the monitors and the press in the room a day after after giuliani's presentation the video aired on local TV their claims were debunked this is the short section of the video the Trump team has shared it's not suitcases being pulled from under that table but official sealed ballot containers if we go back in the video to hours before you can see that table being brought into the room at 8:22 a.m. nothing underneath no hidden suitcases as ballots that have been opened but not counted are placed in the boxes sealed up and stored under the table no magic iCal appearing ballots these were ballots that were processed in front of the monitors put in the boxes in front of the monitors and placed there in front of the monitors and I I'm I'll go to my deathbed knowing that they knowingly lied they looked in the state senator's eyes people of George people of America and lied to them about this and knew they were lying to try to keep this charade going on that there was fraud in Georgia but the conspiracy theories continued this is not a conspiracy theory those are legitimate questions I think the woman in charge here is named Ruby Freeman and I think her daughter Shay Freeman Moss either was helping her here or helping her earlier juliani had called out by name two election workers sheay moss and Ruby Freeman after pulling out hidden boxes stuffed with ballots Ruby Freeman as seen here in this video repeatedly scanned the same batch of ballots at least three times like the claim about suitcases of ballots it wasn't true the secondary part of that was they're they're scanning multiple times multiple times and a standard operating procedure is if there's a miscan you delete that batch and straighten it up like you do and then run it through again and that's what they were doing and the reason we know that's the case is because we had a hand tally that showed the number of ballots matched what was counted so we know that they didn't do [Music] that I now welcome Andrea Shay moss in December 2020 Miss moss and and her mother Miss Ruby Freeman became the target people say you know I know somebody just like those two ladies in my community who work elections and they're just everyday people in the affirmative to have them as a witness for our committee thank you very I think it was very powerful I understand that you are here along with your mother today uh would you like to introduce your mama hi Mom well I know the events that we're here to talk about today are incredibly difficult to relive I'd like to show you some of the statements that Rudy Giuliani made a week after that video clip from State Farm Marina was first circulated by Mr Giuliani and president Trump I want to advise viewers that these statements are completely false and also so deeply disturbing tape earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman and Shay Freeman moss and one other gentleman quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they're vials of heroin or cocaine he sounded a lot more desperate quite frankly he seemed more unhinged he made some overtly racist comments they look like they're they look like they're passing out dope not ballot uh it is quite clear they're stealing votes and they're still walking around Georgia lying should have been they should have been uh should have been questioned already uh their places of work their homes should have been searched for evidence of ballots for evidence of USB ports for evidence of voter fraud but there was no evidence that they were passing USB drives in one of the videos we just watched Mr Giuliani accused you and your mother of passing some sort of USB drive to each other uh what was your mom actually handing you on that video a ginger mint passing along Ginger mint back and forth um gets spun up into this baseless Theory not an accident it is meant to stir up people's anger and these two black women who are doing their civic duty are vilified it really does end up ruining people's lives I mean I can't tell you how many emails I got with respect to Shea moss and Ruby Freeman and that they should be strung up County Police and Fire yes I um I'm Ruby Freeman I I need an officer to come out I've been having terroristic threats I've been having harassing phone calls and now somebody spamming on the door again yeah oh they screaming he's still baming on the door okay he still baming on the door Lord Jesus was the poies they are on the way [Music] man were a lot of these threats and and vile comments racist in nature a lot of them were racist a lot of them were just hateful a lot of threats um wishing death upon me um telling me that you know I'm I'll be in jail with my mother and saying things like be glad it's 2020 and not 1920 these women whose lives had been completely destroyed that's where the story about the state pressure campaign becomes real I felt horrible I felt like it was all my fault like if I would have never decided to be an elections worker like I could have done anything else but that's what I decided to do and now people are lying and spreading rumors and lies and attacking my mom my only child I just felt like it was it was my fault for putting my family in this situation there are realworld consequences to lying and attacking and demonizing innocent people in this country and Donald Trump has always been very heedless of the human costs of uh his lives and his gaslighting and this is a very painful example of that m m i want to thank you for coming to speak with us and thank you for your service uh to our democracy with your permission I would like to give your mother the last word my name is Ruby Freeman I've always believed that When God says that he'll make your name great but this is not the way it was supposed to be I built my own business around that name lar rubies Unique Treasures a popup shop catering to ladies with unique fashion I wore a shirt that proudly proclaimed that I was and I am lady rubby actually I had that shirt on I had that shirt in every color I wore that shirt on Election Day 2020 I haven't worn it since and I'll never wear it again now I won't even introduce my Myself by my name anymore there is nowhere I feel safe nowhere do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States to Target you the president of the United States is supposed to represent every American not to Target one but he targeted me lady Ruby a small business owner a mother a proud American citizen who stand up to help bton County run an election in the middle of the pandemic Federal prosecutors have cited the lies about Freeman and moss in their indictment co-conspirator 1 orchestrated a presentation to a Judiciary subcommittee of the Georgia State Senate with the intention of misleading state senators into blocking the ascertainment of legitimate electors breaking news in Georgia's investigation into alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia prosecutors have also weighed in with their own charges members of the Enterprise including several of the defendants falsely accused fton County election worker Ruby Freeman of committing election crimes in Fulton County Georgia Trump juliani and others have been charged in Georgia with a host of crimes related to their attempts to overturn the 2020 election while Trump and Giuliani await trial four of their codefendants have pled guilty including Jenna Ellis if I knew then what I know now I would have declined