oh, actually before members, the doors barricade, there's people wanted that always i have no way out over there is still remaining on the house for a people. now the american works, i'm going to be ready to do whatever it takes all my life down a bit. absolutely. that's why we showed up today a. 6 a

with a with

ah, [000:00:00;00] with the crown believable and i mentioned a resume to the order of the committee of tonight the chair declares the committee in recess for

a period of approximately 10 minutes. okay. ah . okay. well they certainly a lot to unpack here. chair bony thompson said the general 6 riots was the culmination of an attempted coup. we then heard from representative liz cheney, a republican who also had a strong opening remarks. and we've just watch some, pretty harrowing footage of a 1st hand account of what he can put it from offices on the ground. can he to panic in the voices? they tried to hold back the right is and then repeated. we have lost the line. we have lost the line, so let's bring in our report. and now heidi j. castro, who was covering or he's covering that hearing heidi talk is through your perspective, what was the tone like for you? what stood out to you most in that sort of 1st hour of the hearing? yes,

there is so much and pack explosive beginning to these public hearings. as you said, the chair person said that the best way to describe what happened on january 6th was an attempted coup. and this address is some of the outstanding questions that center squarely around the behavior and whether or not president trump former president trump, was culpable of all of this. one of those outstanding questions is what exactly he was doing as this writing was unfolding. and the vice chair of this committee republican, las cheney, she laid out what the evidence she says as these hearings continue, will show. she said that trump, in the moment as was right, was having spent that time watching this on television and yelling at his advisors, ignoring their, please for him to call off the rioters. she said that at one point he was at, i'm paraphrasing the heat back. he said to his advisors,

maybe these rioters are right, maybe vice president mike pens really should get it ref, referencing what rioters were calling, what were the vice president to be the one to stop the certification of, of trump's election laws. they were threatening at that point a, hey, mike pence, outside of the u. s. capital. also new information, according to liz cheney saying that it was not trump who called the military to finally take action. that he in fact, did not take any action as this one was unfolding. and it was, in fact, the vice president, my pens who call for the national guard that helped finally contain this is violence. also, new information that cabinet secretaries held serious discussions of potentially invoking the 25th amendment. the the, the kind of that the nuclear option in the u. s. constitution that allows that cabinet secretaries to remove

a sitting president if he is incapable of performing the duties of his office. also that the white house council pat cipollina threatened to resign because of the of january 6 that he threatened this multiple times. jared pushed her president trump law son in law and former advisor, calling that read to resign that came from pats of bologna and also members of his legal team, saying that it was whining, dismissing it so much on pat. here emily, i also wanted to know, you know, this, this other big question of this hearings is, did trump actually know that he lost the election? seems like a simple question. but for people who are around trump, you know, potentially did he, was he just so ignorant that he didn't realize he actually lost the election, which is could be a defense he uses if he were ever to be charged because he would say he lacked motive. well, there appears to be evidence that he did know we heard some of this,

a videotape testimony from former attorney general bill bar, who was interviewed behind closed doors by this committee. and he said that he disagreed with the idea that the election was stolen. and that he told this point blank to president trump, he told them that it was quote b. s. that there was that it was groundless. he said, he said it was quote, complete nonsense, crazy stuff, wasting time and doing great, great dis service to the country. did former president trump listen to that? no, but apparently his daughter did. yvonne could trump, who in another portion of her closed door interview that was just shown in this hearing said that she did believe bill bars assessment. that in fact, the election was legitimate because she had faith in him as the countries attorney general. so, so much on path here. this is only the beginning of several hearings. and if i heard correctly, i believe that the vice chair said there's going to be potentially up to 8 here of regarding the sad breaks,

more of this down step by step. and it appears that this committee really has one name that is at the center of all of this, and that is squarely former president. trump, of course, was impeached for these very events, but was acquitted here in the senate. but it appears that this committee does not see that as the end of the story by any stretch. emily, okay, stay with us, heidi, but we do have a, an audio grab of the chairman of the committee, who said that donald trump was attempting to subvert american democracy. let's have a listen. don. trump was at the center of this. come to the spirit, say, and ultimately, donald trump, the president of the united states, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the constitution, the marched down the capital and subvert american democracy. so heidi, we're waiting for the hearing to resume, so stay with us. i want to ask you

a little bit about what more leaves china had to say and her strong opening remarks . yeah, and it's interesting that she was selected to really she gave even longer remarks. um, the chairman, because she's a republican, as we know, this is a committee that has 7 democrats and 2 republicans. it wasn't envisioned this way. they wanted it to be pretty much fair to be bipartisan, half and half, except the republicans of course, hold out of the deal except for the 2 who remain on this committee. and they are vocal trump critics. but shanie again seems to have become the spokeswoman of this committee. she repeated that famous quote that he lit the flame for this month. i called the mob. and she also seems to be the person that laying out the groundwork for what we're going to here to come. how he got the, how he was involved in the planning of the rally. she said that it was a trump tweet. that was the impetus or the proud boys to plan this rally. and so

many more details that are promised to come or i will, we appreciate your update and we'll cross back to throughout the evening hydro castro live for us there in the capitol hill. thank you. let's bring in john nichols now. who is the national affairs correspondent at the nation. he joins us by skype from madison, wisconsin. john, just an incredible hour of television, just really quite incredible viewing. what stood out to you the most as you were watching the well, i do agree with you. it was a riveting hour of television, and i think the thing has stood up most was chairman benny thompson's initial statement. certainly the videos were powerful and the, the evidence that was had meaning and gave 30. but when thompson said at the very beginning of january, 6, with not a spontaneous riot. and it wasn't something that just happened when people who

attended the rally earlier in that day went to the capital and got out of control. this was an intentional act. and then when he coupled that statement with another statement that this was a conspiracy. and at donald trump was at the center of the bath conspiracy. he made a connection that is really not been made up to this point. this is a powerful leap forward in our understanding of what happened as was chairman thompson's use of the term coo and that is very, very critical. this takes us out of the language of riot, even out of the language of insurrection, to the concept of a deliberate attempt, by a defeated president to hold on to the power. that is what a qu is. and that is what chairman thompson described in his opening statement. i certainly want mincing words at all. john, i just want you to sort of talk us through the timing of this hearing. i mean, for our international audience over in washington it's,

it started at 8 p. m at prime time. so talk us or why it's been broadcast at this time. and also how almost all but one us broadcaster is, is carrying this hearing. yes. it's virtually unprecedented for a senate hearing to go on in prime time, usually prime time is that portion of the evening in the united states where people watch sports matches or entertainment programs. it's not on the major television networks where you get no wall to wall coverage of a congressional committee. so this is a dramatic rake, even during the era of watergate, and in many of these other critical moments in american history, was very, very rare. to go to prime time in the evening. so the committee decided that this was something that was necessary. why did they do it? because i've talked to members of the committee who said this,

they believed they have to change the narrative that they have to intervene and, and major way and get americans to think about what happened on january 6. is something far more threatening, far more dangerous, far more serious than i think much of the discussion is understood as so that's why they went to prime time. and you're right. all of the major networks have done this except on i'm going to have to have that prime time viewing. it's just starting back up again. so stay with us. we'll cross back to a little bit later, but we're just hearing from the chem and they're in the room with us along with some of the family members, friends and widows of the officers who lost their lives as a result of the attack. thank you all for being here for us and the american people . officer carolyn, it voice has been with the united states capital police fest 2017. on january

6th, officer edwards was a fan to the 1st responder unit, which serves as the 1st line of defense at the capitol complex. she also served as a member of the civil disturbance unit. a special subset of the uniform division trained to respond to mass demonstration events. officer edwards is a graduate of the university of georgia and currently is working on a master's degree in intelligence analysis from john hopkins university. nearby quit. it is on a claim. filmmaker who credits include documenting stories from war zones in afghanistan, syria and iraq on january 6th. but the quick stair was working on a documentary about quote, why americans are so divide it when americans have so much in common. in quote, doing that day,