to represent Donald Trump I look back on this full experience with deep remorse for those failures of M your H Earth it's very important that Jenna Ellis pled guilty to criminal charges because it raises the point that wait a minute this wasn't a traditional lawyer client relationship and so when you have lawyers pleading guilty to crimes that is broadcasting loudly that they were not providing conventional legal advice in a separate civil case a federal court ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay $146 million for defaming Freeman and Moss a legal loss for Rudy Giuliani that could cost him Millions Rudy Giuliani the once respected New York mayor and former attorney for Donald Trump has filed for bankruptcy forced to declare bankruptcy the latest chapter in a dramatic fall for the man once stubbed America's [Music] mayor as the January 6th hearings continued the committee linked the efforts in Georgia to Trump personally they had evidence and a witness Brad rensberger is a 29th Secretary of State of Georgia serving in this role since 2019 as an elected off my job as secretary of state is to make sure we have honest fair and accurate elections he's a very strong Christian he's a very strong Republican and he's very conservative he was an engineer now being an engineer allowed him to lean into the numbers and lean into the data that he felt very comfortable with that which is you know a rare thing for anybody in politics because Engineers are very mathematical very linear you know not always the biggest personalities I looked at as the office of secretary state is how do we really improve the process of Elections all 159 counties had new election equipment with a verifiable paper ballot ready for the election of 20120 it was a phone call from the president that put reference Berger at the center of the hearings everyone I'm going to convers you through to pus momentarily one moment that phone call is one of the most powerful pieces of evidence that's come out of this this postelection period the conference is now connected hello uh uh Mr rensburg are you on the line Mark Meadows reached out to my deputy secretary of state and she called me and uh told her I didn't think that was a good idea and um we were kind of told that no we definitely need to have this conversation Brad RB here okay all right so Mr President everybody is on the line and just so this is Mark Med the chief of staff so Mr President I I'll turn it over to you okay thank you very much hello Brad and Ryan and everybody we appreciate the time and the call uh if we could just go over some of the numbers I think it's pretty clear that we won we won very substantially uh Georgia it shows how frantic and desperate president Trump had become uh by that phone call I think it shows how his demands were fully removed from any kind of evidence so dead people voted and I think uh the the number is in the Pro close to 5,000 people and they went to obituaries they went to I just listen to talk to come up with an I was making some notes okay 5,000 okay great I'll respond to that but uh when I got an opportunity to you know speak then I I just said well Mr President the challenge that you have is your data is wrong well Mr President the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong so the actual number were two two two people that were dead that voted my job was just to respond with the facts and uh if I had a different set of facts I would have responded with whatever they were we just our job was to give him the true data which I did but why wouldn't you want to find the right answer Brad instead of keep saying that the numbers are right Brad we just want the truth it's simple and the truth the real truth I won by 400,000 votes at least we believe that we do have an accurate election no I no you don't no no you don't the former president was pushing to see if he could somehow you know it would move me somewhere someplace because I think that's been an effective strategy for him over his business career and political career that people tended to buckle instead of stand firm on their principles in Georgia Trump had lost to Biden by 11,779 votes what so what are we going to do here folks I only need 11,000 votes fellas I need 11,000 votes give me a break why why do you keep fighting this thing it's just doesn't make sense we have to stand by our numbers we believe our numbers are right Trump didn't understand it just it just doesn't click didn't click with him that someone would just give in it just did not occur to him that there was some higher level of loyalty to the law and the Constitution I knew that we had followed the law and we had followed the Constitution and I think sometimes moments require you to stand up and and just take the shots when you're doing your job and that's all we did you know we just followed the law and we followed the Constitution and at the end of the day president Trump came up short but I had to be faithful to the Constitution and that's what I S I know to do this call becomes critical because it's recorded we get to hear in the president's own voice how he's doing it what he's doing how he's putting pressure on these people so look all I want to do is this I just want to find uh 11,780 votes this is a scheme to overthrow an election he knew the number that he needed to hit to change the outcome of the election and Trump accused raffensberger himself of a crime allowing election fraud it's more illegal for you than it is for them because you know what they did and you're not reporting it that's a you know that's a criminal that's a criminal offense the president of the United States demanding that an election official find thousands of votes and then strongly implying that there would be criminal sanction in the event that those votes were not found I mean that is terrible evidence for the president what I knew is that we didn't have any votes to find we had continued to look uh we investigated I I just shared the numbers with you there were no votes to find that call is damning and I think it's going to be damning potentially in front of a jury because juries when they can hear a defendant's voice on tape when they can hear something something that that is that real and that visceral it can be incredibly powerful testimony okay thank you Brad thank you Ryan thank you thank you everybody thank you president Trump for your time thank you thank you very much [Music] bye the defendant said that he needed to find 11,780 votes it shows him demanding a remedy that doesn't make any sense in the context of anything lawful that's just asking I want to win you got to do it I think it's going to be very po powerful call for that jury for his part Trump has defended the phone call with rensberger describing it as perfect a perfect phone call to discuss a rigged and stolen election and what to do about it with many people including lawyers and others knowingly on the line after weeks of trying to overturn the results of the election his legal team has come up with nothing in the middle of December 2020 in the courts where evidence gets scrutinized authenticated and tested they're getting hammered as the president was failing in his attempts to reverse the election all but now ending the president's attempt to reverse his election loss a new phase began and it comes as the Electoral college is set to cast their votes for