mr. quested interviewed and documented movements of the people around the capitol, including the 1st moments of the violence against the capitol, police, and the chaos that in ensued. our now sway in our witnesses. the witnesses will please van and raise your right hand. do you swear and affirm on the penalty of perjury that the testimony you about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. so help you god let the record reflect the witnesses answered in the affirmative. without objection,

the witness to the statement will be included in the record. pursuant to section 5, see 8 of house resolution 50. 3. i recognize myself for questioning. as you saw just a few minutes ago, the proud boys instigated the 1st breach of the capital, just before 1 o'clock, p. m, where rad 2 was pushed over barricades near the peace circle. at the foot of the capitol. are 2 witnesses to night were both there at the time of that 1st breach. officer edwards was standing with other officers behind a lan of bike racks that marked the parameter of the capital grounds. she bravely tried to prevent an angry crowd from advancing on the capital. unfortunately,

she was overrun and knocked unconscious. as the crowd advanced on the capital must quick. there was a few yards away from officer edwards. take him footage of the proud boys as part of his work on a documentary film. most of his footage has never been shown publicly before. we shared it this evening of officer edwards. i'd like to start by asking if you could tell us why you believe it's important for you to share your story this evening with the committee and the american public please, or your microphone. ah, well, thank you mister chairman. i really appreciate it and thank you to the committee for having me here to testify. ah, i was caught a lot of things on january 6th, 2021 in the days thereafter and i was called,

nancy pelosi is dog called incompetent, called a hero and villain. i was called a traitor to my country. my oath and my constitution in actuality, i was none of those things. i was an american standing face to face with other americans asking myself how many times many, many times, how we had gotten near. i had been called names before, but never had my patriotism or duty been called into question. i who got up every day, no matter how early the hour or how late i got in the night before, to put on my uniform and to protect america's symbol of democracy. i who spent countless hours in the baking sun and freezing snow to make sure that america's elected officials were able to do their job. i who was the literal blood sweat,

and tears were shed that day defending the building that i spent countless holidays and weekends working and i am the proud grand daughter of a marine that fought in the battle of the chosen reservoir in the korean war. i think of my papa often in these days how he was so young and thrown into a battle he never saw coming and answered the call at a great personal cost. how he lived the rest of his days with bullets and shrapnel in his legs. but never once complained about his sacrifice. i would like to think that he would be proud of me, proud of his granddaughter, that stood her ground that day and continued fighting, even though she was wounded like he did many years ago. i am my grandfather's granddaughter, proud to put on the uniform and served my country. they dared to question my honor

. they dared to question my loyalty and they dared to question my duty. i am a proud american and i will gladly sacrifice everything to make sure that the america my grandfather defended is here for many years to come in can offer fair was your story and your service is important. and i thank you for being here tonight. the quick stead, also like the x you to introduce yourself. can you tell us how you found yourself in washington? d. c. on january 6th, 2021. good evening, her chair and madame vice. jeff. thank you for the introduction. as stated in the windshield 2020, i was working on a documentary as part of that documentary film, several rallies in washington, d. c. on december, the 11th and december, the 12th i learned that will be

a rally on the mall and on january 6. so my 3 colleagues and i came down to document the rally according to the permit, the event that was going to be a rally ellipse. we arrived at the mall and observed a large contingent, a proud boys marching towards the capital. we found them, um, and almost immediately i was separated from my colleagues. i documented the crowd turned from protesters to riots as to insurrection this. i was surprised at the size of the group, the anger and the profanity. and for any one who didn't understand how violent the event was, i saw it, i documented it, and i experienced it. i had incredibly aggressive chancing, and i shared subsequently shared that footage with the authorities. i'm here to dice pursuant to a how subpoena. thank you. so much thank you must quest it. the select committee has conducted extensive investigative work to understand what lay at the proud boys

and of the rioters to the capital on january 6th. we've obtained substantial evidence showing that the president december 19th tweet, calling his follow was to washington d. c. on january fixed anna jaz, individuals from the proud boys and of extreme as groups. i'd like to play a brief video highlighting some of this evidence. my name is marcus childress. i'm an investigative counsel for the select committee to investigate the january 6 attack and he said to capital, what do you want to call him? give me a name. give me what you like me to come out and write for my wife. stand back and stand by after he made this comment and re k, cerio been chairman of the boys fed on parlor standing by sir during our investigation. we learned that this comment during the presidential debate actually