president tomorrow on December 14th 2020 the presidential election was officially over the Electoral College had cast its vote Joe Biden was the president-elect of the United States the president has reached the end of the road the Electoral College certified the election his legal team and allies lost more than 50 challenges the cases run their course the Electoral College meets people are saying no so he's running out of options right the the sequence is increasingly desperate on Friday December 18th his team of outside advisors paid him a surprise visit in the white house that would quickly become the stuff of Legend this meeting is one of the most extraordinary meetings ever happened in that building in more than 200 years of History here you had a president United States who had lost an election in the Oval Office being advised by a swarm of colorful characters to say the least at the meeting former National Security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney cydney Powell by then both known for their Embrace of conspiracy theories about the election you have people in there counseling Donald Trump that he should explicitly order martial law that he should create a special zar the person they had in mind for this was Sydney Powell that she should become the special elections arear and be empowered to use the Machinery of government itself to overturn the election as word of the meeting spread senior White House lawyers rushed to the Oval Office including White House councel Pat calone I opened the door and I walked in I saw General Flynn I saw Sydney Powell sitting there I don't think I don't think any of these people were providing the president with good advice president Trump's close advisors White House Council Pat Sone Eric hman adviser to the president and others who were in that room were saying to this group well what evidence do you even have that there was fraud in the election the White House lawyers were insistent that the president shouldn't declare martial law to overturn the election or Empower Sydney Powell at times there were people shouting at each other hurling insults at each other calone and Hershman and uh whoever the other guy was showed nothing but contempt and disdain uh of the president yeah remember the three of them were really sort of forcefully attacking me and Fally and we asking one SLE question where is the evidence I mean if if it had been me sitting in his chair I would have fired all of them that night and had him escorted out of the building the president is taking all this in mostly a passive observer in this meeting but he is watching this play out his close advisers telling his lawyers you have no evidence that there was fraud in the election and you've lost every case every case you brought in court you've lost and pal says the judges were corrupt that's why we lost and Eric hman supporter close adviser of the President says what are you talking about every case the judges we appointed many of those judges you're saying they're all corrupt like you people have nothing you're crazy I think that it got to the point where the screaming was completely completely out there I mean you got people walk in it was late at night it been a long day and what they were proposing I thought was nuts Flynn screamed at me that I was a quitter and everything kept on standing up and turning around and screaming at me and at a certain point I had it with him so now yell back or sit your fing ass back down I'm I'm going to categorically describe it as you guys are not tough enough or maybe I put it another way you're a bunch of excuse the expression at the end of it Trump sees that is so much opposition including from his white house councel uh he understands that people would very likely resign and so it seems that he reluctantly concludes that he's not going to declare martial law instead late that night after the meeting had broken up the president turned to Twitter statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 election big protest in DC on January 6th be there will'll be wild dissatisfied with his options Donald Trump decided to call for a large and wild crowd on Wednesday January 6th the day when Congress would meet to certify the electoral votes while he doesn't actually go ahead with martial law he is embracing a path that is in fact radical anyway he's not using the United States military but he's summoning his own Army of support reps to Washington some of whom are known to be extremists and in some cases violent to help him stay in office over the will of the voters it's Saturday December 19th and one of the most historic events in American history has just taken place president Trump in the early morning hours today tweeted that he wants the American people to March on Washington DC on January 6 this wildly inflammatory tweet was a bullhorn that immediately went out to some of the more violent organized Trump supporters the oathkeepers he called us all to the capital and wants us to make it wild gentlemen we are heading to DC pack your the proud boys It's All or Nothing Patriots boldness and bravery is necessary they heard it as a message from their leader come to Washington the will be wild tweet was the call in a call and response they mobilized to come to Washington these individuals came to Washington because Donald Trump told them to be there because Donald Trump told them the election was rigged because Donald Trump told them that someone was trying to take their votes away from them and silenced their voices they believed it this could be Trump's Last Stand and it's a time when he has specifically called on his supporters to arrive in DC the time for games is over the time for Action is now where were you when history called where were you when you and your children's Destiny and future was on the line for prosecutors that tweet the call to March on Washington represents a crucial step in Trump's criminal conspiracy Jack Smith's theory is that that was part of the attempt to obstruct the proceedings on January 6 that Trump wanted a large at least Bo boisterous if not violent crowd there to interfere with the proceedings maybe stop them um put pressure on the people there and that was one component of his obstruction after cultivating widespread anger and resentment for weeks with his knowingly false claims of election fraud the defendant urged his his supporters to travel to Washington on the day of the certification proceeding the special council is sort of situating it as this hinge where things sort of really start to go wrong that shows that this was part of a plan um and if they can convince the jury of that that's a huge portion of the ball game in their filings Trump's attorneys have argued that his statements were protected by the First Amendment the indictment therefore attempts to criminalize core political speech and political advocacy which is categorically impermissible under the First Amendment there should be room under the First Amendment and otherwise for the president to say an awful lot without having to tag him with a criminal offense that's why there's a First Amendment you're you're given a big amount of latitude to say a lot of wild and crazy even stupid things without having to worry about somebody afterwards deciding that you should be sent to jail for it while Prosecuting the president in an electoral context is new Prosecuting