led to an increase in membership from the proud boys. would you say that boys numbers increase after the same back? same by common, exponentially, i'd say triple probably with the potential for a lot more eventually. did you ever felony stand back and stand by merchandise? one of the vendors on my page actually, but i wish i wouldn't. i wish i would have made it back to them by sure. on december 19th, i didn't trump about the january 6 rally until the attendees be there will be wild . many of the witnesses that we interviewed for, inspired by the president's call and came to d. c for january 6, but the extremist, they took it a step further. they viewed this tweet as a call to arms a day later, the department justice describes how the probably created a chat called the ministry of self defense leadership chat. in this chat, the proper was established a command structure and anticipation of coming back to d. c. on january 6th,

the department of justice describes mister tarry coming into possession of a document called the $1776.00 returns, which describes individuals occupying key buildings around the united states, capital steel keepers, or another group that the committee investigated. you better get your ass a d c folks this saturday. if you don't, there's no, we know more. but what happens if it's either president trump is concurrent and bolstered strength, and the duty must do for we want to know in a bloody fight. we all know that the fights german keepers began planning to block the peaceful trail for a power. shortly after november 3rd election. according to the department of justice stuart roads deals keepers leader said to his followers that we were not going to get through this without a civil war and response to december 19th to 202020 by president trump. the keepers focus on january 6 in washington dc, in response to the tweet one member, the president of the florida chapter, put on social media. the president called it to the capital. he wants us to make it

wild. the goal was for the keepers to be called to duty so that they could keep the president empower, although president trump had just lost the election. the committee learned that the keepers set up a quick reaction forces outside of the city in virginia, where they stored arms. a goal of these quick reaction forces was to be on stand by just in case president, trump, and above the insurrection act. to be keepers ever provide weapons, members only find the answer to browse for due process. in footage, obtain a committee we learned that on the night of january, 5th and re k, tara, out in stuart roads, met in a parking garage in washington, d. c. h. a respect, i think we're fighting the same fight and i think that's, that's important. the committee learned that the keepers went into the capital to the east doors and to stack formations. the d o j l i just that one of the stacks went into the capital, looking for speaker pelosi,

although they never found her as the attack was unfolding mister tarry to credit and documents obtain the department of justice. mister tauriel started in encrypted chat, make no mistake, and we did this form. later on that evening, mister tarry even posted a video, which seemed to resemble him in front of the capital of the black cave. and the title of the video was premonition. the africans developed the select committee and the department of justice highlight how each group participated on the attack on the capital. on january 6, in fact, investigation revealed that it was in the, the jaws associated with the proud boys who instigated the initial breach at the p circle at 12 33 pm. within 10 minutes, ryder had already filled laura west. plaza hygiene writers had reached the doors on the west and east plazas,

and by 213 riders and actually broken through the senate wing door and got into the capital building. a series of breaches, followed at 2 25 pm riders reach the east side doors to le rotunda. and we have 240 riders reached the east side doors near the ways and means once the riders infiltrated the capital, they moved to the print the rotunda. the hallways lean to the house chambers and even inside the finishing walls in the videos associate, it was too violent extremist groups have been charged with seditious conspiracy. in connection with the january 6th attack, one of the old keepers, they are

a group of armed anti government extremis. the other crew is a proud boys. they promote quite supremacy, belief, extremis. the other crew is a proud boys. they promote quite supremacy release and have engaged in violence with people they view as they are political enemies. members of both groups have already plead guilty to crimes associated with a january 6th attack. mr. quest it, as part of the documentary you've been filming, you gain access to the proud boys in their leader. enrique tauriel, you'll cru fam, them in washington, d. c. on the evening of january, 5th. and then on january 6th, on january 5th, the night before the attack, you were with the head of the pow boys, mister tar heel in washington, d. c. what happened?

um, we picked up mr. tarry oh, from jail i hear her being arrested for carrying out some magazines of some long so some extra capacity magazines and ah, for the he took responsibility for the burning of the black lives matter flag that was stolen from the church. um on december the twelth we um, we were attempting to get an interview with mr. terrier. we had no idea of any of the events that were going to subsequently happen. um um we drove him to pick up his bags from the property department of the police, which is just south of the mile. we picked up his bags and went to get some other bags from the phoenix hotel. i. we um,

encountered mr. stewart rhodes from the i was keepers. um, by the time i'd gone to park the car, my colleague was saying, who got into the car with mr. terry o that they had moved to a, a location around the corner, the parking garage of the o. all of legends i believe, and so we quickly drove over there. we drove down into the parking garage and filled the scene of mister terry o and mister rhodes and certain other. ready individuals um, in that garage? um we then continued to follow mr. tarry o. there was some discussion about where he was going to go. he ended up going towards a hotel in baltimore and we conducted an interview with him in the hotel room. ah. and then we returned to d. c for that night and a m. and what was interesting that night actually was that was the 1st indication

that d c was much more um busy than it had been any other time we'd been here because we couldn't get into the hotels we wanted to. and we ended up at a hotel that was not the satisfactory as we would hoped. thank you. so what you're saying is you found the meeting between mister tar yo, an old keeper's leader steward rose. right? indeed, you couldn't hear what was fair, but according to the justice department, in date, men of mister tar young, a participant, referenced the capitol. now in the morning of january, 6th, you learn the proud boys would gather near the rail as schedule to take place near the white house. what time did you meet up with the proud boers and what was happening when they met?

we met up with the proud boys are somewhere around 10 30 am and they were starting to walk down the mall of easter leave direction. ready towards the capital, ah, there was a large contingent more than i had expected. and i was confused to a certain extent why we were walking away from the president speech because that's what i, i felt we were there to cover. so at 10 30 am that's early in a day. that's even before the president trump had started speaking. am i correct? yes sir. so how many proud boys would you estimate were marching together to the capital? a couple of 100 potentially. yes, i say a couple of 100 proud boys were marching towards the capital of that point at a time was the area heavenly guard?

no, that was we ma'am. i remember we walked past the, we walked down the mall. we walked to the roof right at the reflecting pool, and then north along the road that leads to the p circle. and as we were walking past the p circle, i framed the proud boys to the right of my shot with the capital behind. and we see one so police officer, i'm at the barriers which subsequently breached. we then walk up and passed a ah tactical unit preparing. and there's you see that in the film where the man questions that you see on that honor. and you see maybe a dozen ah, capital police putting on there. right? yeah. so how would you describe the atmosphere at that that time? the atmosphere was it seemed to be much darker up i. i make efforts to create um

a familiarity between myself and my subjects to make them feel comfortable. and um the, the atmosphere was much darker than at this day than them and had been in. ready other in these other in these other days and i was or so. ready a contingent of proud boys that i had met before from arizona who appeared to wear these orange hats um and had orange arm bands. so when the prow boys went back down the heel to the p circle, did a larger crowd start together? well no, 1st of all we went round to the back and down the steps and we took some photographs on the east side of the capital. and then we went for lunch. we went for tuckers. so mister quested, you a journalist for you are careful to stick to things that you have observed,

but what you've told us is highly relevant. let me highlight a few key facts that you and others have provided the committee. first, there was a large group of proud boys present at the capital. we know that from multiple sources, you now estimate that there were around 250 up to 300 individuals that you've testified. they weren't there for president trump speech. we know this because they left that area to march toward the capital before the speech began. they walked around the capital that morning. i am concerned this allowed them to see what defenses were in place and where weaknesses my b. and they defied it to launch their attack at the pizza piece circle, which is a front door of the capitol. complex is to 1st secure the perimeter. and those marching thumb,

they lips would have to come to as they moved toward the capital, the p circle walk away was walkway was always where the thousands of angry trump supporters would arrive after president trump send them from the lips, the prow boys tan. they are tack to the moments before the start of the joint session in the capital, which is also where president trump directed the angry mar. quote, we fight like hail in quote. he told them before sending them down pennsylvania avenue right to where the proud boys gathered and where you are filming. now, central question is whether they attacked on a capitol was coordinated and plan. what you witness is what a court made an implant effort would look like. it was the culmination of