people for electoral fraud is not new at all there are burdens of proof there are legal tests there are jury instructions and if you can meet those elements then you're outside of the protection of the First Amendment this is not a novel legal Theory here as January 6th approached Trump refocused his efforts closer to home at his own Department of Justice today we'll tell the story of how the pressure campaign also targeted the federal agency charged with enforcement of our laws the Department of Justice Trump tried to weaponize the Department of Justice against our own democracy Bill bar is the first one to stand up and say no I'm not going to do that he steps aside he resigns and he's replaced by Jeff Rosen and Richard Dy who has a sort of a tag team here Rosen was a republican political appointee who had served throughout Trump's Administration Donahue also a republican had spent much of his career as a government lawyer in the Army and at the Department of Justice these are folks who were appointed by Donald Trump they are align with him politically pretty much every day after bar left Trump would call Jeffrey Rosen at the justice department or his Deputy Richard Donahue and try to put pressure on them to get the Department to go along with this narrative that there were serious questions about the Integrity of the election Mr Donahue you had a conversation with the president where he raised false claim after false claim with you and Mr Rosen how did you respond to what you called a quote stream of allegations I wanted to try to cut through the noise because it was clear to us that there were a lot of people whispering in his ear feeding him these conspiracy theories and allegations um as the president went through them I went piece by piece to say no that's false that is not true and to correct him um really in in a Serial fashion as he moved from one Theory to another how how did the president respond to that sir he responded very quickly and said essentially uh that's not what I'm asking you to do what I'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican [Music] Congressman he's saying don't care about evidence don't care about facts just say this and then I'm going to be able to use that to give people political cover to do what I want them to do which is to overturn the vote I look I think that's a very unfortunate statement on the on the president's part but it wouldn't be the first time that a president made a a a conscious decision to reject advice from his legal advisers including the Department of Justice is that evidence of criminal misconduct could be could be but sorting that out be before a fair-minded jury assuming that there's a fair-minded jury is I think another question as it became clear Rosen and Donahue wouldn't go along Trump looked for someone who would Trump turns to this midlevel Department of Justice employee Jeff Clark and he says let's put him in as the acting attorney general he had been an environmental prosecutor Clerk's official role has nothing to do with anything involving election fraud he had no business at all being involved in this Clark drafted a letter that would claim publicly that the department was concerned about serious allegations of election fraud even though his superiors had said there was no such evidence that letter of course was never sent uh Clark tried to push for it to be sent by sort of attempting to Dethrone acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen according to testimony and evidence before the committee Trump told Clark that he was going to fire Rosen and make him the new attorney general well Clark makes an incredibly stupid mistake which is that he tells Jeffrey Rosen the acting attorney general that he is going to be replaced uh on the on Sunday the 3D he told me that the president had offered him the job and that he was accepting it Clark tells him oh yeah Trump is going to put me in and he gives notice to his opponents that's always a huge mistake in Washington or anywhere else well uh you know on the one hand I wasn't going to accept being fired by my subordinate so I wanted to talk to the the president directly and there was another crazy white house meeting where Rosen Donahue meet with Clark the president and other presidential advisers in the Oval Office for hours fighting over whether Clark should be the Attorney General Jeff Clark was proposing that uh Jeff Rosen be replaced by Jeff Clark and I thought the proposal was Asino he repeatedly said to the president that if he was put in the seat he would conduct real investigations that would in his view uncover widespread fraud and when he finished discussing what he planned on doing I said good excuse me sorry congratulations you just admitted a first step or act you take as attorney general would be committing a felony and violating rule 6C you're clearly the right candidate for this job and I said that's right you're an environmental lawyer how about you go back to your office and we'll call you when there's an oil spill Mr Don did did you eventually tell the president that mass resignations would occur if he installed Mr Clark and what the consequences would be I said Mr President within 24 48 72 hours you could have hundreds and hundreds of resignations of the leadership of your entire Justice Department because of your actions what's that going to say about you in the end that proves to be enough to stop Trump very reluctantly very reluctantly from putting Clark in as his acting Attorney General talk about a close call but for the January 6 committee and federal prosecutors the pressure on the justice department was another part of the conspiracy he's trying to enlist his part of a scheme these officials of the justice department lawyers officers of the Court people whove taken an oath to uphold the rule of law and they won't go along with it the defendant and co-conspirators attempted to use the power and authority of the justice department to conduct sham election crime investigations as with the pressure on state election officials Trump's attorneys have argued that he was just doing his job urging his own Department of Justice to do more to enforce the laws that it is charged with enforcing is unquestionably an official Act of the president and the president is entitled to name anyone he wants as the Attorney General deliberating about whether to replace the acting Attorney General of the United States is also a core presidential function Jack Smith has made that judgment that that has crossed over the line into criminal conduct but he's now going to have to prove that the president went over that line whatever that line is having called his supporters to come to Washington on January 6th Trump turned his attention to a key player in his effort to stay in power vice president Mike Pence today we're focusing on President Trump's Relentless effort to pressure Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on January 6th the pressure campaign of Vice President Pence is the last Gambit to keep Trump in power I mean basically it's the LA the last lever that they can pull to try and steal the election it was based on an obscure legal theory that the vice president had the power to overturn the election results Greg Jacob was counil to vice president Pence he conducted a thorough analysis of the role of the Vice President in the joint session of Congress under the