a months long effort spearheaded by president trump. but quested. thank you for your eye. witness accounts of the lead up to the breach. so the priest circle, this brings us to a point in time where you and officer edwards when close proximity. at this point, i reserve the balance for my time pursuant of 5 see section 8 of house resolution 503. the chair recognize of joan woman from wyoming. miss cheney for christine. thank you very much mister chairman, officer edwards. i want to start by thanking you for your service and thank you for your courage. thank you for being here this evening. i know that it's not easy to relive what happened for you and, and for the officers behind you and for the family members of officers and in the

audience this evening. but it's, it's really important for the country and to have a full accounting and understand what happened. i want to start officer edwards with a short clip that shows a horrible moment when you were injured. as the p circle was breached. ah, i was edwards. can you describe the crowd that had assembled at the p circle as, as you and your fellow officers stood behind and guarded the bike racks at the p circle? yes. so um they were about,

i want to say about 5 of us on that line. um and there were so there was our bike rack and then at the bottom of the pennsylvania avenue walkway. uh right by piece circle. there was another bike rack, and so the crowd had kind of gathered there. um, it was the crowd led by joseph biggs. and they were mostly in civilian clothes, there were some who hadn't military fatigues on. we could see people with a bullet profess on, you know, things like that. they didn't seem, you know, extremely cohesive. but they had gathered there in their outfits. but they had gathered there together and just a big started, he had a micra megaphone and he started talking about, you know,

1st it was things kind of relating to congress. and then the table started turning once the what is now that the arizona group is what you said on the crowd with orange hats. they came up chanting f u c, k, and t, fha. and they joined that group. and once they joined that group, joseph begs rhetoric turned to the capitol police. he started asking us questions like you've, you didn't miss good paycheck during the pandemic. i'm mentioning stuff about our pay scale was mentioned and started turning the

tables on us. and i've worked. i can you know conservatively say probably hundreds of civil disturbance events. i know when i'm being turned into a villain and that's when i turned to my sergeant and i stated the understatement of the century. i said, serge, i think we're going to need a few more people down here. uh huh. and so after that, you know, i think they started conferring, they went a little silent. they started conferring among and each other. i saw the person now identified as ryan sam, so he put his arm around, joseph bags and they were talking and then they started approaching the 1st barricade. they ripped the 1st barricade down and they approached our

bike racks. ah, you know, at that time we started ah, holding on grabbing the bike racks, you know, there weren't many of us. so i grabbed the middle between 2 different bike racks. and you know, i wasn't under any pretense that i could hold it for very long, but i just wanted to make sure that we could get more people down and get our c d u units time to, to answer the call. so we started grappling over the bike racks, i felt the bike rack come on top of my head and i was pushed backwards and my foot caught the stair behind me and my chin hit the hand rail and then i, at that point i had blacked out but my back of my head clipped the concrete stairs

behind me. and you were knocked unconscious. is that right? officer edwards? yes ma'am. but then when you regained consciousness, even with the injuries you return to duty, is that right? yes, ma'am. i know at that time adrenalin kicked in, i ran towards the west front and i tried to hold the line at the senate steps at the lower west terrace. ah, more people kept coming at us. and it just seemed like, you know, more and more people started to, you know, coming on to the west front, they started overpowering us. and that was right about when m. p d officers showed up on their bike officers, pushed the crowd back and allowed our cd you units as well as there's to

form that line that you see on that very thin line between us and the protesters or the writers. you know, at that time i fell behind that line and for a while i started contaminating people who had gotten sprayed and treating people medically who needed it. and then you were injured again. are there on the west terrace? is that right? officer edwards? yes ma'am. so after a while i got back on the line, i got, it was on the health side of the lower west terrace. and i was holding that line for