Constitution I now recognize the gentleman from California Mr agalar Mr Jacob did you go to vice president's residences on the morning of January 6th yes and did the vice president have a call with the president that morning he did we were told that a call had come in from the president the vice president stepped out of the room to take that call and no staff went with him the president had several family members with him for that call I'd like to show you what they and others told the select committee about that call along with never before seen photographs of the president on that call from the National Archives when I entered the office the second time he was on the telephone with who I later found out to be was the the vice president could you hear the vice president or only hear the president's end I only hear the president's end but at some point it started off as a calmer tone and then became heated Donald Trump is focused on this idea that Pence wielding the gavl on January 6th could single-handedly overturn the election because he was presiding over this final certification of the electoral votes the conversation was was pretty heated it's an extraordinary thing a president pressuring a vice president this way insulting him that way a person who had been nothing but loyal to him through all those all those months and years did Miss Trump share with you any more details about what had happened her dad had just had an upsetting conversation with the vice president it was a different tone than I'd heard him take um with the vice president before I mean I think she was uncomfortable over the fact that there was obviously that type of interaction between the two of them the word that she related to that the president called the vice president I apologize for being impolite but do you remember what she said her father called him the p word Trump told Pence you have a choice you can either be a patriot or you can be a patriot means turn the election over to me being a means being afraid to uh to use your power Mr Jacob how would you describe the demeanor of the vice president following the call with the president when he came back into the room I'd say that he was Steely determined uh Grim in almost four years it was the first serious break between Pence and Trump Donald Trump had every expectation that he would go along with him on this why wouldn't he had done everything else up until now Pence is a vice president who has been exceedingly loyal to Trump for 3 years 11 months and however many days Mike Pence never ever broke with the president now Pence had to make a critical decision Pence had just a clear conflict between what Trump wanted him to do and what the Constitution and the rule of law required him to do I think he' managed to navigate those conflicts in various ways over four years not always in my view in the right way but this was such a blatant transgression pivotal to the plan was this man John Eastman here's this law professor a member of the Federalists his role was to provide a sort of a pseudo intellectual cover for legal arguments and he manufactures this theory of the vice president's power that B that says that the vice president United States is the ultimate Arbiter on January 6 those are his words the ultimate Arbiter and Trump fully endorses ean's plan well John Eastman was one of my law clerks um perhaps 20 25 years ago I was greatly concerned that John had given the advice that he had given judge J Michael ludic is one of the leading conservative legal thinkers in the country he served in administrations of President Ronald Reagan and George H W bush he was Judge L had a kind of moral Authority within uh the conservative Community a guy himself who had been shortlisted for the Supreme Court was on a firstname basis with members of the Supreme Court uh judge ludig I had the incredible honor of serving as one of your law clerks another person who did uh was John Eastman and you've written that Dr Eastman's Theory is in your words incorrect at every turn Mr Eastman said to the president that there was both legal as well as historical precedent for the vice president to overturn the election this is constitutional Mischief I would have laid my body across the road before I would would have let the vice president overturn the 2020 election I diagrammed his uh his his legal analysis from beginning to end and concluded that he was wrong at at every uh every turn of his analysis every turn of his thinking judge ludig you wrote that the efforts by President Trump to overturn the 2020 election were quote the most Reckless Insidious and calamitous failures in both legal and political judgment in American history what did you mean by that exactly what I said Congressman White House lawyers had also warned about Eastman's theories but Trump persisted summoning the vice president to the Oval Office the Eastman plan it was the last last option for Donald Trump January 4th 2021 in the Oval Office John Eastman president Trump they pull vice president pence in he's joined by his AIDS Greg Jacob and Mark short Trump says to pence in front of others you have to now listen to John Eastman you have to follow the Eastman plan object to the certification it's a pressure camp pain Pence says to Trump I'm going to do what I can Mr President I want to help you out but I'm listening to my lawyers he turns to Greg Jacob his advisers and he says they're telling me I can't do it I can't do it it's not constitutional it's not legal Trump says you can do it listen to John Mr Jacob during that meeting between the president and the vice president what theories did Dr Eastman present regarding the role of the Vice President in counting the electoral votes so during that meeting on the 4th um I think I raised the problem that Mr Eastman's proposals would violate several provisions of the Electoral count act um Mr Ean acknowledged that that was the case Pence turns to Trump and says are you listening to this do you hear this but Trump isn't listening to that he just is back hanging away on Pence you're the guy who's going to keep us in power Pence stood firm this is a man who has been so loyal for so long but I think at the end of the day Mike Pence knew that he was going to uphold the Constitution and he knew that he had no power to overturn and do the things that the president was saying the choice Mike Pence was facing was was not really a choice he had no choice to do anything other than count the votes that took place but at this point Donald Trump had surrounded himself with people who were feeding him more and more nonsense about how this process worked it was just another situation of the president creating his own reality deciding things that can happen that simply can't and set Mike Pence up for the fall in a way that he had really no choice in what to to do the pressure on Pence figures prominently in the indictment of trump the defendant and co-conspirators attempted to enlist the vice president to use his ceremonial role at the January 6 certification proceeding to fraudulently alter the election results John Eastman is listed as one of those unindicted co-conspirators though he still defends the advice he gave the president Trump's interactions with Pence direct and indirect are crucial they really go to showing that part of the way he obstructed Justice was trying to wrongfully pressure Pence who had an official