a while. there weren't many of us over there. and officer sick nick was behind me for most of the time, for about 30 to 45 minutes. i was down there and we were just as the best we could, we were just, you know, grappling over my cracks and trying to hold them as quick as possible. and all of the sudden i see move man to the left of me and i turned and it was officer sick neck with his head and his hands. and he was ghostly pale, which i figured at that point that he had been sprayed. and i was concerned my, you know, cop pop alarm bells went off because if you get sprayed with

pepper spray, you're going to turn red. he turned just about as pale as a sheet of paper. and so i looked back to see what it hit and what had happened, and that's when i got sprayed in the eyes as well. i was taken to be contaminated by another officer, but we didn't get the chance because we were in tear gassed. and we are going to play just a brief clip of that moment that you've just described. officer edwards. oh ha. ah ive standards,

i just wanna thank you for being here. um and i know again how difficult it is. i know um the family of officer said, nick as well. who's here to night? i'm and i'm one of the things one of the capitol police officers said to me recently was about to ask me whether or not as members of congress, all of us understood that on that day, on january 6th, when we were evacuated from the chamber, ah, we're led to a safe, undisclosed location where the we knew that, that so many of you had rushed out of the building and into the fight. and i can assure you that we do know that and that we understand how important your services . thank you for your continued work with our committee and the interviews, and i thank you very much for both of you for being here this evening. mister chairman, i yield back. thank you very much. ah,

miss edwards. ah. can you give us one memory of that awful day that stands out most vividly and you'll man i can ah, that time when i talked about falling behind in pd's line, i remember because i had been kind of shielded away cuz i was holding those stairs . so i wasn't able to really see what was going on over here when i fell behind that line. and i saw i can just remember my, my breath catching in my throat. because

what i saw was just a war scene. it was something like i had seen out of the movies. i couldn't believe my eyes. there were officers on the ground and you know, they were bleeding. they were throwing up. they were, you know, they had, i mean, i saw friends with blood all over their faces. i was slipping in people's blood. i, you know, i was catching people as they fell. i, you know, i was, it was carnage. it was chaos. i can't, i can't even describe what i saw. i never in my wildest dreams did i think as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer,

i would find myself in the middle of a battle. you know, i'm trained to detain, you know, a couple of subjects and handle, you know, handle a crowd, but i'm not combat trained. and that day it was just hours of hand to hand combat hours of dealing with things that were way beyond any, any a law enforcement officer has ever trained for. and i just remembered, i just remember that moment of stepping behind the line and just seeing the absolute war zone that the west front had become let me thank you. i for your service and obviously your bravery that you have told the world about tonight. it's unfortunate that you had to defend the

capital from fellow americans, so none of us will ever think that that would have to happen. but it did. so let me thank our witnesses for joining us tonight and sharing their experiences with america. throughout my tam and ship of this committee, i've continuously vowed that this committee will ensure a comprehensive account of the heroic acts on january 6 and that we will follow the facts wherever they lead. your testimony is an essential part of that record and helped us do our job. mr. quest, it thank you for sharing your footage and your account of the day's advance with us . the images you record it and have share with the committee. do a better job in any of our words and re reinforcing the violence of january 6.

we hope that the power of your footage help encourage all americans to consider how citizens was such so much in common. could viciously brawl at the feet of their democratic govern. officer edwards. thank you for your brave service, as i indicated on january 6th. and all you did to protect us. and most importantly, our democracy. if you and your fellow officers had the hail the lan against those violent insurrection, as we can only imagine the disaster that would have ensued your he orgasm is the 8th of danger, is admirable. and your will to continue to protect and serve. despite your serious injuries, should be an inspiration to all of us. we wish you

a continued recovery and look forward to seeing you back in uniforms. sometime soon, the members of the select committee may have additional questions for tonight's witnesses, and we acts that you respond expeditiously in writing to those questions. without objections, members, we put, permitted 10 business days to submit statements for the record, including opening remarks and additional questions for the witnesses. the witness have just told us what they heard arrived as saying why the storm the capital on that day. now we're going to hear it from the rioters themselves. without objection, i include in the record of video presentation i, what really made me want to come was the fact that, you know,

i had already jump all their time. ah, i did believe in our dad the election was being stolen and trump asked us to come, he personally asked for us to come to thee than that. and i thought for everything he'd done for us. if, as the only thing you're asking me, i'll do it, we're going to walk down to the capital of president trump mentioning on the account we're going to speech all year. so that's what this appointment is. but he was going to go with that. he was gonna be there, i know why i was there and as because he called me there and he laid out what is happening in our govern. he laid it out, but i remember donald trump telling people to be there. a, i mean to support it. you mentioned the president of the president asked you, do you remember a specific message for us to come to do big things or what got me interested?

he said, i have something very important to say on january 2nd, something like that as what, what one, what got me interested be there? you know, trump is only ask me for 2 things. he asked me for my role. he asked me to come and january sit when the committee reconvenes next week, we're going to examine the last there convinced those men and others to storm the capital. to try to stop the transfer of power. we're going to take a closer look at the 1st part of prompts attack on a rule of law when he hit the views that ultimately resulted in a balance of january 6th. without objection, and we're, we're fair, the committee of stanza john you're watching al jazeera and

our live coverage of the 1st public hearing of us. congressional committee investigating the insurrection. chairman benny thompson opened the hearing describing january 6 as an attempted curve representative and republican. that leaves chinese play testimony from aid after age, making it clear that i knew there was no election fraud and that trump had lost. we watched previously unseen footage from offices on the ground providing a 1st hand perspective into what police in jude. there was live testimony from new witnesses, including film producer, nic quested, who had been documenting the movements of the far right group, the prob, boys. we also heard from capital police officer, caroline edwards, who described the moment she was injured, trying to hold back the rice's. let's bring in our corresponding hydro, castro who is live for us at capitol hill. hello there, heidi, it was certainly a compelling initial hearing. 2 hours long and the focus was squarely on donald

trump and the accusations he's be headed, the coordinated and planned attack on the capital. that's right, emily, and you can think of to day according to the cavity as sort of the opening statement to what are going to be about a does a half dozen more hearings to common. it does appear that each of these hearings analyzes a portion of what the committee says is trump's culpability. in all of this, the planning ah, the tweet, they say that inspire the extremist groups to plan the stop, the steel rally on january 6th. an giving evidence of what investigators found that trumps activities. while this riot was unfolding the some of the new information that really caught my attention, it which will be expounded upon late in later hearings. but coming from vice chair was cheney saying that it was not trump who had called in the military to finally

contain the violence that day. rather it was the vice president mike pence because trump, she said that investigators found out was not doing anything to call off those riders. besides that, that, that the video later on in which he said he loved them, but telling them to go home that he was angrily yelling at his advisors, who had been trying to lee lic, clued with him to call off those riders. and even congress people stuck here within the halls of the capital, who were pleading for him to take action action to potentially save their lives as the riders were threatening to capture and hang the vice president for refusing to go along with their efforts to overturn the election, and in fact, investigators even saying that trump, at one point said to his advisors that perhaps his supporters had it right. and i'm paraphrasing, saying that perhaps hands really should get it. all of these nuggets of information

is new for the american public. and why is this all happening? you may ask. well, the chair person for the committee, betty thompson said that this is important to frame what happened. he says, with the correct description, and he called it and attempted, who january 6th was the culmination of an attempted cou, a brazen attempt as one right to put it shortly after january, 6 to overthrow the government. the balance was no accident. it represent senate prompts last stan, most desperate chance to haul the transfer of power. heidi before we go back to you, let's just he what the chairman had to say after that hearing. well, i think we told a story. we told a story about what occurred on january 6, we told the story who invited the people here,

we toe of the other violent organizations who participated and actually scouted the capital while the speech was going on at the ellipse at same time. so it's clear that there was more to where it was occurring than just coming to a stop, the steel rail and some of what we presented tonight. that defines that as well as documented, you've spent out performance from white house officials or just officials to testify. public here in the next public hearings, rosie and one is our hope that they will, you know, obviously we, we have nation of laws. our committee follows along. we will invite anyone who has information that they think is important to our committee. we gladly will accept

them any information we presented tonight. if there's someone who would come on the