task not to undertake that task is the fact that Donald Trump asked him to do that is is that criminal um again I think you got to be really careful there I I don't think that's something you want to make criminal you know on it own the the mere ask to say you know I want you to not certify the results it doesn't necessarily mean that it was a violation of the criminal law it depends on context and what other evidence the government has whether or not a particular act that the president is alleged to have engaged in is in of itself a crime isn't really going to be the question at that trial it's going to be whether that act was in furtherance of a criminal objective all of these acts all of the things that we've been talking about they don't have to be illegal in and of themselves the crime is a conspiracy to defraud the United States there's a lot of anticipation for today's hearings the committee says it will present newly obtained evidence and testimony in the midst of the January six committees hearings a dramatic moment live testimony from a White House adviser who was right there in the west wing on January 6th a surprise witness during the Watergate hearings there was only one surprise witness it was Alexander Butterfield well in the January 6 hearings the surprise witness is Cassidy Hutchinson Cassidy Hutchinson a 25-year-old White House staffer the most intimidating thing is all those cameras sitting one foot from her face taking pictures of her this is a young woman standing in a setting that could almost feel amphitheatrical I was with Cassidy on the day of her testimony during it I'm sitting behind her she was incredibly nervous I think like any normal person would be to do this there was a time beforehand where she wanted to back out because it was really scary to go up against the president of the United States and speak the truth is something that only a few people will know she was a hardcore Trump loyalist and she's getting ready to destroy the tribe that she gets her identity from I've been there right I've been in that moment that was pretty a inspiring to be quite honest with you I will now swear in our witness knowing how Trump had become so intimidating a person for people who crossed him and this one young woman doing what so many other much older frequently male staffers wouldn't do which is come forward in testifying truthfully under oath old truth and nothing but the truth so help you God thank you you may be seated inside the White House Hutchinson had been a top Aid to Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and in the room during key events the committee was investigating Hutchinson was a crucial witness in terms of helping to shine a light on the president's state of mind because so few people were capable of doing that Hutchinson revealed details about Trump's plans for January 6 6 on January 2nd 4 days before the attack on our Capital president Trump's lead lawyer Mr Giuliani was meeting with white house chief of staff Mark Meadows and others Miss Hutchinson we understand that you walked Mr Giuliani out of the white house that night um and he talked to you about January 6th what do you remember him saying as Mr Giuliani and I were walking to his vehicles that evening he looked at me and said something to the effect of cast are you excited for the six it's going to be a great day I remember looking at him saying Rudy could you explain what's what's happening on the six and he had responded something to the effect of we're going to the capital it's going to be great the president's going to be there he's going to look powerful she clearly had nothing to gain by doing it she was telling the truth that she saw it this poised composed young woman with no obvious acts to grind as she's telling her story it's the most powerful moment I think in the entire hearings and I found Mr Meadows in his office scrolling through his phone I remember leaning against the doorway and saying I had an interesting conversation with brudy Mark sounds like we're going to go to the capital he didn't look up from his phone and said something to the effect of there's a lot going on Gass but I don't know things might get real real bad on January 6th us us tensions are running High 30,000 supporters of the president are gathering right now they're having what they're calling a stop the steel rally and on January 6th Hutchinson was in the president's Inner Circle I think the campaign is aware that January 6 would be the Last Stand once that certification happens on the 6 that it's really over this Miss Hutchinson did you go to the rally in the presidential motorcade I I was there yes and were you backstage with the president and other members of his staff and family I was it was in the tent backstage that Hutchinson heard crucial evidence of what Trump knew about the potential for violence that day when we were in the offstage announc area tent behind the stage he was very concern conc erned about the shot meaning the photograph that we would get because the rally space wasn't full the former president was unhappy with the crowd size we learned that some of the crowd size inside the barricade was due to the fact that people were unwilling to pass through the magnetometers presumably because they had they were carrying Contraband weapons several thousand members of the crowd who refused to go through the mags watched from the long on near the Washington Monument I Ard the president say something to the effect of you know I I don't effing care that they have weapons they're not here to hurt me take the effing mags away let my people in they can March the capital from here let the people in take the effing mags away there was awareness that there were weapons in that crowd and the Trump didn't care because as he put it they're not here for me uh which begs the question well who are they here for let's reflect on that for a moment president Trump was aware that a number of the individuals in the crowd had weapons and were wearing body armor and here's what president Trump instructed the crowd to do we're going to walk down and I'll be there with you we're going to walk down we're going to walk down anyone you want but I think right here we're going to walk down to the capital Trum F Trum fight Trum fight Trum and we fight we fight like hell and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore he told them to fight over and over and over again and he told them if they don't fight you're not going to have a country anymore what could be more existential to his supporters than if I don't fight Here and Now America's gone that's what he's telling them and he focused the crowd on his last hope for overturning the election Mike Pence and Mike Pence I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country he has not been able to convince Pence directly but he's seeing the crowd for him there and he was willing to continue the pressure campaign with an army and if you're not I'm going to be very disappointed in you I will tell you right now look at that speech at how many times he invokes the name Mike Pence over and over and over again he is telling that crowd not once not twice not three times but many times that the thing they want most which is to keep Joe Biden from becoming president that the one person that can make it happen is Mike Pence because you'll never take back our country with weakness you have to show strength and you have to be strong it's important not just to focus on what he said but on the entire context the way he had been spreading the big lie that he had gathered people together that he called the mob to Washington DC uh for January 6 specifically for this moment this was sponsored by the president of the United States who had lied to his own supporters and convince them that something could happen on January 6th that would change the outcome of the election while the special councel did not directly charge Trump with inciting violence prosecutors have pointed to his speech repeatedly that day was the culmination of the defendants criminal conspiracies to overturn the legitimate results of the presidential election when the defendant directed a large and Angry Crowd to the capital to obstruct the Congressional certification proceeding the First Amendment standard for incitement is extremely difficult to reach but what the special Council does instead is wrap it into the concept of obstruction that Trump is whipping up the crowd in order to obstruct what's going on in the Senate so let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue that's the way you build the outrage over the speech over the riot into causes of action into into criminal charges that the special Council knows that he can prove Donald Trump has insisted that his speech that day was totally appropriate and called The Crowd peaceful people and his Defenders question whether a jury should sit in Judgment of a president's speech at all I do not find that charge to be sustainable irrespective of whether a jury could return a verdict on it I do not find that charge to be sustainable on appeal for First Amendment reasons I I just that that's a bad idea you don't like what happened there about what the president said remove him from Office okay don't elect him president of the United States ever again that's the solution to that one I do understand the argument that Prosecuting a president criminally is incredibly divisive but the Constitution as it currently stands and federal statutes as they currently stand do not exempt the president from the operation of law if you don't believe the President should be subject to law amend the Constitution but until it's amended the president is a citizen just like the rest of us [Music] for the January 6 committee a crucial question what exactly was our commander-in-chief doing during the hours of violence today we address precisely that issue and I now recognize the gentle woman from Virginia from the time when President Trump ended his speech until the moment when he finally told the mob to go home a span of 187 minutes more than 3 hours what you will learn is that President so elae Lori and I decided to to lead the 187 minute hearing because we were both veterans on the committee Elaine and I had taken the oath twice as a member of Congress and as a military member and I think it was important for us to just hopefully Express that outrage of how there are people that are willing to die for this country and this guy couldn't even follow through on his basic oath to defend the Constitutional branch of government here's what'll be clear by the end of this hearing president Trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the ellipse and telling the mob to go home he chose not to act the 187 minutes began as Trump left the stage and demanded that his motorcade drive him to the capital the president was still adamant to go to the capital but his secret service detail was equally determined to not let him go that led to a heated argument with the detail that delayed the departure of the motorcade to the White House later Cassidy Hutchinson heard reports about what happened so once the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby angle who is the head of Mr Trump's security detail he thought that they were going up to the capital and when Bobby head related to him we're not we don't have the assets to do it it's not secure we're going back to the West Wing the president had very strong a very angry response to that the president said something to the effect of I'm the effing president take me up to the capital now to which Bobby responded sir we have to go back to the West Wing he saw this crowd and he wanted to participate in some manner whether it was leading the crowd or being part of the crowd or going but certainly there was a level of frustration when he was told that he couldn't that he was so focused on disrupting The Joint session that day he himself wanted to [Music] go when he couldn't go to the capital with the crowd the president returned to the White House in some ways the most telling portrayal of the president and his intent here is not what happens in the leadup to the attack on the capital but what he does or doesn't do when it's taking place and in the aftermath of it president Trump went to the private dining room off the Oval Office Witnesses told us that on January 6th president Trump sat in his usual spot at the head of the table facing a television hanging on the wall we know from the employee that TV was tuned to Fox News all afternoon this is real it's happening on Capitol Hill we're trying to get some ground truth to exactly what's happening on the ground to your point broadly this's in that little private dining room off the Oval Office the TV is on he's watching it take place he knows what's happening he understands what's happening and his instinct is to in effect them on at 149 he tweeted out a link to the recording of his ellip speech this was the same speech in which he knowingly sent an armed mob to the capital but president Trump made no comment about the lawlessness and the violence they are locking down the capitol complex no one is allowed in or out now just a few moment the White House is just in shock many of them testified that they tried to get the president to take some sort of action to get the crowd to leave the capital White House Council Pat syone was one of Trump's advisers urging action I think I was pretty clear there need to be an immediate and forceful response statement public statement that people need to lead the capital now did you continue mrone to push for a stronger State yes were you joined in that effort by Ivanka Trump Eric Hershey yes I'm Mark me yes these AIDS and lawyers rushing into this private dining room trying to get him to do something trying to get him to speak out trying to get him to stop the attack and he won't do it he was enjoying this these were his people he loved them and they were accomplishing something that he wanted to have accomplished which was to delay and derail the certification of this election the committee saw it as evidence of what the president had been planning all along it says volumes about the president's intent it suggests that the president is reluctant to call this off that he sees his people fighting as a potentially positive thing his own daughter is encouraging him to more forcefully stop the violence and the fact that he does not 4 hours after being aware of the violence tell people to go home really really power ful evidence of his intent now look at what you've got now you have protesters inside the capital building the other big question is where is the vice president building the Secret Service rushed Pence away from the crowd if we lose uh any more time we may have we may lose the ability to to leave with a capital overrun the president fired off a tweet about his vice president Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution is that true I'm he I'm hearing reports that Pence caved I'm telling you if pin cave we're going to drag mother through the streets as that tweet goes out at 2:24 p.m. his supporters see it and there is an intense surge uh in the rioting that tweet through fuel on the Fire hello Mike Pence has betrayed the United States of [Music] America the mob goes down there to the Capal and chance hang Mike Pence and they actually build a Gallows out in front of the capital I mean they meant [Music] [Applause] it I can only imagine what Mike Pence must have thought when the full weight of the Betrayal must have become so palpable for him when he must have thought it has come to this that the one moment as vice president where I have stood on principle I am being treated as the enemy and they've come for me and the president is attacking me not only is he not calling to say are you okay uh he's egging it on um it's it is it is an it is an amazing moment at the White House patalon was growing concerned for the vice president I remember Pat saying Mark we need to do something more they're literally calling for the vice president to be effing hung and Mark had responded something to the effect of you heard him Pat he thinks Mike deserves it he doesn't think they're doing anything wrong when the crowd is chanting hang Mike Pence he says well maybe our people have it right maybe Mike deserves it people Donald Trump embraced the Whirlwind on January 6 he in his speech at the ellipse in his tweets afterwards in his indifference to the pleas of his family and advisers to do something more to call them up he seemed to Revel in the chaos and violence that he himself had [Music] Unleashed clear we're coming out now all right make a way we had the footage from inside the capital where hence is rushed down the steps by his uh Secret Service detail along with his family to his credit he did not take the Secret Service advice and leave the capital he stayed uh he provided uh direction to what was going on he offered the stability at the moment that the president refused to do finally police began to regain control of the capital the capital grounds have been secure police had to use tear groups are deployed around the capital perimeter to prevent any more violence of what we saw this afternoon Chase when you're ready sir president Trump finally gave in and went out to the Rose Garden at 4:03 you tell me when when you're ready sir for 187 minutes he was sitting there watching the news wondering if his people would win until he saw that law enforcement had turned the tide and only when law enforcement turned the tide did he then begrudgingly try to cover his backside and look like he was against the violence in the first place who's who's behind me he's gone he's gone around we're all clear now I know you're pain I know you're hurt we had a election let me say I know you're pain I know you're hurt we had an election that was stolen from us it was a landslide election and everyone knows it especially the other side but you have to go home now we have to have peace we have to have when he ultimately issues his video this isn't a guy who apologetic for any of this this isn't somebody who says oops this has gone this has gone aide this had gone too far quite the opposite so go home we love you you're very special I know how you feel but go home and go home in peace we love you you are special these are people that have assaulted the US Capitol Building have attacked Capitol police officers are trying to stop the proceedings of Congress and Trump does tell them to go home but then immediately adds we love you you are special special counsel Jack Smith has cited those 187 minutes in his conspiracy case against Trump the defendant's knowing and corrupt intent is clear from his actions and purposeful in action during the attack on the capital the prosecutor is going to show that is he got the result he hoped for a big scene a riot and then of course he wasn't going to do anything to stop the riot because he had use to make of it and that use was to use the people's fear to try to get them to do what he wanted [Music] after more than a year the January 6th select committee issued criminal referrals against Donald Trump for the first time in American history Congress has referred a former president to the Department of Justice for possible criminal prosecution Jack Smith's indictment followed a first in US history a former president criminally charged with special counsel Jack Smith called the January 6th attack on the capital an attack that was fueled by lies the criminal indictment contained it all the false claims of fraud the demands on Rusty Bowers the phone call to secretary raffensberger the conspiracy theories about Shea moss and Ruby Freeman the pressure on the Department of Justice pushing vice president Pence to overturn the election and the president's action on January [Music] 6th but a criminal trial will be very different from the committee's hearings a Committee hearing is not a federal court trial there's barely any rules other than what the committee says there are the rules of evidence don't apply and they will very much apply in federal court um there are numerous Privileges and other barriers to getting in evidence that don't apply so you can't look at the testimony in front of the January 6 committee and assume that the same testimony can come in a trial the prosecutor has to figure out okay what parts of that can I get in will the judge let me do there's so not a script for this it's hard to imagine how it's going to play out Donald Trump is going to be the defendant and the candidate all wrapped into one it's it's just unprecedented the state supreme court has ruled to remove Donald Trump from the state's 2024 ballot Trump's attorneys say that he is immune from prosecution because he was President of the United States there is a real possibility the trial will be delayed the question is how long Trump's best strategy right now is delay Donald Trump is trying to do everything possible to delay this trial until after the election because he is a very unusual defendant in terms of his potential power if he wins the election he can just order the doj to drop the case entirely so he has an enormous personal incentive to win the presidency just to get himself out of legal Jeopardy Donald Trump I think understands that his best chance to avoid conviction is stay out of jail is to return to the White House Trump's defense is aimed not just at the courts but also the voters about 6 and 10 Republican voters believe that the 2020 election was stolen Republican voters don't believe January 6th was that big of a deal now a looming prosecution a presidential election democracy on trial the 2024 election is one where American democracy very much is on the table from the rule of law to American democracy itself to too much is at [Music] stake for more on this and other Frontline programs visit our website at pbs.org [Music] Frontline front lines democracy on trial is available on Amazon Prime [Music] video

Channel: FRONTLINE PBS | Official

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Length: 143min 18sec (8598 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 31 2024